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ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL
HOUSING BLOCK CALYPSO
ALSOP ARCHITECTS I.S.M. VAN DER LAAN BOUMA ARCHITEKTEN, 2003-2013, Mauritsweg, Rotterdam

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Will Alsop

BUILDING TYPE:
Housing


RELATED BUILDINGS:
Rijnhotel, AMVJ-Building

The site occupied during the post-war reconstruction period by the Rijnhotel, the Calypso Cinema and the Pauluskerk, is now home to the Calypso apartment complex. The irregularly shaped complex comprises over 400 apartments, retail and restaurant spaces on the ground floor, 5000 m² of office space in the podium, and a car park. It consists of two sections: a discrete, 22 storey tower with red facade panels, and a long section of 18, 22 and 14 storeys faced with grey panels. The angular facade shapes are not picked up in the interior and the apartments, too, have ‘normal’ floor plans. A much smaller Pauluskerk, imagined as a crystal that has broken off from the craggy complex, returns as a blob-like, copper clad semi-detached building.