ARCHELLO YOUR CONNECTION WITH ARCHITECTURE

After a building period of 3,5 years, the highest apartment tower of the Netherlands ‘New Orleans’ has officially opened to the public. The building, that also accommodates cinema/theater LantarenVenster, has been designed by the Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza.

With a height of 160,5 meters ‘New Orleans’ is the highest apartment tower in the Netherlands. The building has 234 apartments, varying in size from about 60 m2 to 212 m2. The apartment tower accommodates a total of 31 different types of dwellings. LantarenVenster has found a new home In the plinth of ‘New Orleans’. The theatre has a foyer, five screening rooms, a multifunctional hall and a theatre café with a terrace at the waterside.

In the original plans ‘New Orleans’ featured two towers. In an interview with AWM Alvaro Siza said he thought it was shame that during the design process one tower had been cancelled. Because the building permit had already been granted, Alvaro Siza was not allowed to change the design.

From the 234 apartments of ‘New Orleans’ fifty can be rented as fully furnished Serviced Apartments, Vesteda said. All the way up, in the top of the tower, two apartments have been realized. ‘New Orleans’ furthermore features guest lodges, an indoor Health Club, a common roof garden and a two-storey parking garage. Vesteda thinks half of the available dwellings will be rented or sold by the end of 2010.

The tower has a central cooling unit that provides the apartments with ‘comfortcooling’. Vesteda claims this way of heating and cooling is environmentally friendly and saves up to 45% of CO2 emissions, or 260 tons a year, compared to a conventional system. The dwellings are cooled with the help of the water of the Maas river.