Our Planet’s Landmarks Series #7
After WW-II, when Rotterdam took stock of the 1940 Luftwaffe-induced destruction of the heart of the city, it saw a grim picture. While most people would have been overwhelmed with the hopelessness of the situation, the Rotterdam city authorities wasted little time to turn it into an opportunity.
During its gradual rebuilding between the 1950s and 1970s, the city totally disregarded the Dutch tradition of sticking to low-rise. Rotterdam almost rebelliously created a modern high-rise skyline to announce its reemergence as a vital trade hub of Northern Europe.
But that was not all. During this period, Rotterdam even experimented with structures such as Cube Houses built right above the Blaak Subway Station (see the photo above).
A few decades later, in 2009, Rotterdam pulled another rabbit out of their hat. They started building Markthal (E
Once completed in 2014, it was inaugurated by Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
Architectural Marvel Markthal Rotterdam
But, why is it an architectural marvel? For starters, besides housing 228 apartments, it also houses 4600 sq. mt. of retail space, 1600 sq. mt. of HORECA (hotels, restaurants, and cafés), and a 4-storeyed underground parking lot that can accommodate over 1200 cars.
Additionally, it boasts of an 11,000 sq. mt.-mural called ‘Horn of Plenty’ that adorns its roof. Created by Arno Coenen, this mural depicts exaggeratedly enlarged fruits, vegetables, seeds, fish, flowers, and insects.
It was created using digital 3D animation techniques. This digital animation was divided into 4000 pieces. Those pieces were subsequently printed on perforated Aluminium panels. Thanks to this mural, Markthal is today called the Sistine Chapel of Rotterdam.
Markthal has a glass façade on both sides – entirely made of smaller glass windows. These glass windows have been mounted on a cable grid of 26 vertical and 22 horizontal cables. Today, this makes it the largest glass-façade structure in Europe.
Net-net, in my belief, Architectural Marvel Markthal Rotterdam is truly a stunning modern structure and a landmark of our planet!
