Architects UNStudio have released images of their competition-winning redevelopment of a former post office in Rotterdam. The project involves replacing the roof and adding a shopping mall and high-rise hotel. The project will be finished in 2012.

The following text is from UNStudio:

Redevelopment and Extension Post Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2007

The design for the redevelopment of Post Rotterdam incorporates an ambitious mixed-use concept devised to respond to and enhance the original qualities of the existing building. Upscale retail facilities, restaurants, cafés and bars are combined with a luxury hotel, which in addition houses conference facilities and offices.

The design for Post Rotterdam incorporates an urban landscape, a vertical foyer, the redesign of the large central hall and the new hotel. These combined elements form a design approach which is sensitive to the existing monument’s qualities, while generating a synergetic architectural effect.

The mix of architectural presence and transparency is designed to emphasise and frame the entrance to the building. The post-war roof is replaced with a new glass construction, allowing daylight to penetrate the building and forming a connection between the new hotel and the existing monument.

The extension to the shopping street functions as a public platform, offering open spaces with flexible layouts, capable of housing a variety of functions; from exhibitions to performances, concerts and fashion shows.

The programmatic and infrastructural elements create a sustainable development which incorporates a ‘green shopping’ experience and aims to provide a new urban destination for the city centre of Rotterdam.