SeARCH i.c.w. Christian Müller presents a fully energy neutral City Hall for Rotterdam. The design is a homage to the round shape that gives maximum shelter with a minimum of material usage, is efficient… and beautiful. One windmill on the Maasvlakte provides the last bit of electricity necessary for this ‘green heart of the city’.

Square, high and angular, synonyms for the city of Rotterdam. What remains is the fact that the special light, the grandness and the tough water add endless much to it. Just as in New York the whole is more than the pieces on its own. An intangible force, the repetition, the apparent insensibility that, on further consideration, hides the inevitable necessity, the total deficiency of ‘unnecessary’ aesthetics finally creates a rhythm for the citizen, a mystical experience that exceeds the perception of beauty. A feeling that other Dutch cities lack and that is what makes Rotterdam unique. The design is a composition of more or less even elements, although variation in height and with but moreover family, an architectonic homage to the round form, the parabola and the barrel vault, a returning form in the interior of the existing city all of architect Evers. Also the grey-green glazed details of the hallways of the City hall are to be found in the building façade of the City centre.

Is it possible to unite the wish for a metropolitan city and a wish for a more classic downtown area with human measures, smaller diversity and ‘surprise’? We have renewed the historical, denser structure. The Halvemaanstraat and Trouwsteeg were until 1930 located where we have planned to create the inner street between the Stadstimmerhuis and the City office. Names of these former streets will be re-introduced. An area is thus created in which not only routes from A to B are made but also connections that make you want to stay, walk around, lounge and generate alternative routes, even stimulate.

Sustainability:

The design has the highest possible BREEAM score. In the design a CO2 reduction is realized of 59%. By placing one windmill on the Second Maasvlakte, on a hillock of the earth dug out for the basement, the entire energy need can be supplied for the building. The CO2 reduction then even rises to 93%. This creates a fully energy neutral design with an EPC of 0.00.

There is no simple solution to sustainability. In order to achieve the environmental reductions noted above a wide range of measures have been taken. We prefer simplicity over high tech solutions. Contrary to the programme brief the existing monumental building is not intergrated in the new structure, but accomodates the housing only. Unlinking the housing and offices avoids complex infrastructure.

Cooling loads have been minimised by using heat mirror glazing and a high insulating façade. Materials are recycled (the ceramic façade panels and concrete from the existing building on the site) or can be re-used. The tower construction is made of a steel frame with wooden cassette floor and can be demounted. Installations work on the basis of necessity: CO2 sensors regulate the amount of fresh air needed.