RDM Condor Shipping Container Warehouse – Group A

The Beauty and Mystery of the Machine

     

50x100x25m industrial building, RDM / Heijplaat, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
For this project Edwin Larkens was an external project leader for Group A, www.groupa.nl

      

      

The Colossus Next to the Village

   

Adding the large industrial volume next to the charming, historic village is an exciting challenge as a dialogue between scales. While the design of industrial buildings demands rigorous economic pragmatism and restraint, the proximity to the small scale residential requires a sensitive, communicative architectural approach.
The warehouse is located on the southwest edge of the RDM shipyard with the heavy industry of the port and faces the garden village of Heijplaat. The urban plan of the Port of Rotterdam deliberately emphasizes this extreme contrast in scale. The identity of the Condor Warehouse is defined by this tension: the rugged, monumental character of the container harbor meets the secluded intimacy of the village.

      

Expressing Port Architecture

   

Though vast, the building integrates a human scale through subdivision and rhythmic elements with refined, minimalist detailing. Its straightforward, pragmatic materiality and shape pay homage to the neighboring historic brick shipyard buildings and the enormous machines, ships and floating vehicles in the port. The primary design expresses the internal difference between the functional requirements and its small and large structural spans. Strategic glazed incisions offer glimpses of internal activities.
The machine-like building is designed around a massive double-crane structure. It accommodates conditioned container storage, crane-load testing, and specialized climate-controlled mezzanine floors, supported by integrated office facilities. The project is a delicate expression of internal mechanics, which brings the hidden industrial pulse of the warehouse into dialogue with the surrounding port landscape and the village.

      

Would you like to discuss your industrial project?
Contact Edwin at ++ 31 (0) 6 45243122
      
Project and images copyright Group A