Archetype
Architects, structural engineers, and geotechnical engineers have collaborated to design a new type of residence for the Netherlands’ second-largest city, one that pairs Rotterdam’s tradition of open-air markets with an enormous arch structure that will enable residents to view both the city and the market below. Glass-clad cable net facades at either end of the arch will ensure that the markets remain protected yet inviting.
Rotterdam, the second-largest city in the Netherlands, will soon be home to Market Hall, a 40 m tall and 70 m wide arch containing more than 200 apartments as well as restaurants and shops overlooking a 100-stall public market. The 100,000 m² structure will integrate the traditional public square concept with a new type of urban residence in a city that can trace its origins back more than 1,100 years.
The Rotterdam-based architecture firm MVRDV designed the €175-million (U.S.$256.4-million) structure for the developer, Provast, of The Hague. DHV, also of Rotterdam, will perform the structural engineering of Market Hall, including one of the deepest excavations in the country’s history.
(…) “I have never seen or heard of any other such arch structure in the world,” says Maurice Hermens, a consulting structural engineer for DHV. He says the most challenging aspects of the structural design are the deep excavation in what he calls “thick soup,” the construction of the arch structure itself, and the suspended cable net, or “tennis racket,” glass wall on the arch entrances.
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(Photo: 'Provast, The Hague' )