Garthe Immobilienbewertung GmbH carries out the evaluation of the world’s largest annealed and exposed brick construction (Clinker)

A new landmark was created with a single building over 152 meters high in Rotterdam. Inspired by the first American skyscrapers, the architect Francine Houben of Mecanoo deliberately chose the shape, type of construction and material: clinker.

“For us as property appraisers, valuing that property is both a challenge and an honour.”

As in the organizational structure of ocean liner, within this building the different types of housing are distributed with their respective individual functions on the various floors. The most expensive and spacious living spaces are located between floors 41 to 43. The Penthouse has its own pool, which, in the event of a fire, supplies water to the sprinkler system throughout the building. From this “peak of luxury” you can enjoy an incomparable view of the Maas River Estuary and the North Sea.

From level 40 to the 27th floor, there are the “skyline apartments”. Approximately 150 apartments for rent or co-ownership that impress with their high price range and for allowing that the different rooms have a free spatial distribution. Connected to the tower by a gym and office wing, a nine-story block has been built that rises from the eastern end of the building’s base plinth, where a number of offices and cafes are located. In this urban complex there are also called “apartments with a view of the water”, some of which stand 16 meters above the river basin of the Port.

Clinker and its colours structure the façade

The cladding of the Montevideo Building stands out for the differentiated handling of the material and its colour. The 10.000 square meters of clinker façade gives the building a glossy and bright orange-red colour that contrasts with the anthracite black masonry surfaces.

In detail: the façade is divided vertically by two different types of clinker that contrast with the height differentials of the different individual sections of the building. The dark structures appear as if they were inserted in the shape of an L within the basic red-orange structure. The clinker used in the Waaldick WDF 210 x 100 x 62mm format, which is a historic masonry format originally from the Netherlands, creates a connection between the two colours. They worked with approximately 7% anthracite black clinker with bluish tones, which gave the already existing selection of orange-red clinker a blue tint.

Construction in three parts

After finish the construction, the strong division at the construction level and the horizontal form into three parts of the building is no longer visible to the viewer. On the lower floors, elevated on a round glazed steel structure, the high-rise building consists of a massive reinforced concrete structure of a height of approximately 100 meters, the façade of which is conventionally riveted. Special lifting plates, which had to match the size of the load carriers in which the clinker was supplied, served the workers to carry out the masonry work.

From the 28th floor to the top of the building, steel is the supporting element. In these last meters, the clinker façade consists of precast concrete clinker parts that were suspended from the steel structure. Like the design of the façade, this constructive structure alludes to the theme of Dutch American design. The steel structure in the lower and upper area of ​​the building pays homage to traditional American high-rise construction, while the central section of the building, consisting of a reinforced concrete structure, is typical of Dutch construction.

Project data

Building height: 152.32 m, 44 floors
Location: Otto Reuchlinweg (Wilhelminapier / Kop van Zuid), Rotterdam
Total area: 57,530 square meters