Renovation of the City Hall tower

Bureau Bouwkunde’s contribution

• architectural plan development
  • pre-existing situation
  • final design

Bureau Bouwkunde supported the Municipality of Rotterdam, Department of Urban Development (Stadsonwikkeling), in preparing for the renovation of the city hall tower on Coolsingel. The tower’s foundation has been affected by moisture damage both inside and outside, as visible in the left photo (below). The photo on the right is an archival image of the tower immediately after construction, with the relevant section on the right side.

In this phase, we provided the necessary drawings: technical elaboration of the intended renovation in architectural elevations, architectural details of the existing and new situation. These drawings were created using Autodesk Revit, with archival drawings serving as a reference.

The work was carried out in 2 phases:

Pre-existing situation: The goal of this phase was to digitally convert 2D archival drawings of the current situation, including setting up the existing principle details.

Final Design: The objective of this phase was to develop a definitive representation of the renovation, including material use, finishing, and (principle) detailing.

A NATIONAL MONUMENT

The city hall of Rotterdam is one of the few historic buildings in the city center. Constructed between 1914 and 1920, it survived the bombing in 1940. All the more reason to preserve it with care!