Page 22 - Rotterdam. Make It Happen

Admittedly, there was some resistance to the idea of the Depot in the beginning, but this soon changed to pride. At the moment the reactions are only positive; people recognise this as an outstandingly beautiful building’. Ketting is satisfied too: ‘As an architect, you want to create something that is lovely to look at as well as supremely functional; an object that makes you think, even if you are not an architect: “Of course the building looks like this”, and to my mind, that objective has been met’.
CHALLENGES.
One of the challenges of this project was to guarantee fire safety for both the art objects and the public. To put it simply; in case of a fire, the doors must be closed to protect the art, while at the same time they must be open to enable the public to escape. These challen- ges, as well as other technical challenges such as raising the roof by one metre to realise the roof garden, with all the attendant consequen- ces for lifts, stairs and façade, have all been met by architect Arjen Ketting.
22
ROTTERDAM. MAKE IT HAPPEN.