10, December 2020

Rainfall-runoff system Fenix-II warehouse, Rotterdam

Initiated by Stichting Droom en Daad, the Fenix-II Warehouse (Katendrecht, Rotterdam) is renovated and re-developed into FENIX. The first floor will contain the new FENIX Migration Museum and the ground floor will provide a mix of creative, culinary and cultural activities. The former warehouse of the Holland-Amerika Line (HAL) is of great historic value for the port and city of Rotterdam. The roof will house a viewing platform designed by MAD Architects (The Tornado), from which a 360-degree view of Rotterdam is provided. Based upon hydraulic computations, Svašek advised about the design of the rainfall-runoff system of this viewing platform.

The abrupt alternation of steep and shallow slopes and staircases, as well as the limited space for runoff within the construction and the positioning of the Tornado upon an existing building, especially make this rainfall-runoff design a unique and complex task, which requires a lot of custom-made solutions.
The hydraulic analysis included the impact of dynamic effects like supercritical flow, roll waves and centrifugal forces inside the rainfall drainage system.