DECEMBER 2019/JANUARY 2020SEE IT
ROTTERDAM
Waterline
to Skyline
From boat tours to art
strolls, here are four
ways to take in the city
Futuristic Forays
1
”Bioneers” and design
types are making things
happen in BlueCity, a start-
up community focused
on eliminating waste and
reusing resources; its
Aloha restaurant serves
dishes featuring mush-
rooms grown in coffee
grounds produced by the
in-house coffee roaster.
With water all around,
Rotterdam is an ideal
site for the world’s first
Floating Farm, a raft bear-
ing more than 30 cows—
an option for lower-impact
agriculture. In Rijnhaven,
20 floating trees form the
Bobbing Forest.Ace Architecture
2
Home to the Nether-
lands Architecture
Institute, Rotterdam has
an abundance of distinc-
tive buildings, from the
pencil-shaped Blaaktoren
apartment building and the
platter-roofed Blaak train
station to the Lego-like
Central Library and the
arched Market Hall, its
ceiling adorned with the
country’s largest artwork.
A standout among these
creative visions? The bright
yellow Cube Houses, a
complex of forward-tilting,
asymmetrical facades
designed by the late Dutch
starchitect Piet Blom.Treasure Troves
3
Rotterdam’s leafy
Museumpark acts
as a hub for heavyweight
cultural sites. Visit the
art-filled, Rem Koolhaas-
designed Kunsthal, which
eschews permanent
collections for rotating
exhibits of art, photog-
raphy, and fashion, and
Het Nieuwe Instituut (The
New Institute), a must for
lovers of design, architec-
ture, and e-culture. The
under-renovation Boijmans
van Beuningen Museum
will reopen in 2021 with
a publicly accessible art
depot sheltering some
150,000 works.Maritime Matters
4
For a glimpse of old
Rotterdam, visit the
port of Delfshaven, from
which many Europeans
set sail for America in the
1600s. Unlike much of the
city, it survived World War
II unscathed. The newer
Port of Rotterdam, with its
state-of-the-art dock facili-
ties, now ranks as Europe’s
largest. Book a boat tour
to get close-up views of
huge container and cruise
ships; the port aims to be
emission free by 2050. Cap
your day with a stroll along
the Maasvlaktestrand, a
beach built to protect the
city from rising seas.Europe’s first
high-rise, the art
nouveau White
House overlooks
the Old Port.