As part of this year’s European fieldtrips, 39 students from BA2 and BA1 travelled to Rotterdam.
Facilitated by new university funding to provide more students with an international experience during their course at Liverpool School of Architecture, the group journeyed across the Pennines before catching the overnight ferry from Hull. Tracing some of the historic trade and migration routes, as well as the parallels of Liverpool and Rotterdam’s urban developments as major port cities of the 19th century.
The hostel on Coolestraat in the ‘Oude Westen’ (old West) neighbourhood and just north of Rotterdam’s China Town provided a great base for daily excursions and visits to the surrounding area. In recognition of the current BA2 studio projects’ focus on housing, the group saw Huis Sonneveld, [by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt 1933] one of the best-preserved residences of Dutch Functionalism and Nieuwe Zakelijkheid (New Pragmaticism); the De Kiefhoek housing estate [by J.J.P. Oud, 1930] and the altogether different Cube Houses [by Piet Blom, 1984] and Markethal [by MVRDV, 2014].
Students also received a guided tour of the UNESCO’s world heritage site at the Van Nellefabriek [by Brinkman and Van der Vlugt, 1920] and visited the Kunsthal [by OMA, 1992] and Het Nieuwe Instituut [by Jo Coenen, 1988], alongside other buildings in Rotterdam’s Museumpark, which includes the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen [by MVRDV, 2017]. Self-directed trips, on foot and public transport, also went as far as Amsterdam, The Haag and Utrecht.
Special mentions should go to:
The dedicated students who cycled the 40km round-trip to visit Delft University and the Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, as well as the Main Library [by Mecanoo, 1997], with a broken brake and a single gear!
Those who had to change cabins due to a leak on the ferry!
The students returning from Spain just the night before we travelled
The self-control shown by those visiting the largest ZARA store in the world for some final shopping.
We would like to thank all the students who joined the trip for their enthusiasm and interest, their thought-provoking questions during the guided tours, as well as their camaraderie and support towards each other.
Finally, a big thank you to Emma Curtin, who organised the trip and was supported by Matina Vrettou, Alex Dusterloh, and, of course, Wren Davies.
Gallery
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