Hotel Complex Schouwburgplein
Project information
Location: Schouwburgplein, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Project type: High-Rise Mixed-Use Development
Design focus: Architectural & Structural Design
Project Overview
This academic project involved the architectural and structural design of a new mixed-use hotel complex at Schouwburgplein in the centre of Rotterdam. The development comprises a hotel tower positioned above a multifunctional podium containing, among other functions, offices and a parking garage.
The architectural composition responds to the surrounding urban context through two different orientations. The rectangular hotel tower is positioned parallel to the neighbouring high-rise buildings, while the podium follows the orientation of the street and surrounding lower-rise development. As a result, the tower is rotated relative to the podium below, creating substantial cantilevers and making the transfer of vertical and horizontal loads a key aspect of the structural concept.
The hotel tower consists of two elongated zones containing the hotel rooms, separated by a large central atrium. These zones are connected by pedestrian bridges and a series of communal “skycourts” positioned along the façade. Large glazed openings connect these spaces visually to the city, while integrated planting creates green communal areas where hotel guests can meet and interact.
At the skycourts, Infra+ floor systems were incorporated into the design. The spaces between the steel sections of the floor system provide room for integrating the substrate required for the planting, allowing architecture, structure and landscape to be combined within the floor construction.
The structural design was strongly influenced by the unconventional geometry of the building. The tower was designed to be extendable to approximately 100 metres, while the rotated upper volume creates cantilevers of several metres above the podium. The large central atrium, extensive transparent façades and open spaces within the lower levels further limited the locations where structural stability elements could be introduced.
The structural concept can be divided into three principal systems: the steel hotel structure of the upper tower, the large exposed transfer trusses supporting the tower, and the predominantly transparent lower structure beneath them. The upper structure was designed entirely in steel to minimise self-weight and reduce the forces acting on the transfer trusses and supporting columns. The use of steel also supports the architectural objectives of flexibility, adaptability, prefabrication and future vertical expansion.
Vertical loads from the hotel tower are transferred through the large trusses to the circular columns below and subsequently to the foundations. The trusses are deliberately exposed and form an integral part of the architectural expression of the building.
The lateral stability system presented another significant engineering challenge. In the transverse direction, X-bracing was incorporated into the walls separating the hotel rooms. Structural analysis demonstrated that these bracing elements alone provided insufficient stiffness, resulting in excessive storey and overall building deformations. The braced zones on opposite sides of the atrium were therefore connected to form an outrigger system, significantly increasing the effective structural depth and lateral stiffness of the tower.
Alternative structural configurations were also investigated. One study considered inclined columns beneath the transfer trusses, aligning the column axes more closely with the resultant forces from the upper structure. This reduced bending moments, shear forces and deformations and allowed for potentially more slender columns. The solution was ultimately not adopted because the vertical circular columns were considered more appropriate to the architectural concept.
The resulting design demonstrates an integrated approach in which architecture, structural engineering, flexibility and landscape were developed together to create an expressive high-rise building capable of accommodating substantial open spaces, cantilevers and future expansion.
Deliverables
• Architectural design
• Structural design and calculations
• Structural concept studies
• Stability and deformation analyses
• Alternative structural design studies
• Floor plans, sections and elevations
• Structural drawings
• 3D model
• Architectural visualisations
