rotterdam

on sunday i went to rotterdam. rotterdam is holland's second city, after amsterdam. it is set on a wide river and used to be the world's most active port for shipping containers (it was surpassed in 2004 by shanghai). during world war II the germans tried to invade the netherlands but were unable so they bombed the shit out of rotterdam, destroying most of the downtown. most of the buildings now are mid-century high-rises ranging from mildly interesting to absolutely ugly (in general i am not an admirer of the skyscraper).

i took the train there for the afternoon and early evening; the journey from delft to rotterdam probably takes about the same amount of time as the voyage from lechmere to park station in boston. i walked around and saw mostly architectural sites, managing to walk for a long time from the western cultural areas all the way over to blaak and back again to the main train station, a building that is being rebuilt and so that area is a mess. i got really hungry but managed to find some food (street vietnamese food [there will be a post about this stuff soon], bagel sandwich, pizza quattro formaggi). i also started to get harassed by some bum in dutch about loaning him some rolling papers, but when he saw the non-dutch-speaking look in my eye he immediately said "oh fuck, you speak english, hey man, can you help me out..." it is nice that bums can annoy you in two languages here. also walked by the american apparel rotterdam; it looks the same. i also saw a thai restaurant near blaak that looked really good. i'll probably eat there on a subsequent trip to rotterdam.

here are some pics for summary. i might put more on flickr or facebook if i have time. but probably not.

(update: i surprised myself and splurged for a pro account on flickr. the link is in the column to your right, my left [as i stare out at you from within the screen]. ok, then. goedenacht.)






cafe de unie, an important de stijl work by dutch architect j.j.p. oud (1925). actually, the internet tells me that the original building was destroyed by the germans and this is a recreation in a location different than the original.


street scene with trolley apparatus


NAI, nederlands architectuurinstituut, an organization that hosts exhibits and events. they are hosting a biennale this fall that should have some pretty interesting stuff. the building is kind of a geometric mess (and they use astroturf instead of real grass), but the gallery space i was able to see looked spare enough to like. the library is in that main volume with columns pushed outside the building but it wasn't open on sundays.


interior of huis sonneveld (1933). early dutch functionalist house for a factory owner that actually survived the WWII bombing. well-chosen colors and tons of interesting features. it is worthwhile to compare this to the gropius house built in the same time period (1937) for technological and social reasons: both had intercoms, modern kitchen equipment, and steel tubular furniture but still had space for service people to wait on the family that was really old world.


bedroom for teenage daughter including her own phone and listening station. if the record player or radio in the living room downstairs was on, she could listen in bed. this room is done in blue; the other daughter's room is in yellow. nice.


kunsthal by rem koolhaas (OMA) and cecil balmond (ARUP) in museumpark (1993). medium-sized space for exhibitions as the organization has no permanent collection. satisfying post-modern mix of expensive materials (travertine) and cheap ones (plywood, corrugated plastic). i realized that this is the first rem building i have seen in person, save for the construction on the dallas theatre center. a sort-of generic ramp-based building whose rampness seems like a good move to span the 10-meter level change between park level and street level.


kunsthal auditorium. i liked the kitsch value of this hall, with flimsy chairs and plywood finishing. the angled columns are nice too. cecil has a chapter on this building in his book "informal," but i don't need to hear any of his intellectual meditations because they are fluff.


there was a small part of the gallery that had this grating as the floor. totally awkward as i could not even look at the art and had to focus on controlling my paranoia that the floor would fold and snap and i'd fall 25 feet to the ground. thanks rem.








found piet blom's overblaak cube development (1978-1984) and went into one of the units that is now a museum.


tons of wasted and awkward space. also generally dark because windows at this level were angled down. the unit was also weirdly decorated, with a collection of model designer chairs, LOTR figurines, and a cactus collection on the upper sunroom. totally unpractical.


this was probably built with some vague commune-inspired urban social dream that sought to create both private and public places in the development. the public spaces underneath the cubes are still used as storefronts, but the feeling is again awkward with the faces of the homes and windows looking almost directly down at you, focusing any views out the lower windows directly onto the plaza users. there also isn't much light on the patio spaces so it seems dark, almost literally shady. residents refer to the development as "blaakse bos" or "blaak forest." not that impressed.


another plaza with a concert hall where i had dinner before the short train ride home. i didn't have dinner in the concert hall, i sat outside at an italian restaurant as the sun died. the sun always sets sooner in a big city because of the tall buildings.

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upon returning to delft in the dying light i heard the blues and followed my ears to koornmarkt straat where i find a one-man band pumping out the greatest hits of american music. he plays blues, he plays "like a rolling stone," he raps in english to a 50 cent hit (one i can't remember) before letting his rhythm tracks take over and playing some latin music. it is sunday night and there are some possibly inebriated dutch people shaking with no abandon to this guy's electro backing. somebody i met at jean-paul's going away party (the dude from botswana) recognizes me and gives me a free beer (brand, not the best kind of beer out there but hey, it is free). then, the pace slows, and the singer dude breaks into a version of "purple rain." people aren't sure how to dance to this, but it doesn't matter because the dude is feeding us a ridiculously shredding guitar solo over his backing. after that the 50 cent beat comes back on and some young breakers try their moves and hustle the crowd for 50 eurocent pieces. in this world you can't really leave america anymore. it has infected every place.