Shenzen Stock Exchange by OMA - © Philippe Ruault

Architecture 2.0, the symposium for Architecture, will take place on November 11, 2011. For the third edition of Architecture 2.0, China and India take centre stage. Both countries have a fast-growing economy and a rapidly evolving architectural tradition. The mammoth tasks that await these countries will also contribute to shaping the future of architecture. Representatives of different generations of architects from China and India will shed light on developments in their respective homelands: Charles Correa and Bimal Patel will speak about India, while Zhang Ke and Yung Ho Chang will speak about China. From the Dutch perspective, two speakers will share their experiences of working in these two countries: Jacob van Rijs will talk about MVRDV’s projects in India, and David Gianotten about OMA’s work in China. For more information on the event, please visit here.

Courtesy of PEÑA architecture

Architects: PEÑA architecture + AFARAI
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Principal Architect: Gabriel Raúl Peña
Engineering Consultant: Acropolis architects
Project Year: 2011
Project Area: 2,606 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of Peña Architecture

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Highline, New York / Courtesy of IABR

In partnership with AIR, the architecture centre in Rotterdam, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR) is organizing five lectures on the theme ‘Making City’ which will run from September 13th to November 8th.

We are currently witnessing one of the biggest changes in the history of mankind. A revolution is taking place almost imperceptibly, the force and scale of which is unprecedented: urbanization. In just a few decades almost 80% of mankind will live in cities. More than 90% of our wealth will be generated there. And all that on less than 3% of the earth’s surface. Urbanization is inevitable, and that is precisely why it offers opportunities for a future in which millions of people enjoy a good balance between prosperity and environment, between economy and ecology. But those opportunities will only present themselves if the city is managed better, designed better, organized better, and planned better than it is at the moment. More information on the event after the break. read more »

Courtesy NEXT Architects + MASS Studies

“The Canopy”, a collaborative project between NEXT Architects, Amsterdam and MASS Studies, Seoul for the invited competition for a student pavilion at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Additional images of the proposal and a narrative from the designers after the break.
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© Courtesy of Benthem Crouwel Architekten

Architects: Benthem Crouwel Architekten
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Project Year: 2008
Project Area: 2,350 sqm
Photographs: Courtesy of Benthem Crouwel Architekten

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© Rubén Dario Kleimeer

Architects: Sputnik
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Client: Woonbron Delfshaven, Rotterdam
Photographs: Rubén Dario Kleimeer

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The student centre as vibrant heart of any University Campus and the concept behind Student Center for the Erasmus University Campus by the collaboration of Powerhouse Company and De Zwarte Hond is no exception. The new center will be the heart of a new masterplan of the university campus in Rotterdam, Netherlands as a vibrant and central meeting point where research meets business and science meets culture.

Read on for more after the break. read more »

Courtesy of IABR

The 5th IABR calls for submissions of projects that advance innovative responses to today’s most pressing urban challenges. Municipal, metropolitan and national governments, cultural organizations, researchers, designers, and other parties are invited to submit design projects that rethink the existing interaction between politics, planning and design.

The selected projects will be integrated into the 5th IABR’s overall research and development process and they will be presented in Making City, the 5th IABR’s main exhibition at the Netherlands Architecture Institute, opening in April 2012.

Projects can be submitted until 1 April 2011, 12:00 CET. Submission guidelines, the complete Call for Projects and more information can be found on the 5th IABR: Making City website.

© Krill Architecture

Architects: Krill Architecture
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Client: Woonstad Rotterdam
Design: Krill Architecture
Consultants: LEX, Dare to care, adviesbureau Baas
Contractor: Bam-Volker
Project area: 400 sqm
Photographs: Ximena Davalos, Margi Geerlings, Frank Hanswijk

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© Flickr User: Kleiobird

Arguably one of the most spatially innovative architects in the world, Rem Koolhaas, and his firm OMA, designed a cultural staple in the city of Rotterdam.  Completed in 1992, the Kunsthal, in the Museumpark neighborhood of Rotterdam, is more of a cultural center that it is a museum.  Dubbed as a collection-less museum, the Kunsthal is a compilation of several galleries and halls that allow for maximum flexibility and accommodate a multitude of exhibitions and activities that can coexist singularly or collectively.

More on the Kunsthal after the break. read more »

© Rob 't Hart

The new building for the high school replaces a former auditorium, adding a significant amount of learning area.  It smoothly curls between the existing main building and is connected by the atrium, the auditorium and on the upper level the biology, physics and chemistry classes.  Key issues for this task were a healthy indoor climate, inviting architecture and an optimum integration in the green surroundings.  More photographs and drawings following the break.

Architects: OIII Architecten
Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Design: Eric Paardekooper Overman and Emile Revier
Interior Design: Anouk Dekker and Chanthal den Boer
Project Team: Athir Al-Haddad, Michael Hoogland, Drasko Turcinovic, Martin Vinkestijn, and Michel de Vries
Construction: Pieters Building Technology Delft
Building Physics: Builddesk Arnhem
Client: CVO Rotterdam
Project Area: 3,100 sqm
Photographs: Rob ‘t Hart

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© René de Wit

Architects: Ruud Visser Architects
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Photographs: René de Wit

Along the river De Rotte in Rotterdam stands a wooden church from 1930. The church was not in function anymore and was used as a garage for fixing and selling cars. The church was totally covered with metal plates and looked like a hangar. At the moment of the pitch, the building was in decline.

Architecture office Ruud Visser in corporation with Peter Boer designed a ‘house in the church’ for a family with two children.

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© Provast

Yesterday the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb and city councilor Hamit Karakus officially started the construction of the new Rotterdam Market Hall (previously featured here). The arched building located in the centre of Rotterdam, developed by Provast and designed by MVRDV is a hybrid of public market and apartment building.

The project with a total of 100.000 m2 is set to be completed in 2014 and part of the current regeneration of Rotterdam’s post war centre. Project developer Provast realizes the building, Unibail Rodamco invested in the shops and restaurants whilst Housing Corporation Vesteda will manage the rental apartments, making the building a socially integrated part of the city.

More images after the break. read more »

© OMA

A month ago we presented you the finalist entries for Stadskantoor, a new mixed used building at Rotterdam’s City Hall. After a process of public feedback and a presentation to the professional jury, OMA‘s entry was awarded with the 1st prize.

The strategy of the project is very simple: a modular flexible structure spans between existing buildings, supporting the mixed use program, while freeing the space below for public use. The axonometric shown below shows this rich public realm that the offers back to the city.

With this modular structure, units can be added or even dismounted from the structure as demands on the building change over time, and can adapt to either office space or residential parameters as desired. Green terraces on higher levels provide the possibility of an apartment with a garden in the heart of urban Rotterdam.

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SeARCH

In a previous post I told you about the competition held by the City of Rotterdam for a mixed used building to accommodate public services and a residential program, and  we presented OMA’s entry.

After the break, find the entries by the five finalists: Claus en Kaan Architecten, Mecanoo Architecten, Meyer en van Schooten Architecten, OMA and SeARCH.

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© OMA

The City of Rotterdam held a competition for a mixed-use extension for the City Hall, accommodating public and administrative facilities and a residential program. The competition requests that the mixed-use building becomes “the most sustainable in the Netherlands”.

Five designs were presented by the City, and they will be on public display at the NAI until Sept 13th to receive public feedback, which can also be made through the website. The teams will present to the jury on Septh 23th, and the winner will be announced sometime in October.

The 5 finalists are: Claus en Kaan Architecten, Mecanoo Architecten, Meyer en van Schooten Architecten, OMA and SeARCH.

OMA shared with us their finalist entry, in collaboration with  ABT and Werner Sobek Green Technolgies. The project adheres to the highest energy efficiency requirements, and it also considers a sustainable approach in terms of speed of construction and future flexibility of the building through a repeated and flexible structural system.

Images from the other proposals will be featured on another article. Rem Koolhaas’ statement and more images after the break.

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© Christian Richter

Erick van Egeraat‘s extension of InHolland University in Rotterdam adds more than 15,000 square feet to the growing education center.   van Egeraat designed the original building in 2001 and now has added a volumetric addition which includes study areas, classrooms, offices and space for commercial functions.

More about the extension after the break. read more »

Rotterdam’s Cube Houses, an iconic building designed in 1984 by Dutch architect Piet Blom, has been renewed and transformed into a new Stayokay hostel. The building consists in 38 small cubes and two bigger ones all attached to each other.

The expressive and colorful cube-shaped houses on concrete pillars are located right in the heart of the city, near the ‘Old Harbour’. Spending the night in a tilted cube is quite a unique experience. In addition to the 49 spacious rooms, Stayokay Rotterdam also has a restaurant, bar and two rooms for meetings and workshops. The interior concept of Dutch designer Edward van Vliet (SEVV) was used as a starting point. Kees van Lamoen and Personal Architecture were the rebuilding architects. More images, after the break.

PS: In the last Mark Magazine there’s an article with interviews to people who have lived in remarkable buildings, and the cube house was included. read more »

We just received this from OMA: After almost 12 years in the boards, OMA announced that the De Rotterdam complex will enter construction during December 2009, expecting completion in 2013.

Tree stacked towers with a total height of 150m, will result on a gross floor area of approximately 160,000m2, making De Rotterdam the largest building in the Netherland, with a total cost of €340m.

The mixed-use program (offices, apartments, a hotel, conference facilities, gym, shops, restaurants, and cafes) and the resulting density make this project a vertical city, located in the old harbour district of Wilhelminapier, next to the iconic Erasmus bridge.
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How and what can architects and urbanistst contribute to the way we live in cities? What is the Open City? How do people work, think, dream and act there? And why is it urgent to re-imagine the Open City?

These are just some of the questions that will confront the visitor to Open City: Designing Coexistence.

The 4th edition of the IABR will take place from 24 September 2009 until 10 January 2010 in Rotterdam and Amsterdam. You can find the program on the official site, including debates, lectures, and theater performances .