Architecture Rotterdam #4: Markthallen (Market Hall), and the largest artwork of Netherlands

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Market place, apartment building and largest artwork in one

There might be more indoor markets around the world, but Rotterdam's Market Hall is the first to have an indoor market area and residency units in one. Plus it hosts Netherlands's largest artwork ever, the Hoorn van Overvloed (Horn of Plenty) by Arno Coenen en Iris Roskam.

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View from Blaak station

Horseshoe

The building has the shape of a horse-shoe, with 228 apartments covering a 4600 m2 market area. On both sides the arch is closed by a wall of glass, and with their 34 metres high and 42 metres these walls are the largest glass window cable structure of Europe.

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Glass window cable structure

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Horse-shoe shape from inside

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Shopping

There's a large variety of food and drinks available in the market area. Prices are a bit above average, but in general there are a lot of quality products and you can expect to find some delicacies to your taste. In the middle of the hall there are escalators, leading down to some more shops and parking area.

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Going down

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It was a rainy day. Means: more people inside the Markthallen.

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Coffee with a view

If you're in Rotterdam and looking for a place to enjoy your coffee, then on top of one of the market place units is a great choice. As these area's are elevated, they give a great view on the crowd passing by below. And allow for the awesome spacious feeling of these halls to sink in.

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Awesome place to have a drink

Horn of Plenty

The artwork on the inside of the horse-shoe shape is the largest of Netherlands. It's 11.000 m2 of fruits, insects, fish, vegetables and flowers, separated in 4000 pieces and printed on aluminium panels. My favourite part of it is this pink flower down below. Definitely the largest flower I ever saw.

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Detail from Horn of Plenty

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Feeling at home

While looking at the ceiling, did you realise you're having a view into people's homes? The apartments in the horse-shoe shape have windows looking down on the market area. If you like the view so much you would want it with every coffee for the rest of your life, you can always consider buying a home here.

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Architecture Rotterdam

When people talk about the Netherlands, they always mention our capitol Amsterdam, but are much less aware of our second largest city Rotterdam. Which was hit very hard by World War II, and has a lot of modern art compared to other Dutch cities. There's a lot of great architecture here, and with these posts I hope to bring it to your attention!

Earlier posts in this series:

All content is created by me, and Steemit original.
Camera used: Canon G7X

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