Following the completion of the largest building in the Netherlands, OMA has returned to its spiritual home with another conceptual curiosity in Rotterdam. The mixed-use Timmerhuis building has arrived in the heart of the Dutch city, its cascading terraces of glazed cubes now visible above the skyline not far from the distinctive curved form of MVRDV’s Market Hall.
Along with some high-quality photographs of the 484,000-square-foot project — including shots of the external elevations, circular conference rooms, communal lobby, and a soaring atrium — the firm has revealed a number of insightful drawings and diagrams that illuminate the thinking behind Partner Reinier de Graaf’s latest program-busting complex.
Shown above, this ghostly rendering of the primary structural framework of the building is filled with inhabitants, and the adjacent buildings and surrounding context have been removed to lay bare OMA’s spatial layout. This architectural skeleton reveals the volumetric matrix of Timmerhuis and emphasizes the importance of a cantilevered steel structure that allows for the “uninterrupted unfolding of public space on the ground floor,” according to de Graaf.
© Sebastian van Damme
The building’s structural frame, a robust grid of white steel I-beams, is clearly expressed at full scale in the light-filled atrium. The ground floor — delineated by a contrasting façade treatment of curved, floor-to-ceiling glazed panels — is home to a public passageway, a café, shop, and the Museum Rotterdam. Offices and apartments ‘hover’ above with numerous external terraces for residences created by the building’s staggered form.
© Ossip van Duivenbode
“Rather than adding yet another grand statement,” says de Graaf, “Timmerhuis attempts a constructive ‘surrender’ to the city’s present state. The building’s formless, seemingly improvised composition acts as an echo of the city’s mood. It creates the possibility of different experiences: from the Coolsingel, viewed between the Town Hall and the Post Office, the building appears nearly symmetrical, monumental even … On the other side, in relation to the existing monument, the same building appears delicate and accommodating.”
© Sebastian van Damme
To explore more recent projects by Rem Koolhaas and his team, check out OMA’s in-depth firm profile on Architizer.