Apartment House and Office building in Rotterdam

Architect: Mei Architekten, Rotterdam

Since its completion in 2008, this building – a 130 m long high-rise slab – has become the focal point of the historic Schiecentrale Complex in Rotterdam’s port district. The project by Mei Architekten, whose office is also in this Dutch city, is the culmination of a twelve-year restructuring process in which the former power station was transformed into an audio-visual media centre. The building’s four-storey base, which shelters a parking garage at its core and offices on the outer edges, borders directly on the old turbine hall. Shopping, sports and day care services are accessible from the deck. By rigorously separating structural members, facade and interior finishings, the architects were able to trim the planning and building process to just 26 months. In addition, their concept foresees dismantling and recycling the individual components with relatively little effort. The two high-rises’ standardized cores facilitate freely combining office and apartment units. A long gangway – characterized by concrete surfaces and a stainless-steel mesh that serves as weather protection – connects them; boxes suspended from the floor decks furnish the rhythm. These prefabricated modules provide storage space to the tenant directly across the gangway. The silvery, shimmering steel mesh and the reflective dark-brown boxes are made of a polyester resin composite which integrates the doors, windows, and ventilation grating.