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Rotterdam, laboratory city and venue for Eurovision 2021

2021-05-18T07:44:33.998Z


The Cubic Houses, a large building by Rem Koolhaas or the new Art Depot make this city the architectural epicenter of the Netherlands


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  • Rotterdam experimental

  • A return to the Netherlands, beyond Amsterdam

Rotterdam is a humble city thanks to the intelligence of all those who have been renovating it since it was bombed during World War II. Architects and urban planners who understand and know that you don't fight against the forces of nature. That they have turned the use of water and wind into a virtue, which on the ground translates into a resilient city. Without this adaptation to the environment that prevents it from sinking, through dams and water management, the iconic buildings that Roterdameans boast so much about and admire by visitors, who, if it were not for the restrictions of the pandemic, would not be conceived. They would crowd its streets in the coming days, since from May 18 to 22 this port town in the Netherlands hosts the Eurovision Song Contest.

Located in the delta drawn by the New Meuse and Rhine rivers, Rotterdam occupies a land area of ​​206 square kilometers and a water surface of 114. An amphibious city crossed by bridges and served by boats that act as taxis and buses. In this half-liquid, half-tarry environment emerges a giant shark fin made of stainless steel. It is the Central Station, the gateway to this architectural laboratory city - from Amsterdam it takes an hour by train.

After the bombings by the Nazi air force on May 14, 1940, the historic center was turned into a rubbish tip. A smoking ruin that the survivors saw as an opportunity. A wasteland in which, rather than building buildings of modern, functionalist and socialist architecture (which was also done), it was used to renew the urban physiognomy. The ideologues of that renovation saw on the architectural horizon an aerodynamic Rotterdam that knew how to preserve what little was left standing: the Gothic church of San Lorenzo and the eclectic city hall are two of the historic buildings that were saved. Before the destructive Nazi flood, modern buildings had already been designed: the

White House

—A late 19th-century building whose 45-meter height made it, for a time, the roof of Europe — as well as a number of buildings from the 1930s. Among them, the Van Nelle tea, coffee and tobacco factory; the

Sonneveld House

, and the

Boijmans Van Beuningen and Chabot art museums

. Designs that exploit light and space to which were added others who also know how to make use of wind and water. Elements that turned the old mill in the peripheral

district of Delfshaven

, on the north bank of the New Meuse. The Pilgrim Fathers were in this place before continuing to America aboard the

Mayflower

.

enlarge photo View of the triple skyscraper De Rotterdam, a design by the architect Rem Koolhaas completed in 2013 in the city of Rotterdam.

Arcaid Images Alamy

The sea and travel are two constants that beat in the city.

In the

square Schouwburg

metallic red cranes which, together with the nearby Maritime Museum, they seem to

sustain a culture that Rotterdam port is loath to lose rise.

Getting lost is what one can do in that forest of houses that are the

Cubic Houses

(Kubuswoningen), yellow and inclined 45 degrees, by the Dutch architect Piet Blom.

Markthal

It is a horseshoe-shaped market where food stalls and houses coexist. The inner arch is covered by an 11,000 square meter digital canvas representing fruits, vegetables and vegetables. A Sistine Chapel made by computer scientists in 2014 that has no place in the Art Depot: the new warehouse of works of art located in the Museumpark. The collections that museums display are the tip of the iceberg, the funds are the submerged part. This ovoid tank lined with mirrors will display what the Boijmans Museum does not exhibit; the MVRDV studio project is already finished and is scheduled to open in July.

The bridges here look like works of art and connect the two banks of the New Meuse River. In its waters floats the

island of Noordere

, which avoids isolation thanks to the

Willems and Koninginne bridges

, from where you can see the De Hef railway bridge, which ran part of the old line between Rotterdam and Dordrecht. Although it is Erasmus's that you have to cross from the city center to enter the

Kop van Zuid neighborhood

. Here were the docks from which the ships full of emigrants set sail for America. Today, among the lively businesses that occupy the empty docks, the

art nouveau

of the New York hotel, the Nederlands Fotomuseum and the

triple skyscraper De Rotterdam stand out.

, a design by local architect and guru Rem Koolhaas.

Three connected towers of 44 floors each and that give the feeling of being six.

It is a

vertical

city

that houses offices, apartments and the NHow hotel.

enlarge photo Inside the Markthal, a horseshoe-shaped market that also houses homes and offices in Rotterdam.

frans lemmens alamy

Two futuristic projects

This building takes the name of the place where it rises and that of one of those ships that crossed the Atlantic full of people fleeing or looking for new opportunities. In honor of those people from Russia, Ukraine, Poland and Germany, mainly, who made a stopover in Rotterdam between 1880 and 1920 on their way to America, the Museum of Emigration is scheduled to open its doors in 2023. An old hangar

on the Katendrecht quay

converted into a hybrid space. It will tell the story of these trips and display an artistic collection inspired by migrations. The futuristic design is the work of the Chinese studio MAD, a nod to the fact that it is located in what used to be the oldest Chinatown in Europe.

In the near future the new Maritime Center in the

port of Rijnhaven

will also be included in this architectural walk

.

The center symbolizes a triple helix that represents the past, present and future of the maritime world, and from a business, scientific and cultural perspective. A structure of three pavilions connected by catwalks that will have a part under water. It will be at low tide when this submerged section can be seen. Meanwhile, in those same waters floats a park made up of tree-lined platforms made from plastics thrown in the New Meuse. There is no sustainability without recycling.

The resilience of Rotterdam and the people of Rotterdam, more than survival instinct, is knowing how to float.

It has to do with that centuries-old and heritage relationship they have with water.

Element that enriches and beautifies the city.

Find inspiration for your next trips on our Facebook and Twitter and Instragram or subscribe here to the El Viajero Newsletter.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-05-18

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