The Sax Rotterdam, Dutch Tower Building by MVRDV Architects, Wilhelminapier Project Images

The Sax, Rotterdam Tower

Philadelphia & Havana Wilhelminapier Building Development design by MVRDV Architects

Aug 1, 2017

The Sax Tower in Rotterdam

Design: MVRDV Architects

The Sax, Rotterdam Tower

Development partners BPD Bouwfonds Property Development, Ontwikkeling B.V. and SYNCHROON Ontwikkelaars in consultation with the municipality of Rotterdam, have been working since 2015 on the development of residential buildings Philadelphia & Havana.

images courtesy of MVRDV and WAX Architectural Visualisations

The Sax is formed from two interconnected towers. The building is located between the New Luxor Theater and the Boston & Seattle residential areas on Wilheminapier, a historical harbour area in the heart of the city.

The building is conceived as one recognisable silhouette with its main layout adopted for housing distribution in towers that are about 70 to 150 m high and connected to an air bridge in which the 150 room hotel is located.

“Rotterdam is more and more a city of towers and The Sax will add a new element to this collection,” says Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV. “The façade features a contemporary reinterpretation of the bay window, providing views for each unit with the advantage of allowing individual and unique apartments in this large collective complex. This windowed effect adds an extra dimension in experiencing the view onto Rotterdam. The plinth and the bridge which contains a hotel will be open to the public making Wilheminapier even more lively.”

Inside the building, all main rooms are situated within the bay-windowed facade meaning that all apartments benefit from the maximum amount of daylight enhanced by 270-degree panoramic views of the Nieuwe Maas and city. On top of the hotel is a public terrace at 80 m high.

The Sax contributes positively to the city’s Kop van Zuid skyline, also known as ‘Manhattan On the Maas.’ This residential building looks so distinctive, with no repetitive facades.

The Sax is a building designed to be rough and unpolished, thus echoing its historic port location.

The Sax Rotterdam – Building Information

Location: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Year: 2017+
Programme & Size: 82,200 m2 mixed-use with 450 apartments (sale and rental), a hotel with 150 rooms, parking and commercial units
Budget: Undisclosed
Design MVRDV: Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries
Design Team: Jacob van Rijs, Frans de Witte with Fedor Bron, Mick van Gemert, Mark van den Ouden, Luca Moscelli, Fouad Addou, Daniele Zonta, Giuseppe Campo Antico, Ronald Kam, Clementine Bory and Yassin Matni.
Visualization: Antonio Luca Coco, Davide Calabro, Massimiliano Marzoli, Costanza Cuccato, Kirill Emelianov and Pavlos Ventouris
Client: BPD Bouwfonds Property Development, Ontwikkeling B.V. and SYNCHROON Ontwikkelaars

Partners
ARUP: Mathew Vola, Peter Mensinga, Jorn de Jong, Shibo Ren, Nathalie Ramos, Roel van de Straat, Leonie van Ginkel, Alex Christodoulou, Veronika Heidegger and Tom Warger

Images: MVRDV and WAX Architectural Visualisations

The Sax, Rotterdam Tower Building architect : MVRDV

Location: Wilhelminapier, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Rotterdam Architecture

Contemporary Architecture in Rotterdam

Rotterdam Architecture Designs – chronological list

Rotterdam Architecture – Selection

Collection Building Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Design: MVRDV

picture from architects
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

MVRDV Architects

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Design: MAXWAN architects + urbanists

photograph © Artur Borejszo
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Exhibition