March 4, Rotterdam, Netherlands – Shift unveils five design concepts for the Shift Landmark, a bold €240 million purpose-driven destination designed to turn circular living into something individuals, companies and organisations can feel, experience, and act on.
The first Landmark is planned for Waterkant, a new waterfront district in the south of Rotterdam that aims to become one of Europe’s most forward-looking urban neighbourhoods. Shift’s longer-term ambition is global: a network of Landmarks on 6 continents designed to help accelerate the transition to a better future.
Throughout history, humans have created landmarks — from pyramids to cathedrals to skyscrapers — to unite communities, showcase progress, and spark inspiration. Shift, a steward-owned social enterprise working to enable large-scale societal change, is advancing that tradition with a new kind of landmark for the 21st century, creating a place that makes a better, more sustainable way of living tangible, desirable, and achievable.
Planned at 25,000 to 30,000 m², the Shift Landmark will include a 10,000 m² immersive experience, a hotel, a conference and meeting centre, and a sustainable food court. Together, they are designed to connect circular, future-proof choices to everyday life and business.
“People won’t change because they are told to,” Ritzen says. “They change when they experience that life can be better. The Landmark and its immersive experience are built to create that moment, by spotlighting real circularity and sustainability champions and showing that a better future is just one shift away.
Ecosistema Urbano — A Living Landmark. a regenerative ecosystem and evolving social organism that nurtures biodiversity and collective life.
Heatherwick Studio — ‘Urban Reef’: a building for Rotterdam, shaped by layers of activity that echo a reef‑inspired ecosystem, gathering people, sparking climate awareness and inspiring lighter ways of living.
Mecanoo — House of Shift Rotterdam: an icon centered on upcycling, carbon storage, energy neutrality, and joyful exploration.
MVRDV — Rotterdam ROCKS! is a collection of porous, living rocks that imagines Rotterdam’s new landmark through ecology and experience.
Office for Political Innovation — Planetary Landmark for the Climate Age: a working section through a changing world, where climate is sensed and reshaped collectively.
“Climate damage is likely to cost around six times more than mitigation,” said Ritzen. “Research also shows demand-side changes - how we eat, move, consume and live - could cut emissions by up to 70 percent by 2050. On paper, that should be enough to trigger a major societal shift. In reality, facts alone rarely move people.
“Shift aims to turn climate ambition into something people can experience. By combining art, architecture, innovation and education, the Landmark is designed to make a circular future visible, tangible and irresistibly compelling, giving millions a clear pathway from inspiration to action.”
The Shift International Architecture Competition launched in January 2025 and is overseen by New York based agency DVDL. Around 1,500 architects in 50 countries downloaded the brief, and 80 teams submitted proposals. The five finalists have continued developing their designs since November 2025.
Just 11 months after launching the first stage of the competition, Shift secured a plot in Waterkant, Rotterdam as the proposed site. Set along the river next to a new tidal park, the neighbourhood is positioned to become one of Europe’s most forward-looking urban environments.
Backed by local strategic partners and impact financiers, the first Shift Landmark will be developed in The Netherlands due to the fact that 55 percent of the land is vulnerable to flooding and around 90 percent of Rotterdam lies below sea level.
Following presentations on March 3, the international jury will complete its evaluation. A winning design will be announced in Spring 2026. The winning team will then enter a participation process with input from local communities.
Conceived as a regenerative living system, the building operates as a dynamic social organism that integrates public space, ecological performance, and civic life—actively fostering biodiversity and strengthening connections between local communities and wider ecological networks.
a new building for Rotterdam, built from six layers of activity that support one another like a reef‑inspired ecosystem. Influenced by natural flows of movement, these layers offer spaces that bring people together, build climate awareness and show how a building can encourage lighter, more sustainable ways of living together.
An inspiring icon for sustainability that places bold upcycling, carbon storage, energy neutrality, and ecological integration at its core. Integrating spaces for imagination, exploration, action, play, and joy.
Rotterdam ROCKS! is a stacked landscape of living rocks that turns architecture into a regenerative, urban ecosystem and a new landmark for the city: rocks that breathe. Strengthening Rotterdam's experimental character, it demonstrates that buildings of tomorrow can merge nature and public life.
Office for Political Innovation (lead architect, Spain), Kaan Architecten, LOLA Landscape Architects, iart, Pieters Bouwtechniek, Stadium Consultancy, IGG Bouweconomie, WSP, Envirotecnics