Monday, December 31, 2018

24th September 2018 Rotterdam, Holland

Hi Dear Folk,

The last day of our cruise was spent in Rotterdam.  When you go on vacation you always have expectations of what you will see and do and they are usually high, because you have chosen to go there.  Rotterdam was really just the last port of call on our itinerary and to be quite honest I did not have high expectations, just considering it a big international seaport, totally bombed out in WWII.  How wrong I was.  Yes is was and is both of the above, but what we saw of the architecture in just the small area we visited was stunning and left us wanting to see more.  We only had a morning there, but I would go back on another trip and spend several days there, it is so interesting.


The city actually provides a free shuttle bus from the port into town and drops you off at a couple of places.  We chose this area, because we knew it was near the Cube Houses and we wanted to see those.  We were here by about 8:30 am and of course again nothing open.



The Markt which is that domed horseshoe shaped building did not open until 10:00 am and the Cube Houses you could not take a tour until 11:00 am.


We did walk around the Cube Houses and looked at all we could from the outside.


Love the super efficient tram system.


Aren't these amazing?  The architect Piet Blom 1934-1999.  He presented his designs, two projects surrounding the old harbour 1978.

Both projects are quite different from each other according to form and scale.  A similarity is the inner squares, where people can meet.  The intended number of 74 cube-houses was reduced to 38, such a shame.

The pedestrian-viaduct on which the cube-houses have been built was a wish of the municipality and was meant to be a safe crossing over the Blaak, from the old harbour to the inner city. To me this is reminiscent of Medieval bridges that had businesses and houses on them such as you see in Florence.

Blom saw a tree in a cube-house and the pole or pedestal as the trunk.  the complex gave him the impression of a vaulted cathedral ceiling or of a forest and that is how it was given it's name Blaak Forest.  A cube has a total surface of about 100m2 over 3 floors, which Blom names Street-house, Sky-house and Tabernacle.  The Pole is the entranceway, and houses the winding stairs up, plus may be used for storage space.





Bike storage.


The Markt or Market Hall opened in 2014 shaped something like an aircraft hanger is an amazing building that houses a ground floor food court area and then actually goes underground several floors, housing different department stores.  The surrounding structure houses offices and apartments, with some having windows that look into the mall area.



After viewing the outside of the Cube-Houses we decided to get a cup of coffee at an Internet cafe.


Here you see rubbish being brought up from the underground area.


The inside ceiling with apartment windows.


Food court area.




I love a fresh dragon fruit.  First tasted these in Hawaii.



I meant to get one of these men and didn't in the end.


We went downstairs and found a grocery store where we bought some food items to take home.






We went back to the Cube-houses to take a tour.  Several of the stair cases wind around and are reminiscent of the stair cases found in old cottages in England, then you have the angled sloping roofs and you feel like you are in a modern version of an old thatched cottage.  Jean and I loved them, but said the design was more appropriate for younger folk, but I could probably manage it for a couple of years so if there's one going let me know because I fell in love with the design.









We especially liked the top room, with all the windows.  You could just imagine sitting up here on a snowy or rainy day, reading a book, or studying, just such a great room and space, to think, imagine and inspire one.



This is how the Markt apartments look on the outside of the building.  Just seeing these two wonderful designs made our day.





What about this bridge too?  Taken from where we docked.

Christine

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