In Progress: B’ Tower / Wiel Arets Architects

Architects: Wiel Arets Architects
Location: Hennekijnstraat 50, 3012 Deelgemeente Centrum, The Netherlands
Project Team: Wiel Arets, Bettina Kraus, Carsten Hilgendorf, Joris van den Hoogen
Collaborators: Kam Bava, David Luque, Marie Morin, Deniza Radulova, Sash Reading, Jasper Stevens, Michal Switalski, Cindy Wouters, Aynav Ziv
Photographs: Jan Bitter

Project Area: 12,500 sqm
Consultants: Ingenieursbureau Zonneveld BV, Valstar Simonis Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV, Cauberg Huygen Raadgevende Ingenieurs BV
Client: MAB Bouwfonds

Located in the center of Rotterdam, immediately adjacent to the Bijenkorf department store by Marcel Breuer, the tower comprises a hybrid of urban programs disposed in three volumes of similar height but varying width. The volume that meets the ground, which rises to the height of the Bijenkorf store, houses a fashion store and parking garage, while the two upper volumes that rise above the department store contain apartments.

The entry to the fashion store opens to the pedestrian precinct next to the department store, and the apartments are accessed from the side road. The two residential volumes are shifted with respect to the central circulation core, resulting in two primary apartment layouts, and all studios and short-stay apartments are completely fitted with the LaCucina Alessi kitchen as well as the Alessi Il Bagno dOt bathroom fixtures and fittings – thus the studios can be moved into directly after purchase.

Similar to the Breuer building, the façade, of alternating glass and aluminum panels, is not related to the floor levels or the individual functions but to the larger volumes, with cantilevered balconies clustered in lines along the façade creating shadows that give the building a larger, urban scale.