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Architects: Arons & Gelauff architecten
- Area: 9782 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Sebastian van Damme
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Lead Architect: Floor Arons
"From the outside, a tough warehouse, from the inside, a green oasis; our winning design for a luxury residential block that aims to retain families in Rotterdam, Netherlands.” The municipality of Rotterdam issued a tender for a construction block on the Lloydpier along the Maas. The main requirement was high living quality. The individual houses had to be of high quality, with good orientation and proportions. In addition, there had to be a great diversity of homes overall, especially to preserve families in the city.
We designed, together with the architecture firm ‘Architectuur Maken’ from Rotterdam, a block with as many front doors as possible on the waterside and street level. The enclosed courtyard forms a stark contrast with the tough character of the pier and the expansive water of the Maas. In early 2018, our design was declared the winner by the municipality of Rotterdam.
On the water side of the Schiehaven, we designed a segmented building (a bit warehouse-like) with a classic structure: base, middle, and top, with a contemporary design. The entire base consists of maisonettes of two floors, opening onto the communal garden in the middle. For the middle part, we designed triplets: on each of the nine floors, a staircase with three homes.
This is a spacious design, where the homes have views in multiple directions. On top, there are even very luxurious roof villas with multiple outdoor spaces. The houses along the streets Loods Bali and Loods Borneo have a so-called 'Maas-window,' a bay window that offers a view of the Maas. These city homes have internal access to the storage on the parking level. “The enclosed courtyard forms a stark contrast with the tough character of the pier and the expansive water of the Maas.”
Inviting living garden. Landscape architect Hanneke Kijne: “The garden is a green oasis, in contrast to the tough pier. We have provided two mature trees and a garden with full soil. The planting is colorful and attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds throughout the year. It's an inviting living garden for children, parents, and elderly.”
Focus on sustainability. Sustainability is important in our design. The structures will be equipped with recycled copper as well as 'fitting pieces' between the homes. We also use bricks from a factory in Limburg, of which at least 50% consist of recycled material. The project pays a lot of attention to water retention and scores high on the aspects of health and energy.