‘FUSING TWO TOWERS TOGETHER AS ONE MIXED HIGHRISE BUILDING’

Master interdisciplinary group project: MEGA | 2021

Within this project, I had the role as an architect within a group of eight people (architecture students and civil engineering students) where the goal was to develop an architectural design solution that connects and integrates all the information provided by the other disciplines which answers the question that is given in the design brief. In this case, a ca. 145.000 m2 gross design brief is given which asks for the integration of a large distribution hall with a Fab Lab and data centre. This all combined with a hotel and restaurant, residences and offices program within a high-rise building in a harbour area in Rotterdam. The big contrast between the program requirements in terms of e.g. spatial quality brings up a challenge for the architectural design. The three most important elaborated design elements were: monolithic ‘stacking’ of functions while shifting the blocks; a large atrium where different functions meet each other; combining two towers into one.