Beyond its seat to the south of Amsterdam, Rotterdam holds a unique character in comparison to the old capital. Bombed extensively in WWII, Rotterdam’s city center was completely destroyed, and in the rebuilding process the city began to take on a modern flare, opposed to Amsterdam’s sometimes centuries-old architecture. After our visit to the Zuiderzee museum off the IJsselmeer in the north of the country we returned to Rotterdam. There I and a few others went to see the city’s famous Cube Houses after dinner, reflecting the future-forward nature of the city.
The industrial and maritime heart of the Netherlands preceding the 1940s, Rotterdam was of extreme economic and strategic value to the Dutch government. Even today the port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe, overseeing the transport of an average of nine million shipping containers per annum. Recognizing the city’s industrial capacity the Nazi regime situated their wider campaign in the Netherlands around the capture, and later destruction, of Rotterdam. On May 10th, 1940, failing to deliver a response to the German ultimatum, the Dutch were subjected to the Blitz of Rotterdam which lasted four days and completely destroyed the city center. The attack led to a major blow to Dutch morale and industrial capacity, directly resulting in the capitulation of the entire country the very next day. In the aftermath a little over a thousand Dutch were killed with eighty five thousand left homeless.
In the 84 years since Rotterdam has rebuilt itself into a modern city lined with skyscrapers and knit with roads, rail, and tram lines. With the somewhat forced opportunity to start essentially from scratch, city planning in Rotterdam has taken advantage of its larger land area and a modern urban planning approach to differentiate itself from fellow communities such as Amsterdam and the Hague. Enduring as a port town office space has become a must-have, leading to the development of more high rises than anywhere else in the Netherlands. In addition mixed zoning has led to the construction of combined commercial-residential areas, making better use of the city’s available space and creating room for some very interesting features of architecture.
To better utilize odd zoning requirements within Rotterdam, the city commissioned architect Piet Blom to construct a building housing several residential units across Blaak thoroughfare in the late 1970s. With lots both directly north and south of the street, the development was contracted specifically to connect over the roadway to create a more substantial residential center out for the available space. Arranged in off-axis cube shapes and mounted upon hexagonal pillars, the Kubuswoningen, or Cube Houses, catch the eyes of the many commuters that frequent the nearby Blaak train and metro station. With each block meant to resemble the foliage of a tree, the entire collection forms a canopy of unique and stylistic housing units right in the middle of Rotterdam. These buildings embody the forward-thinking nature of the whole of the city, inspired by its historic rise from the ashes of the second world war and continuing to exert Rotterdam’s place as the city of the future in the Netherlands.
As we continue to settle into our new base of operations here in Rotterdam, tomorrow’s schedule maintains a trip down to Zeeland to visit the Waternoodsmuseum on the history of floods and flooding control the Dutch have became so famous for. This encounter is sure to inform our upcoming tour of the Deltaworks floodwalls as well later in the week, enhancing our context of the ever present challenge that faces the Dutch low-landers and their increasingly complex relationship with water management.
– Duncan Dockstader