stadskantoor by OMA

OMA in collaboration with  werner sobek and engineers ABT, has won the competition
for rotterdam's stadskantoor, a new building for the city hall that will accommodate
municipal services, offices and residential units.

OMA conceived a modular building with repeated units gradually set back from the street
as they rise into two irregular peaks. the building’s composition of smaller cells creates
an impressive, complex form when viewed from coolsingel, one of rotterdam’s main arteries,
and allows for subtlety and adaptability as the stadskantoor abuts the adjacent municipal
building from the 1950s, the stadstimmerhuis.

the stadskantoor's innovative structural system generates maximum efficiency and versatility
both in construction and in program: units can be added or even dismounted from the structure
as demands on the building change over time, and can adapt to either office space or residential
parameters as desired. green terraces on higher levels provide the possibility of an apartment
with a garden in the heart of urban rotterdam.

the building's concept of flexibility – together with a climate regulated by warm air stored in
summer and released in winter, and vice versa, and the use of hi-tech translucent insulation
in the building's glass façade – allowed OMA to meet the design brief’s requirement of making
the stadskantoor the most sustainable building in the netherlands.


repeated units gradually set back from the street as they rise into two irregular peaks


model of stadskantoor


model of stadskantoor