James Joyce III Staff
A group of local architects today unveiled a new design for the waterfront in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
The plan, designed by a team from Design Collective, RTKL, Shull Architects and Reed Fulton Landscape Architect, focused on improving the Rotterdam harbor as it relates to retail, residential and luxury use.
Late in the year 2000, the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands requested the assistance of four cities to help redesign its unused harbor. Baltimore was selected as one of four cities including London; Barcelona, Spain; and Hamburg, Germany.
Through the assistance of the mayor's office, the Baltimore Development Corp. has coordinated the design team of private sector design and architecture firms to work on preliminary ideas and design.
Baltimore was selected as one of the cities to propose a design for two main reasons -- because of the sister city relationship with Rotterdam that has existed since 1985 and the similarities in geographic set up of the two cities, according to Bill Gaskins, a member of the design team from Design Collective Inc.
Members of the design team proposed an intricate design of tunneling an existing four lane highway, making underground parking accessible from the tunnel, reconstructing an existing bridge that is below European minimum height requirements and having the harbor front follow a natural organic form.
The plan also proposes a three point "seed planting" approach to attractions. This includes designing three main areas of attraction along the nearly mile-long harbor front and allowing the rest of the space to form as demand requests.
The underlying metaphor of the proposed design was "Where the city meets the river."
If the proposed project is adopted by the Rotterdam government, it will take up to 20 years to complete construction.
When asked about a proposed cost, Paul Dombrowski, director of planning for the team, said, "I don't even want to think about it."
The team was not looking to calculate a dollar amount for the project. The ramifications of revitalized life to the Rotterdam waterfront has an intangible value, according to James Pett, a team member from RTKL.
In addition to the similarity in geography, the high tech and shipping industries are similar in the two cities. This could provide an opportunity to enhance the business exchange between Baltimore and Rotterdam, team officials said.
A model of the proposed Rotterdam waterfront will be shipped to Rotterdam by the end of the week to be a part of a four-part exhibit, one from each city. Along with the proposed project there will be a display highlighting Baltimore. The exhibit is set to open Sept. 6 in Rotterdam.
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Ik vond dit wel een leuk berichtje omdat ik Baltimore Harbor wel ken, het is een prettige omgeving waarvoor ze veel van de oorspronkelijke gebouwen gewoon hebben laten staan. Ben benieuwd wat ze voor Rotterdam hebben bedacht, want dat heeft inderdaad hard iets nodig dat er wat meer sfeer brengt. Nu zijn er vooral als los zand aan elkaar hangende stukjes stadsverbetering.
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