CITTY VILLA ROTTERDAM

At the Noordereiland at the Maaskade, as a continuation of De Hef (railway lift bridge) OMA was asked to design a city villa. One of the qualities of this location is the view to three sides over the river Maas. By raising the eye hight up from the streetlevel, the view will be even more impressive.

The typology we used is a typical Rotterdam house, with the the ground-floor apartment left out. A lift and staircase open up the house, which starts at 8.8 metres. The plinth of concrete, on which the upstairs apartment rests, has a rough finishing. It is located between the idyllic green, which continues from the dike body downwards, with a reflecting ceiling which doubles the monument of De Hef once again. The space that is created between the plinth and the current development is an outside room. It has an unexpected view. A parking place is hidden in the dike body, enclosed by a garage door covered with green. A transparent box is placed on the massive T-shaped plinth. The floor partly covered by the concrete T offers space to the more functional rooms, such as workrooms, bedrooms and bathrooms. Because of the closed wall up to a height of about 1.3 metres this provides privacy. Supporting functions like cupboards, a foldaway bed for the guests, a fireplace, etc, are hidden in this thickened outer facade.
The living and dining area are placed on the level above covered with a complete transparent facade to give view to all three sides. The patio with stairs to the roof offers a protected outside space. The roof terrace is situated as a hidden hollow in the dunes, between a band of sea buckthorn and dune grass.


City villa Rotterdam, Phase: SD - Buildingpermit
Client: private
Partner: Ellen van Loon
Associate: Chris van Duijn
Projectleader: Marlies Boterman
Projectteam: Laura Barr, Anu Garla, Nathalie Gozdziak, Sai Shu
Program: 300m2, Start design november 2012, Submission building permit: June 2013