Markthal Rotterdam Opens

MVRDV's project has been highly anticipated, not only for the addition of housing units but in the way the apartments arch over the market hall and actually look into the space through small openings. Further, the underside of the arched ceiling is lined with artist Arno Coenen's colorful graphics, which caught our eye over the summer.

Per a statement from MVRDV on the Markthal's opening, the "combination of market hall and housing is a new typology and, located in Rotterdam’s city center, is expected to attract 4,5 to 7 million visitors each year." More boasts come in the design of the single-glazed cable-net façades at both ends of the market hall; these are supposedly the largest cable-net façades in Europe and are flexible enough to withstand heavy storms.

MVRDV's competition-winning design "makes Rotterdam home of a new urban typology, a hybrid of market and housing," per their statement. Those concerned about the compatibility of the two uses in such proximity might be appeased by the fact the windows and glass floors separating the market hall and the apartments are made of triple glazing so as to be sound and smell proof.