ROTTERDAM LANDSCAPE FIELD TRIP KINGSTON UNI

NAI Netherlands Architecture Institute

One of our first ports of call, the NAI greeted us with an interesting sculpture that i thought looked rather crane like, and this was to prove a recurring theme, with the Schooburgplein vents and the Erasmus bridge. It was hard to escape the port and shipping imagery around the city.

Schooburgplein by West 8- Rotterdam's Leicester Sqaure, but not so tacky. The scheme captures the innovation of the modern city with these giant vents releasing air from the carpark that sits underneath the floating grid floor of the square. Ithey were originally designed to be interactive withthe public so they could be moved to different positions but unfortunately now only work on a timer. The square looks even better at night, check out the book SUPERDUTCH by bart Lootsma for an excellent photo and loads of interesting insight into modern Dutch Architecture and landscapes.

The Erasmus Bridge - also known as the giant pair of tweezers?

One of the best parts of the Rotterdam was the area at the end of Wilhelmina pier by the Hotel New York. Another West 8 scheme. I like the way the relationship wiith worldwide cities and ports is drawn on here and also the play on scale, with cities names painted on to the tarmac in giant letters and oversized seating and tables, giant lampshades and ship chimneys.