Lloydkwartier, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Designed by Dutch Mei architects and planners, SAWA is Rotterdam’s first fully wooden 50-meter high residential building commissioned by Nice Developers & Era Contour in the heart of the Lloydquarter in Rotterdam.
For its sustainable design, SAWA won a recent 2021 Green Good Design® Award from The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum.
Exceptional to SAWA is that the building will be built entirely in CLT (cross-laminated timber) and is, therefore, the first fully wooden residential building 50 meters high in Rotterdam.
In addition, the building is distinguished by the generous green terraces, with which the building enhances the biodiversity of the neighborhood.
The SAWA building owes its name to the trampled form with generous green terraces, as a reference to Eastern rice fields and the history of the place.
A conscious choice was made to reduce the building volume of SAWA compared to the zoning plan model and to introduce a stepped volume on the west side. The new volume connects SAWA to the surrounding buildings in the Lloydkwartier and takes existing sightlines into account.
The building’s shape also provides spacious terraces for the residents and a large communal deck on the first floor. SAWA will house approximately 100 apartments, varying from 50 up to 100+ sqm.
In the context of the European Green Deal, UN Sustainable Development Goals and objectives of Rotterdam’s municipality to reduce CO2 emissions, the client and architect share the ambition to almost completely execute the building, including the main support structure, in CLT (90,97 %).
The innovation of SAWA lies in the combination of all the things that contribute to the construction of a residential building of 50 meters high, of which the main supporting structure consists of more than 90% wood.
SAWA will thus be an exemplary project for new generations, an important step in the sustainability goals and demonstrable evidence that things can be done differently.
The program comprises approximately 100 dwellings, of which 50 rental apartments in the modal segment, making it possible for people with indispensable professions (police officers, teachers, nurses, etc.) to remain in the city. The residential units are accessed through a gallery.
With the design for SAWA, the practice commits to changing this evolution and contribute to a healthy living environment. In collaboration with city ecologists and biologists, SAWA is designed on a nature inclusive basis. Therefore, SAWA increases the biodiversity of the neighborhood and taps into the existing ecological structures within the city.
The building materials reusable in the future (urban mining).
The construction is made of Cross-laminated Timber (CLT). The trees used for SAWA come from sustainable production forests. For each tree that is cut, three new ones will be planted. The other materials that are used are biobased as much as possible and provided with a material passport.
The houses are equipped with cross ventilation and temperature plus CO2-controlled ventilation valves in the facade.
The city heating is sustainable, and there will be PV panels on both the roofs and the solar crown at the highest point.
The energy generated by the PV panels is stored in batteries of the shared cars, scooters, and bicycles.
SAWA is slated for construction in early 2021.
Project: SAWA
Architects: Mei architects and planners
Clients: Nice Developers, ERA Contour
Photographers: WAX Architectural Visualizations
