Timmerhuis

A Stadstimmerhuis (translated literally: "city carpentry house") is the office of the municipal service that deals with building and construction. It is named after the profession of civil carpenter, and later civil architect or master builder. An earlier Stadstimmerhuis in Rotterdam was located on the Haringvliet, but was destroyed in the Second World War during the German bombing of Rotterdam in World War II.{{cite web |url=http://www.rotterdamcelebratesthecity.com/background/the-attack-the-1940-bombing-of-rotterdam/ |title=The Attack: The 1940 Bombing of Rotterdam |author=Clint van der Hartt |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=April 16, 2021 |quote=}} Then, from the early 1940s to 1953, the Stadstimmerhuis was located as an emergency building near the cattle market, between the Warande and the Goudse Rijweg, on the Boezemweg. This emergency building was still in use after 1953. In 1947, municipal architect J.R.A. Koops designed the new Stadstimmerhuis, originally conceived as an elongated building on the Haagseveer with four wings at right angles to each other. Ultimately, only one of the four wings was realized: the one on the Meent. In this way, an L-shaped office building was created on the Meent and the Haagseveer. Its construction took place between 1950 and 1953; it was one of the first larger buildings in the empty center of Rotterdam to be erected after the bombing.

The building was completed in 1953 and housed the Department of Municipal Works and four technical departments. The reconstruction of Rotterdam would be led from this place.

File:Timmerhuis_-_Rotterdam_11.jpg

Koops' original Stadstimmerhuis is a sleek building, made of concrete with brick and stone details. It features gabled roofs and chimneys, giving it a traditionalist look, but it was also considered progressive, due to the concrete skeleton, flexible ventilation system and self-service elevators. Partition walls in the office spaces are movable. On the Meent there is a row of steel and glass shop fronts, and the gable ends have granite reliefs. There is also a bronze plaque in honor of engineer Cornelis van Traa - city architect of the reconstruction between 1940 and 1964 - after a design by Cor van Kralingen.{{cite web |url=https://wederopbouwrotterdam.nl/en/articles/basic-plan-van-traa |title=The Basic Plan by Van Traa |author= |date= |website=Post-war reconstruction Community Rotterdam |publisher= |access-date=April 16, 2021 |quote=}}{{cite web |url=https://wederopbouwrotterdam.nl/en/articles/stadstimmerhuis-meent |title=Stadstimmerhuis Meent

|author= |date= |website=Post-war reconstruction Community Rotterdam |publisher= |access-date=April 16, 2021 |quote=}}

In 2000, the building received the status of a municipal heritage monument and has been extensively restored.

An extension of the Stadstimmerhuis, contained within the L-shape, designed by Ronald Gill in the 1970s, was demolished in 2011. In 2009, a call for proposals was issued to design a new wing, in which five architectural firms took part (Claus and Kaan, Mecanoo, Meyer and Van Schooten, OMA and SeARCH). OMA's design was selected by a professional jury and is described as 'a shapeless pile of pixels', 'a building like a kind of cloud'. It is a set of white glass cubes, cantilevered over a steel construction on two legs.{{cite web |url=https://www.dezeen.com/2015/12/10/oma-pixellated-timmerhuis-complex-rotterdam-netherlands/ |title=OMA completes pixellated Timmerhuis complex in Rotterdam |author=Amy Frearson |date=December 10, 2015 |website= |publisher=Dezeen: Architecture and Design Magazine |access-date=April 16, 2021 |quote=}}

The new complex, the Timmerhuis, opened on December 11, 2015. It contains offices, 91 apartments, an underground parking garage and houses Museum Rotterdam. Museum Rotterdam self-proclaims to be "The most Rotterdam museum in the world," connecting the past, present and future.{{cite web |url=https://museumrotterdam.nl/en/about-museum-rotterdam/historie-en-toekomst |title=Museum Rotterdam: Our Story|author= |date= |website= |publisher= |access-date=April 16, 2021 |quote=}}

The old L-shaped building has been integrated into it. The extension comprises two towers, consisting of step-shaped, receding residential floors with roof terraces. On the ground floor, between the towers, is an atrium with a publicly accessible pedestrian passage (Halvemaanpassage) that connects Haagseveer with Rodezand.

File:Timmerhuis - Rotterdam 01.jpg|North tower from Stadhuisstraat

File:Timmerhuis - Rotterdam 02.jpg|Facade on Rodezand with access to the Halvemaanpassage

File:Timmerhuis - Rotterdam 07.jpg|Atrium and public passage with steel construction between the two towers

File:Timmerhuis - Rotterdam 09.jpg|Bronze plaque in honor of engineer Cornelis van Traa

File:Timmerhuis - Rotterdam 04.jpg|Detail of facade with curved glass

{{reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160920005007/http://www.timmerhuisrotterdam.nl/nl/locatie/historie/2013/08/versnelde-afbouw-stadskantoor/331 Photo from the (since abandoned) expansion by Ronald Gill]
• [http://www.designboom.com/architecture/oma-timmerhuis-rotterdam-city-hall-mixed-use-reinier-de-graaf-rem-koolhaas-10-20-2015/ Photos of the extension by Designboom]

{{Works by OMA}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rotterdam, De}}

Category:Office buildings completed in 2015

Category:Buildings and structures in Rotterdam

Category:Postmodern architecture

Category:Rem Koolhaas buildings