The project combines conversion of the abandoned wharf of the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company (RDM) into a modern ship repair yard with improving the relationship between the nearby garden village of Heyplaat and the river (Nieuwe Maas). The strategically sited RDM wharf is primed to receive its new function. Ships up to 140 metres long are raised by lift to a parking place, where depending on the nature of the repairs there are either transported into an existing assembly hangar or, if a ship requires stripping and painting, one of two new mobile sheds is slid over it. The nerve centre of the repairs complex is the new stores cum multipurpose office, projected on the boundary between industrial grounds and public domain. Its outward appearance is constantly changing with the nature and temporal aspect of the various industrial activities. The service zone is sited along the public street where it presents an expressive facade.

The articulated strip-and-paint sheds contrast dynamically with the existing hangars, standing out starkly against the existing buildings as zoomorphic landmarks at the head of Heyplaat. The front side of the sheds, which can be sealed off with a roll-up pneumatic rubber screen, functions as a sturdy steel gateway. Its skin otherwise consists largely of slats that can be opened when the shed is in motion to reduce wind load.

The stores-offices building is a major link along the designed route leading from Heyplaat to a raft on the Nieuwe Maas river. Accompanying this route is the expressive service zone facade with its views through from the road of the shipyard complex beyond.

Place of education: Rotterdam
Tutors: Paul Wintermans, Ine Waterreus, Fons Verheijen & Bert van Meggelen
Specialization: architecture.