ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL

OFFICE BUILDING EUROPOINT

SKIDMORE, OWINGS & MERRILL, 1971-1975, Galvanistraat 15, Rotterdam

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)

PROJECT ARCHITECT:
Myron Goldschmidt
William Dunlap
George Jarik

BUILDING TYPE:
Office buildings

What began as an overblown design for a World Trade Centre in two towers at Leuvehaven in the city centre was eventually realized in a slightly modified form as the Europoint three-tower complex on Marconiplein. The two towers linked by a low entry block house the Urban Planning and Public Housing Agency; the third is let. The elevations of white travertine cladding and tinted glass in bronze-coloured frames look rational and abstract yet have been given every aesthetic consideration. Each successive storey widens by just a few centimetres as a perspective-correcting device.