Rotterdam’s First Mass Timber Residential Building is Completed

Dutch studio Powerhouse Company has completed Valckensteyn, a mass-timber affordable housing block in Rotterdam that pays tribute to the area’s iconic post-war social housing, according to a Dezeen feature (6-7-25). The project, which delivers 82 rental apartments, is the city’s first mass-timber residential building.

Commissioned by local housing corporation Woonstad Rotterdam, the building was conceived as an homage to the neighborhood’s historic post-war blocks.

Valckensteyn comprises two staggered, rectilinear volumes connected by a central stair and elevator core. While concrete was used for the core and the ground-floor plinth, the rest of the structure is built from cross-laminated timber (CLT), which Powerhouse Company describes as an “essential” material for meeting housing demand.

Highlighting the timber construction, the CLT beams and floorplates are left exposed above the balconies and walkways—details the studio says add “warmth and material depth” to these spaces.

Powerhouse Company’s other CLT projects include Europe’s first mass-timber academic building at Tilburg University and an off-grid floating office in Rotterdam’s Rijnhaven.