Wilhelmina Pier Within

Many cities would not be suitable for a high rise residential tower for social fabric and ensuing reasons of urban planning. For the cities that could benefit from residential towers and where they would be applauded, careful planning and marketing is necessary. The success of residential towers has much to do with the city, in which they set to be built. People may not yet be accustomed to the idea of living in a residential tower along with the fact that there remain some negative connotations about them due to the un-human post war buildings geared toward social housing; anonymous concrete structures, placed in undefined public spaces. Residential towers apparently are welcome, but only as a niche market entry.

Montevideo
 Montevideo could not be successful without reflecting the context in which it stands. The building refers to the Holland-America feeling that the site evokes: the place where ocean steamers and cruise ships made the crossing from Rotterdam to New York. The tower block is inspired by the prewar high rise buildings of New York, Chicago and Boston. The building’s location along the Wilhelmina pier showcases breathtaking views out onto the river and to downtown Rotterdam.

One living in the building feels the closeness of the city with the luxury of observing it from on high. It is also a strong landmark, flanking the historic building that is now Hotel New York. Montevideo appears as sentry welcoming the tall ships as they sail into Rotterdam. The rich history of the Wilhelmina Pier as a source of inspiration for the design, the building is anchored in its sustainable environment. The building and the story behind it expresses not only the residents, but also the Rotterdammer on the street and the visitor of the city.

The building and location are one of the icons of the city. The expansion of its activities has meant that Rotterdam’s harbour has shifted closer to the sea, thus freeing up the old city harbours for other uses. The Wilhelmina Pier lies in such an old city harbour, between the River Maas and the Rhine Harbour, and is being developed into a spectacular residential and office area with a lot of high-rise buildings. The ocean steamers and cruise ships of the Holland- Amerika Line once moored on the Wilhelmina Pier to make the crossing from Rotterdam to New York.

The Holland-Amerika Line offices were in what is now Hotel New York. On the Wilhelmina Pier were warehouses with exotic names of major port cities, such as New York, New Orleans, Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore and Havana. For the highest residential building of the Netherlands, at the head of the Wilhelmina Pier, a name has been chosen that fits into this tradition: Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

Vertical city
In 1999 Mecanoo was asked by ING Real Estate and the Rotterdam Urban Planning Agency to think up a concept design plan for the south side of the Wilhelmina Pier, which at that time was mainly intended for high-rise residential buildings. For the north side, freestanding office buildings were being developed: the World Port Center by Norman Foster and the KPN Tower by Renzo Piano.

For Mecanoo it was important that the contrast between the north and south sides should not be expressed in the way the buildings looked, and for this reason Mecanoo did not want to create a ‘housing project’ image - buildings characterized in the main by repetitive balconies. Mecanoo proposed a series of tall buildings that together would produce a vertical city, something like a stack of mansions with spacious, neutral floor plans for either living or working and with inviting, open ground-floor functions at street level.

Mecanoo’s urban composition uses the sporadic low-rise buildings on the north side as a counterweight, so that from the south side, too, you can see the Rotterdam city centre to the north.

Programme
Site area: approx.ca. 30x90 meter = 2700 m².
Number of stories: 43
Height:152.17 m
Total floor area: 57,530 m²
Apartments: 36,867 m²,
Pool: 905 m²,
Fitness and service space: 6,129 m²
Offices: 1,608 m²
Retail and a parking garage: 8,413 m²
Design 1999-2002
Realisation 2003-2005
Client ING Real Estate
Architect Mecanoo architecten
Structural engineer ABT bv
Building services consultant Schreuder Groep
Building physics consultant Adviesbureau Peutz & Associates
Contractor Besix
Building costs  65,000,000

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Information provided by Mecanoo