Today I visited De Rotterdam, a new and very spectacular building in my hometown Rotterdam... Yeah, they could have chosen a more original name. Rotterdam does like The Smurfs do, everything is named equally. Only we don't live in mushrooms but in fantastic architecture. Anyway, I was lucky enough to get free tickets through National Geographic (give-away to readers). The tour was organised by - surprise surprise - De Rotterdam Tours and was actually very interesting. Make sure to book a guide when you're in town.
In this post I will share some of today's pictures (inside). But first a photo from my archives to show the exterior. This building is huge. In fact, it's the biggest building in Europe!
It consists of three towers: a hotel (left), offices for the municipally (middle) and private apartments (right). Now let's go straight to the top floor of the left tower. As you can see it's still quite empty up there.
But the view is spectacular....
I liked how you could look down on one of the neighbouring buildings. Actually, this specific building once used to be the tallest in the area. It's also featured in the first photo of this article. In case you wonder why I left my foot in this shot -> to create more depth.
P.S. I promise no 'boring' architecture photos for the next article. Let's get back in the streets!
In this post I will share some of today's pictures (inside). But first a photo from my archives to show the exterior. This building is huge. In fact, it's the biggest building in Europe!
It consists of three towers: a hotel (left), offices for the municipally (middle) and private apartments (right). Now let's go straight to the top floor of the left tower. As you can see it's still quite empty up there.
But the view is spectacular....
I liked how you could look down on one of the neighbouring buildings. Actually, this specific building once used to be the tallest in the area. It's also featured in the first photo of this article. In case you wonder why I left my foot in this shot -> to create more depth.
Let us take another look inside. These are the escalators that give access to the parking levels.
And now looking up from the same spot. The 'roof' on the right side is another tower leaning on the bottom structures. From there it goes up another 20 stories!
Another detail from the interior. I liked how natural materials were used for decorating the public spaces: stone floors, uncovered concrete pillars and brass plated walls.
According to the architect Rem Koolhaas the building should eventually become a 'vertical city'. It doesn't seem to be very lively yet, but I guess that will change soon. Because who wouldn't like to wake up in a room like this:
P.S. I promise no 'boring' architecture photos for the next article. Let's get back in the streets!
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