Quirky, midtown and surprisingly generous

655 homes in a relatively small space

The towers of The Roofs (formerly: Grotius) stand at Grotiusplaats, in the dynamic station district and a stone's throw from CS The Hague. The wooden crowns of the 120 and 100-meter towers are visible from afar and make a statement on the Hague skyline. At the same time, the towers add 655 affordable rental units to the city center: 114 social rental units and 295 mid-rent units. 

Now that the result is there, it is easy to describe the towers. But for MVRDV, an intensive design process preceded it. "Initially, the idea was to have a hotel with housing," says Gideon Maasland, director|architect of MVRDV. "Later the decision was made to have only residences, but without a detailed Program of Requirements. In the initiative plan, which we made with Provast at the time, all the broad outlines were already there, including the layout of the floor plans and the crumbling towers."

The highest possible quality

Making the plan feasible proved more challenging. For this, the contractor joined the table. Together the parties investigated how to obtain the highest quality at the most favorable price. This could produce interesting discussions. Maasland recalls the discussion about the natural stone facade elements, which the contractor wanted to replace with concrete elements given the budget. "Although not very enthusiastic, we decided to switch the plan to concrete, starting with requesting a sampling of the alternative. When this came in, it was clear at a glance: concrete wasn't it." 

Solution at volume level

The solution was found at the volume level. "The structural engineer came up with a mixed construction in the form of steel boxes, which could be put on top of the main concrete supporting structure. This mixed construction freed up the budget for the natural stone facade."

From dark to light

The tops of both towers are striking. The bamboo cladding and asymmetrical crumbling undeniably give The Roofs their distinctive look. But as casual as the look is, all the layers required a lot of creativity. Maasland: "To accentuate the plinth, we decided to run the colors from dark to light. The plinth alone has seven colors of natural stone. The middle section was given a sand color and the facades and terraces in the crown were clad in bamboo."

Turning the yield knob

By now MVRDV is quite adept at pleading for its designs to be realized. She also knows that solutions are often to be found in unexpected corners. "You can cut a design completely flat, but then you destroy everything. At The Roofs, we added extra building volume, which will make the towers perform better later. That provided the budget to build the crowns completely according to design." Meanwhile, the apartments are occupied. "The social housing units are not very large, but surprisingly smart and spacious. Even the smallest corner apartment has a beautiful view." And about the towers, "You can see them looming up from all sides. Sometimes they stand side by side and sometimes they clump together to form a needle. This is exactly what we envisioned."