ctbuh.org/papers Title: Developing Rotterdam’s Skyline Authors: Frank van der Hoeven, Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology Steffen Nijhuis, Associate Professor, Delft University of Technology Subject: Urban Design Keyword: Urban Planning Publication Date: 2012 Original Publication: CTBUH Journal, 2012 Issue II Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter 2. Journal paper 3. Conference proceeding 4. Unpublished conference paper 5. Magazine article 6. Unpublished © Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Frank van der Hoeven; Steffen Nijhuis Developing Rotterdam’s Skyline “The framework as presented carries the potential to underpin a city’s guidance on tall building development. This framework presents the context of a tall building design, providing a Frank van der Hoeven Steffen Nijhuis more balanced evaluation of a design proposal Authors Frank van der Hoeven, Associate Professor compared to studies that focus solely on Steffen Nijhuis, Assistant Professor individual tall buildings.” Delft University of Technology Faculty of Architecture Julianalaan 134 The planning and construction of tall buildings is often controversial, polarizing the public 2628 BL Delft The Netherlands debate on architecture and urban life. In many cases the emotional discourse focuses on t: +31 15 278 9805 aesthetics and view corridors, more than city planning or economics. This paper introduces a e: [email protected] framework that analyzes the visual impact a developing skyline has on a city and its e: [email protected] www.graduateschool.abe.tudelft.nl surrounding region, using Rotterdam as a case study. By studying the height and completion year, identifying the tall building cluster as it is perceived visually and conducting a GISc- Frank van der Hoeven based visibility analysis, the framework provides context to tall building designs. The results Prof. van der Hoeven is an associate professor of urban make the assessment of individual projects more scientific and balanced, removing many of design at the Faculty of Architecture at Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. He conducted his PhD the emotional elements that often enter into the discussions. research in the field of underground space technology and multifunctional and intensive land-use. The core of his work deals with urban design issues related to Introduction Concerns about the appropriateness of tall mixed-use development: transit-oriented Research on the visual impact of tall buildings buildings in the urban environment, the development, urban greenhouse horticulture, the use quality of the architecture and the impact on of underground space, high-rise urban areas and has the potential to make or break a tall climate change. Currently he combines his associate building proposal. In the UK, debates over the local real estate markets is increasingly professorship in urban design with the position of reflected in municipal and metropolitan Director of Research of the Faculty of Architecture. appropriateness of projects in London and Liverpool are primarily focused on view policymaking. Prominent cities with a Steffen Nijhuis corridors, with UNESCO threatening to longstanding tradition of urban management, Prof. Nijhuis is an assistant professor of landscape remove world heritage designations from building regulations and zoning plans often architecture at Delft University of Technology, The feel the need for additional instruments to Netherlands. His PhD research, entitled “Landscape historic complexes if the new developments Architecture and GIS,” focuses on the application of damage their aesthetic impact (see Debating control the development of what is described geographic information science in landscape by McNeill as “an extremely complex spatial architectonic research and design. The core of his work Tall, page 5). deals with theories, methods and techniques in the phenomenon” (McNeill, 2005). Scientific field of landscape architecture and urban design, visual landscape assessment and visual knowledge representation. He is leader of the architecture and landscape research program, series editor of RiUS and advisor to governmental and regional authorities in the Netherlands. Figure 1. Rotterdam as a prominent west European tall building city 32 | Developing Rotterdam’s Skyline CTBUH Journal | 2012 Issue II literature, however, often neglects the western European cities possess this type of Rotterdam’s semi-official tall building history substantial impact skyscrapers and their visual mature skyline: London, Paris, Frankfurt, and portrays a 100-year prelude from the late 19th footprint can have on urban life. “The Rotterdam. century, with the completion of the 42-meter significance of these buildings – in terms of The leading position of Rotterdam is Witte Huis, built in 1898, to the so-called “first height, levels of human occupancy, aesthetic furthermore underscored by DEGW’s report wave” of high buildings in the mid-1980s. impact and popular representation and use on London’s Skyline, Views, and High Buildings Prominent city planners suggest that the city – is in need of careful geographical commissioned by the Greater London at the turn of the century was on the verge of interpretation.” (McNeill 2005) Authority (DEGW 2002). The London policy a “second wave” of tall buildings, which would In 2007 the Netherlands Institute for Spatial document uses the same four European cities feature supertall buildings (Maandag 2001). Research (Lörzing et al. 2007) published an to compare established European practices of However, this tale cannot be underpinned investigation on the visibility of the proposed tall buildings policymaking: London, Paris, with facts. Neither the height nor the location Belle van Zuylen tower. At 262 meters the Frankfurt, and Rotterdam. of the high buildings dating from this early Belle van Zuylen tower would become period relate to the municipal policy on The tall building policy document that high-rises. It was only in the 1970s that the Holland’s tallest residential building and the emerged in the Netherlands is called centerpiece of Leidsche Rijn, the new city current tall building area in the middle of the hoogbouwbeleid or hoogbouwvisie. The Dutch city center began to emerge. district, west of Utrecht. But the Netherlands policies resemble a number of policy Institute for Spatial Research analysis showed documents recently produced in the United Essential data on tall buildings can be easily that the Belle van Zuylen could be seen from Kingdom and Germany. presented by means of a scatter plot. In the most of the “Green Heart,” the semi-rural case of Rotterdam, the building height and region enclosed by the cities of Rotterdam, Height regulation is a key component of all the year of completion were plotted, Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. The these tall building policies. Height also including the primary use of such buildings. report was the last blow for the proposed translates into visibility. The beauty of Rotterdam’s scatter plot lies in development – construction was cancelled the clear patterns that emerge. In her book soon after the release of the report (Lörzing A modern history Form Follows Finance, Carol Willis explains 2011). Over the years, the city of Rotterdam has that the end of a tall building wave is typically The Belle van Zuylen case is a fine example of carefully cultivated an image as a “city of marked by the construction of the “tallest using research for tactical purposes through architecture.” But “historic” architecture is not building so far.” If we would consider these the selective presentation of findings. The Rotterdam’s strong point. Few buildings were “tallest buildings so far” as anomalies and study did not present the Belle van Zuylen in left standing after the bombing and fire of disregard them, the development of the its true context. The joint visual impact of all May 1940. The few buildings that survived Rotterdam tall building cluster is characterized the tall buildings in the region on the Green were relatively modern buildings from the by a remarkable continuity. However, if Carol Heart was not considered, nor how much that 1920s and 1930s. The city had to rebuild its Willis’ insights are applicable to Rotterdam, impact would change as a result of the center from scratch. Planners seized this then the year in which the tallest building so construction of the Belle van Zuylen. If the opportunity to experiment with architecture far was completed could be used as the study had included these elements, it may not and urbanism, which is why the Rotterdam breaking points between tall building waves. have caused such stir. In fact, a nearby city center now contains numerous Three such buildings stand out in Rotterdam: television tower, the 367-meter monuments and icons from the modern and the Faculty of Medicine of the Erasmus Gerbrandytoren tower, built 42 years earlier, modernist period, sometimes referred to as University, also known as Hoboken (1969, 112 dominates the visual impact of the area. “reconstruction architecture.” meters), the Delftse Poort (1991, 93 and 151 meters) and the Maastoren (2009, 165 meters). Discussions about the appropriateness of tall A framework that helps to picture the context If the tall building history of Rotterdam is buildings surfaced from time to time, but of a proposed tall building can potentially indeed characterized by waves, then these never reached the emotional levels neutralize public and political debates that so buildings are