Five years after being first announced, Dutch mainstay MVRDV’s Grotius Towers apartment scheme has been completed in The Hague, the country’s third largest city.

In a project announcement, the studio described their new creation rather accurately as “an eye-catching new addition to the skyline of The Hague.” It is defined by two 100- and 120-meter-tall (328 and 393 feet, respectively) towers that “crumble” asymmetrically from the top down, combining with a series of setbacks and stacked terraces to create a distinctive jagged massing carefully placed on a lot adjacent to the city’s Central Station.

Per the design team: “With façades of natural stone and sustainable composite bamboo, gas-free homes, and approximately 1,500 bicycle parking spaces (in addition to 244 for cars), the Grotius Towers are also sustainable. In the design, attention was paid to energy efficiency in the form of good insulation and heat recovery systems. The towers are also multifunctional: as well as rental housing, there are a variety of facilities on the ground floor, from restaurants and cafes to services. An app has been developed especially for residents with which they can get in touch with each other for sports or dining appointments, which will promote social cohesion.”

At the crown level, the design demarcates slightly from the rest of its facade, using the bamboo material to create a distinct, valley-like “village” that’s separated from the grey-white natural stone below. The design's total floor area is 61,800 square meters, or about 665,000 square feet.

MVRDV notes the continued development of the area from the train station extending eastward, with the nearby Utrechtsebaan highway being partially covered with greenery for enhanced sustainability. Both towers are slightly narrower on the lower floors, providing requisite space for pedestrian traffic to travel between the station and city center.

“I think the great thing about this project is that it ensures the covering of the Utrechtsebaan with a park. In addition, the 655 flats contain a mixture of market-rate and social-rented apartments, so you get a good mix of different types of people to suit the city,” founder Winy Maas said when the building topped out in early October. “There's a lot of talk about high-rise buildings in The Hague, but I think that if you do it with towers like Grotius, with a ‘village in the sky,’ an open and green ‘top,’ it can lead to successful densification that makes the city greener and more liveable.”