Posts Tagged city


The quality of neglection

Introduction
Cities, especially big cities and metropoles, are involved in processes of globalization. They are the most important scenes of current technological, economical and cultural transformations. An important feature in this context is the influence of an ever growing number of migrants, tourists, investors, and developers in cities today. These developments have a big influence on public spaces. Large scale developments like; highways, industrial areas, shopping malls, sports facilities, residential areas, theme parks, airports, harbors, etc. are influencing the contemporary city.
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Arthotel, Rotterdam

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The Waterfront of Rotterdam was the most important part of Rotterdam around the 1900s, politically as well as economically. The activities at the Waterfront are no longer there and the city center is now the most important part of Rotterdam. The Waterfront is an undefined space at the moment, but it has lots of potential to become a lively area again. This area is the link between the Maas and the city center. There are plans to create a cultural, tourist and recreational city center of Rotterdam at the Maas, between the Erasmus- and Willemsbridge. These plans are embedded in the ‘Ruimtelijk Plan Rotterdam’.

Rotterdam is a city rich of different kinds of art and culture; theatre, dance, music, film, photo, video, architecture, literature, festivals, museums, exhibitions and performance art.

The qualities of the Waterfront can be exploited by an art hotel, in which artists produce art with the city of Rotterdam as inspiration. The waterfront has a soothing function. It is possible for the artist to retreat here and work in silence. The expositions of the produced art are positive for the city of Rotterdam in many ways:

– a relation between the city center and the waterfront is created
– people are forced to think about the future of the city through the eyes of the different artists
– in a period of ten years the waterfront will be upgraded and new ideas about the possibilities of the waterfront will emerge.

Through the location of the art hotel an attempt is made to exploit the qualities of the waterfront. The building should play a role in the discussion about the future of Rotterdam, this is the reason why the location at the ‘Boompjes’ between the Erasmus bridge and the Willemsbridge has been chosen. The largest contrast can be found at this location between the busy city center and the calm riverside of the Maas, this enhances the concept of the hotel. The main road of the ‘Boompjes’ is not seen as an obstacle, but is being used to reach a large audience, it is possible to show projections on the front for example. The rooms/ workshops are orientated at the Maas, this way the artists can process their impressions and inspirations of the city center in their quiet workshops at the riverside. The road at right angles to the Maas in height of the hotel forms the visual connection between the city and the hotel.

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