ROTTERDAM, 12 June 2026 – SAWA has won the jury award at the Rotterdam Architecture Prize 2026, while Rotterdam football club Steeds Hooger’s renovated sports pavilion secured the public vote. The two winners could hardly be more different in scale, but both were recognised for making sustainability, shared use and long-term value central to their design.

_{Image: SAWA in Rotterdam. Photo: Frank Hanswijk}

The Rotterdam Architecture Prize (Rotterdam Architectuurprijs) received 36 entries this year. A professional jury selected ten projects, from which it chose the main winner and two honourable mentions, while the public voted for its own top three. The award goes to the full project team, including the client, designer and builder.

SAWA wins the jury award

SAWA is a 50-metre residential building on Rotterdam’s Lloydpier, developed by NICE Developers and ERA Contour, designed by Mei architects and planners and built by ERA Contour. The building contains 109 homes: 39 owner-occupied apartments, 50 mid-market rental homes and 20 private-sector rental homes.

Its stepped profile and large terraces give the building its recognisable shape, but the jury looked beyond its appearance. SAWA’s main supporting structure is made almost entirely from timber, with concrete and steel limited to parts where they were considered necessary. Around 750,000 screws were used to assemble the timber structure in six months, allowing major components to be dismantled rather than permanently fixed together.

The housing concept was another factor in the decision. Most of the mid-market rental homes were allocated to people working in public-service professions and to tenants moving out of social housing. Residents also share facilities including a vegetable garden, workspaces, tool rooms and parking for bicycles, while the homes have an average of around 40 square metres of private outdoor space.

Nature has been incorporated throughout the building. More than 3,000 native plants and 140 nesting facilities create space for birds, bats and insects alongside the residents. Instead of being treated as decoration added at the end, planting and biodiversity formed part of the design from its early stages.

The jury also highlighted the financial choices behind SAWA. The architect and developer capped the development profit at between three and five per cent, leaving more room for investment in timber construction, shared facilities, affordable housing and ecological measures.

The Rotterdam award follows another major result earlier in June, when SAWA was unanimously named BNA Building of the Year 2026. Winning both awards gives the Lloydpier project national recognition as well as the city’s main architecture prize.

Image: Steeds Hoger. Photo: Frank Hanswijk

Steeds Hooger wins public vote

Sportpaviljoen Steeds Hooger won the public award and also received an honourable mention from the professional jury. The project was commissioned by Sportbedrijf Projecten BV, designed by Rotterdam firm JagerJanssen architects and built by Van Driel BV.

The football club had to move to a complex containing a neglected canteen building from 1962. Demolition may have been the obvious response, but architect Alex Jager, who was involved in the club’s building committee, saw value in the existing structure. The foundation on wooden piles remained usable, while the curved concrete frames created a canteen with a ceiling height of more than five metres.

Those elements became the foundation of the new sports pavilion. The existing concrete structure was retained, the old wooden ceiling slats returned to the renovated canteen and the building was expanded to provide twelve changing rooms.

New additions use lightweight and largely biobased materials. Cross-laminated timber was used for parts of the structure, flax provides insulation and sections of the façade were built with dry-stacked bricks instead of mortar. That makes the bricks easier to remove and reuse later.

The pavilion is gas-free. Heat collected beneath the main football pitch is stored underground and used for the building and its showers, supported by solar panels. A green roof helps retain rainwater, while gabions filled with recovered rubble create nesting and shelter spaces for insects.

Public voters repeatedly praised the decision to retain the identity of the old clubhouse instead of replacing it with a generic new sports building. The result is recognisably a football canteen, but one where circular construction and energy use are visible in the everyday life of the club.

Image: Fenix migration museum in Rotterdam. Photo: Frank Hanswijk

Fenix and De Nijverhoek place

Fenix finished second in the public vote and received the jury’s other honourable mention. The migration museum occupies a restored warehouse on Katendrecht, with its polished steel Tornado staircase rising through the atrium and above the roof. The jury praised the contrast between the restrained treatment of the historic warehouse and the expressive new staircase.

The building also includes Plein, an area at Fenixplein that can be used by neighbourhood residents, museum visitors and passers-by. This public part of the project helped strengthen the museum’s relationship with Katendrecht rather than making it a closed cultural destination.

Image: De Nijverhoek. Photo: Frank Hanswijk

De Nijverhoek took third place in the public vote. The project began with social rental homes that had been marked for demolition but were instead turned into renovation properties through collective private commissioning (collectief particulier opdrachtgeverschap).

Future residents organised themselves through CPO De Nijverhoek and worked with Vanschagen Architecten and BIK Bouw. The approach preserved the early 20th-century street frontage while allowing the homes and roofscape behind it to vary according to the residents’ plans.

Architecture at two different scales

The two main winners show that Rotterdam’s architecture debate is no longer limited to visual landmarks. SAWA tackles housing, carbon, biodiversity and communal life within a 50-metre building. Steeds Hooger addresses many of the same questions through a modest football clubhouse that thousands of players, families and visitors will use.

That difference in scale is precisely what makes the result interesting. The jury chose an ambitious timber housing project, while the public backed the careful rescue of a familiar sports building. Both suggest that the future of Rotterdam architecture may depend as much on what a building does and retains as on how spectacular it looks.

ROTTERDAM, 23 April 2026 – Rotterdam is moving a step closer to bringing back the Luchtsingel, the bright yellow pedestrian bridge that once linked the city centre to Rotterdam Noord. The municipality has opened a designer selection process for a permanent successor, with applications running until 7 June 2026.

_{Images: Luchtsingel in Rotterdam. Photo credit: Ossip van Duivenbode | Adriënne Wildeman}

Why the Luchtsingel still matters

The news matters because the Luchtsingel was never just a shortcut across roads and railway lines. For years, it tied together Schiekadeblok, Pompenburg and the Hofbogen, while helping turn a neglected stretch near Rotterdam Centraal into one of the city’s most talked-about urban renewal stories.

Its return has been hanging in the air since 2024, when large parts of the wooden structure were demolished because of wood rot. Since then, the big question in Rotterdam has been whether the city would ever rebuild a link that had become both practical infrastructure and a local symbol. The answer now appears to be yes.

How the yellow bridge began

The original Luchtsingel grew out of a very Rotterdam mix of frustration, imagination and public backing. ZUS (Zones Urbaines Sensibles) launched the idea after major development plans in the Rotterdam Central District were scrapped, leaving empty office space and a disconnected area around the Schieblock. In 2011, the practice started the I Make Rotterdam campaign, inviting people to help fund a bridge plank by plank. 

That civic energy turned into something much bigger in 2012, when the project won Rotterdam’s city initiative (Stadsinitiatief). The plan received 48 per cent of the vote and secured €4 million, while thousands of supporters bought wooden planks engraved with their names or messages. By the time the full bridge opened in 2015, the Luchtsingel had become known internationally as the world’s first piece of public infrastructure delivered through crowdfunding.

What made it more than a bridge

That origin story still shapes how people in Rotterdam talk about the bridge. The Luchtsingel was designed as a 390 to 400 metre elevated walking route and part of a wider chain of urban interventions, including Dakakker, Delftsehof, Pompenburg Park and the roof of the former Hofplein Station. In other words, it helped stitch together a part of the city that had long felt broken up by traffic infrastructure and vacant plots.

It also became one of those places that told a larger story about Rotterdam. The bridge connected districts, created new walking routes and gave the area a recognisable identity at a time when the surroundings were still in transition. That helps explain why its disappearance landed so heavily with many people in the city. 

What Rotterdam wants now

The new phase is less about nostalgia and more about how this part of Rotterdam now functions. According to the municipality, the replacement will need to respond to major changes in the area, including the development of Schiekadeblok and Pompenburg, the arrival of Hofbogenpark and closer interaction with surrounding buildings, including the planned Kopgebouw pavilion in Pompenburg. That is why the city is asking one designer to help create both a recognisable concept and a design handbook (ontwerphandboek) for the future connection. 

The brief is aimed at architects, or people with a master’s degree in a design discipline, who can work with the municipality as well as local stakeholders. The selected designer is expected to help translate a vision for the new route while engaging with residents, entrepreneurs and other interested parties in the area. Applications opened on 22 April and close on 7 June 2026. 

What happens next

For Rotterdam, this is the clearest sign yet that the city wants the Luchtsingel back in some form, this time as a longer-term part of the urban fabric rather than a temporary wooden icon that outlived its intended lifespan. The next bridge will not simply copy the old one. It will need to fit a district that has changed sharply since the first planks went up. 

If you want to read the municipal call yourself, the public notice is here: https://mijn.rotterdam.nl/link/nieuwsbericht/ontwerpersselectiegestartvoorvervang. 

ROTTERDAM, 7 June 2026 – SAWA in Rotterdam has been named BNA Building of the Year 2026, with the jury unanimously selecting the circular timber residential building. The award recognises the project’s architecture as well as its combination of timber construction, affordable housing, biodiversity and shared residential space.

_{Image: SAWA Rotterdam. Photo: Ossip van Duivenbode}

The jury described SAWA as a building with a “wow effect” and called it “a serious and important experiment in timber construction and entrepreneurship, with exemplary value; a turning point for the city.”

Timber housing earns top award

SAWA was developed by NICE Developers and ERA Contour and designed by Mei architects and planners. The 50-metre building contains 109 homes, with approximately half offered as affordable mid-market rental apartments.

The project uses a predominantly timber load-bearing structure and combines private homes with generous outdoor spaces and shared facilities. Its design aims to encourage interaction between residents while reducing the amount of embodied carbon associated with construction.

The BNA jury also highlighted SAWA’s open and learning-oriented approach, its relationship with the surrounding community and its contribution to liveability, social cohesion and sustainability. The full jury report is available in Dutch via https://bna.nl/woongebouw-sawa-winnaar-bna-beste-gebouw-van-het-jaar-2026/

Biodiversity built into SAWA

Nature is part of the building rather than an added detail. SAWA incorporates more than 3,000 plants, around 700 metres of integrated planters and 140 nesting facilities.

That makes the building one of Rotterdam’s clearest examples of nature-inclusive architecture at a larger residential scale. Balconies, planting and nesting spaces are integrated into the structure, giving vegetation and urban wildlife a permanent place in the design.

The award therefore goes beyond the building’s timber frame. It also acknowledges a housing model that attempts to combine architectural quality, lower-carbon construction, biodiversity and a mix of housing types within one project.

The winning SAWA team on stage. From left to right: Leen Kooman, Joost Wetzel, Michiel van Loon and Robert Winkel of Mei architects and planners, and Mark Compeer of NICE Developers. Photo: Bas van Hattum

Rotterdam project tests new model

NICE Developers describes SAWA as proof that sustainability, affordability, biodiversity and social quality do not have to be treated as separate ambitions.

“SAWA demonstrates that it is possible to stack ambitions rather than compromise them. Climate goals, biodiversity, social inclusion, affordability and architectural quality are often treated as competing interests. We believe they can reinforce one another when developers, architects, builders and investors are willing to look beyond the short term. This award is a recognition of everyone who believed that building can be done differently.”

SAWA was the first completed project by NICE Developers and was conceived as a demonstration of a different approach to residential development. The initiators say development profits were deliberately limited so that more could be invested in quality, circular construction, biodiversity and social inclusivity.

Jury sees wider significance

The jury regards SAWA as an example that could influence future housing projects elsewhere in the Netherlands. It specifically praised the entrepreneurial and investigative mindset behind the building and the way developers, architects and builders worked together.

For Rotterdam, the award places a local housing project at the centre of a wider national debate about how cities can add homes without separating affordability, design quality and environmental goals.

More information about the project is available via https://www.nicedevelopers.nl/en/project/sawa-rotterdam/

ROTTERDAM, 5 March 2026 – Rotterdam says the number of Maastunnel closures caused by overheight lorries has fallen by 75% since the city lowered the maximum clearance from 4.0 to 3.9 metres a year ago. According to the municipality, that means the tunnel now has to be shut almost 40 fewer times per week.

That is a meaningful shift for one of the city’s most sensitive traffic pinch points. If you use the Maastunnel regularly, you have probably felt the old pattern before: sudden red lights, barriers down, and traffic backing up because one lorry was too tall to continue.

Why the Maastunnel kept closing

Before the change came into force on 4 March 2025, Rotterdam says there were as many as 50 reports a week involving overheight lorries attempting to enter the tunnel.

When that happened, traffic lights switched to red, barriers came down, and the tunnel was closed in both directions so the vehicle could turn around. The city says that manoeuvre took around four minutes on average, but the knock-on effect was much bigger, with congestion around the tunnel, delays to bus 44, and nuisance for nearby residents.

What Rotterdam changed in 2025

The lower clearance limit was introduced together with a wider package of measures. Rotterdam says it replaced 150 traffic signs, ran a communication campaign aimed at drivers and transport companies, and updated both road signage and route planners.

The practical result is that lorries higher than 3.9 metres are now directed via alternative routes, instead of discovering the restriction too late at the tunnel entrance.

Why the city calls the measure a success

Rotterdam’s original target was to reduce tunnel closures by 80%. The city says that reaching 75% after one year shows the measure is working, even if it has not fully hit the original goal.

Alderman Pascal Lansink-Bastemeijer, whose portfolio includes mobility, says there is no reason to tighten the height limit further. “It is simply working very well. Transport companies and their drivers are adapting neatly to the new rules and are increasingly following the alternative routes. Traffic flow has improved significantly and that saves a lot of delay and frustration. That is a clear gain for car traffic, public transport, emergency services and residents in the wider area.”

What happened on the alternative routes

One obvious question is whether the problem has simply been moved elsewhere. Rotterdam says the diverted freight traffic is now using routes such as the Erasmusbrug and the Koninginnebrug, but that the increase in lorries on those roads has not led to extra delays or noticeable nuisance.

The municipality says it analysed a full year of traffic data before drawing conclusions, taking into account factors such as weather and roadworks, both of which can change traffic patterns.

What this means for Rotterdam drivers

For drivers, public transport users and people living near the tunnel approaches, this is one of those unglamorous fixes that matters precisely because it is so practical. It does not change the city overnight, but it removes a recurring source of irritation that had become oddly normal. And in Rotterdam traffic terms, “almost 40 fewer shutdowns a week” is not a small improvement. That is the kind of figure you can actually feel in the flow of the day.