Architecture News Plus (ANP) – Architecture and Design Magazine

Minerva Square

This is a project by De Zwarte Hond and it is located at Rotterdam, Netherlands. There are eight images for Minerva Square.

: © Marcel van Kerckhoven

Project images

Designer's statement

The ‘polder 110-morgen’ is one of the smallest neighborhoods in Rotterdam with many of the recognizable issues of an area in need of restructuring. Special about this neighborhood is that the area strives to be a ‘clean, complete and safe 110-morgen’. All involved parties signed an agreement to ensure that they all put in the necessary effort to achieve this goal. As part of the restructuring, De Zwarte Hond designed two apartment buildings with 48 dwellings that give a clean, complete and safe feeling by means of their fresh appearance and design.

Child day care and office spaces are situated on the ground floor, with parking resolved underground. The two buildings are placed sideways at the Minerva square, central in the neighborhood. This led to the decision to let the design differ from the existing brick buildings in the area. In contrast, these buildings have an almost non-Dutch appearance with their green balconies and white cladding. The entrance of the multi-sided building is located in the middle of the block too, immediately giving it a Mediterranean feel. A covered courtyard in green and white creates daylight on each floor down to the ground level. The apartments are light and the green transparency and shading of the balconies provide a view reminiscent of sun, sea and nature.

Details/Credits

Project: Rotterdam Minervaplein
Client: BOAG/Dura Vermeer Bouw Rotterdam BV
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Project team: Willem Hein Schenk (senior architect), Ute Brinkmejer. Jan Kooi, Bernhard Jaarsma, Julia Hevemeyer
Program: Underground parking, commercial space, office space, 48 apartments
Surface 11.028 m2
Competition and start design: October 2005
Construction start: October 2007
Completion: July 2009
Photographs: Marcel van Kerckhoven, Rob Koenen