De Brug (The Bridge)

The office building De Brug (The Bridge) in Rotterdam was built above part of the existing Unilever Bestfood Nederland buildings on the Nassaukade. The building rests on three supports, 25 m above ground level. The total project consists, besides De Brug, of a parking block integrating offices and other functions as well. Unilever Bestfood Nederland will be housed in the building.

De Brug project is characterized by two great challenges. First of all, the dimensions of the building (rectangular ca.130 m x 32 m x 4 storeys) does not make it easy to achieve maximum flexibility. The layout of the building is such that modern office concepts (e.g. movable partitioning, open-plan offices, relaxation rooms, etc) are possible. On the other hand, the design of the building offers other possibilities that a standard building lacks.

The second challenge was not to disturb Unilever Bestfood Blue Band factory operation during construction. This was achieved by prefabricating the skeleton under conditioned circumstances at a works site. De Brug was mounted on top of the existing factory, which remained in operation during construction.