Rotterdam

I had heard on some occasion about how interesting Rotterdam is from a Modern Architecture perspective, but I have to admit that having visited Paris-La Defense, London-Canary Dwarf, Frankfort (Mainzhattan) or Warsaw, I thought that I had already seen the best on offer for that in Europe (of course Istambul is not Europe, and as for Moscow... well, Rusia has little to do with my interpretation of what Europe means) and didn't expect Rotterdam to impress me. Well, I finally made it there a few days ago, and Rotterdam not just impressed me, it hypnotised me.

Of course Modern Architecture is not just high rise buildings, but for sure it's an essential part for me. Rotterdam is quite far from the highest heights in the E.U. (if you look here it does not show up until position 62! but it has such an amount of high rises (for me that means buildings above 80 meters) and scattered all over the city, not just in a specific business area, that I would say it's the most vertical city in Europe.

Most of these high rises are done with really good taste, some of the most impressive overlook on both sides that huge water extension that is the Nieuwe Maas, gifting you with an amazing skyline. Such an amount of high rises means that many of them are not offices, but residential buildings. That's great, because the idea of living in the 30th floor of a beautiful building (with a balcony as many of them have!) overlooking the river and with a view of this middle size metropolis is more than exciting.

For residential buildings, I loved these not so tall ones right next to the impressive new Central Train Station:

and also this 30-something stories dark twins:

Of course I really enjoyed the view of "De Rotterdam", "New Orleans" and "Montevideo":

that is even better when enriched by a "floating high rise" in the passangers terminal of the port:

I've always loved buildings with an upper part standing out of the base of the building. This is an amazing example

And as for the good taste of these constructions, these ones with dark brick facade and those green, steep roofs, along with their proximity to the Maastoren, just verge on perfection.

Not all the city is a continuation of modern buildings. There are many "very Dutch" areas, with 3 of 4 stories buildings in dark brick. Some of them are recent, but others seem to have a certain history behind (you should also note that while the Nazis raided by air the whole city center, other areas of the city were not affected). Furthermore, if you go to Delfshaven you'll find a good, and complementary, dose of traditional Dutch architecture and charm.