It is the first covered food market in the city. The roof of the market hall is an arch accommodating 228 apartments; underneath the hall are 1,200 parking spaces and a supermarket. The combination of market hall and housing is a new typology.Markthal is an energy efficient building and has been awarded a BREEAM very good rating.

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Today Queen Máxima of the Netherlands opens Markthal Rotterdam, a project by developer Provast. Markthal is the first covered food market of the Netherlands, drawing inspiration from food markets in Stockholm, Barcelona and Valencia. The roof of the market hall is an arch accommodating 228 apartments, underneath the hall are 1,200 parking spaces and a supermarket. 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. The construction of Markthal, a design by MVRDV, took five years to be completed. The project was executed by contractors J.P van Eesteren, Mobilis and Martens en Van Oord.

At Markthal Visitors will be able to shop, eat, enjoy a drink on the terrace, live and park their car, all underneath the tall arch of 40 meters height. Markthal is located in the city center of Rotterdam, in the historic Laurenskwartier which is currently being redeveloped. The project is part of the ambition of the city council to turn the Laurenskwartier into a lively and bustling area.

Markthal comprises 96 fresh food stalls and shop units, ranging from Rotterdam based businesses and market vendors to established local heroes. They will offer a diverse range of products: from fresh fish to game, from cappuccino to cheese, from Chinese to Dutch, from ice cream to local produce, from bargains to exclusive slow food.

The ground and first floor accommodate 20 retail units, restaurants and cafés. All shops are food-related and include a crockery- and a wine shop. A supermarket is located on the 1st underground level allowing the shoppers to complete their shopping under one roof. ‘The World of Taste’, a center for education, information and innovation in the field of healthy eating will open on 1st January 2015.

The building with a total surface of 95.000 m² was designed by Rotterdam based architecture and urban planning firm MVRDV. The arch-shaped hall has a height of 40 meters, inside the arch 228 apartments are situated. The ground floor has a length of about 120 meters and a width of 70 meters, the size of a large football pitch. The underground car park has a total of 1.200 parking lots. Markthal is an energy efficient building and has been awarded a BREEAM Very Good rating.

In order to attract a large number of visitors, the building is designed with an open character. The open sides had to be closed to prevent rain and cold from entering, but kept as transparent as possible by opting for a single glazed cable net façade. Comparable to a tennis racket, pre-stressed steel cables create a suspended net in-between which the glass panes are hung. Markthal’s cable net façade is the largest of its kind in Europe and flexible to withstand heavy storms.

The exterior facade is clad in grey natural stone; the same is used for the market floor and the surrounding public space, in this way the emphasis lays on the colourful interior.

The large mural which covers the vaulted interior, ‘Cornucopia’ by artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam has a total surface of 11.000 m² making it one of the largest artwork of the Netherlands. ‘Cornucopia’ shows oversized images of market produce which can be bought at the market, while the flowers and insects refer to the work of Dutch still life masters from the 17th century. In order to achieve the required sharpness, the image was rendered by Pixar software. It was printed onto perforated aluminium panels, then attached to acoustic panels for noise control. The print resolution of the art work is comparable to a glossy magazine.

Markhal makes Rotterdam home of a new urban typology, a hybrid of market and housing. Markthal comprises of 102 rental- and 126 freehold apartments among which 24 penthouses. The apartments vary from 80 m² to 300 m², from two to five bedrooms. Every apartment has a view either towards the river Maas or the Laurens Church, and towards the market through windows or a glass floor made of sound and smell proof triple glazing.

In 2004, the City of Rotterdam launched an architectural competition for a market hall in combination with housing. Six developers were invited of which Provast was awarded the 1st prize. The winning concept, which is now being realized, proposed to combine both functions in one building.

The design by MVRDV was realized in collaboration with INBO architects, Royal HaskoningDHV, Peutz and Techniplan. Contractor Mobilis and Martens en Van Oord realized the underground car park, contractor J.P. van Eesteren is responsible for the complete structure above ground.

Retail property company Corio is the investor of the market stalls, food shops and cafés and restaurants; housing corporation Vesteda manages the 102 rental apartments. The underground car park is owned by the City of Rotterdam and managed by Interparking. The structure above ground was financed by ABN AMRO.

Market Hall will be open 7 days a week, from 10 am to 8 pm (Sunday noon to 6 pm) with extended opening times for the restaurants and cafés. The underground car park will be open 24 hours a day

The 11,000 sq m artwork on the interior façade of the building displays massive enlargements of fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, flowers and insects and in the background, one can also see the Sint Laurenskerk. According to the artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam, the Horn of Plenty is an adoration of nature and an ode to the universe. Coenen completed the work in cooperation with a team of six specialists.

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Rotterdam – Horn of Plenty The 11,000 square metre artwork on the interior façade of the Market Hall in Rotterdam displays massive enlargements of fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, flowers and insects. In the background, you can also see the Sint-Laurenskerk. According to the artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam, who want to evoke the childlike feeling of wonderment with this work, the Horn of Plenty is an adoration of nature and an ode to the universe. Coenen completed the work in cooperation with a team of six specialists.

Selection Committee The committee emphasises that it is specifically the artwork by Arno & Iris in collaboration with MVRDV that has been shortlisted, not the entire (and already much applauded) design of the market hall. The work demonstrates that the experience of a space is dependent on the good application of art. Coenen has achieved an extravagant impression that an architect cannot do on his own. With this work, Rotterdam makes an impressive statement, with an enormous force of attraction.

The architects decided to keep all other functions such as window frames, floors and ceilings in a calm, grey tone. As they needed acoustical ceiling which had no seams with correct color possibilities, they used ROCKFON Mono® Acoustic.

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The MARKTHAL covered market in the city centre of Rotterdam is one of the first of its kind in the Netherlands. The unique structure was designed by MVRDV Architects, who were approached by the city of Rotterdam to create a combined market and residential building. After several drafts, MVRDV decided that they did not want to cover the market with a traditional low roof, and instead they drafted an arch. “In that way the apartments would be able to see the market, and really experience this,” explains project architect, Anton Wubben, of MVRDV.

Making the market the focal point of the construction, they decided to cover the inside of the arch with a piece of art consisting of 4,000 colourful panels by local Rotterdam artist Arno Coen. The surrounding apartments were constructed to have a view into the market, and the penthouse apartments were even equipped with glass floors, allowing residents to look directly down onto the stands. To direct visitors’ attention directly towards the life in the market, MVRDV kept all other elements in a very minimal design. “Whatever we did, the market should be the centre of the design, and all the functions around it should facilitate this,” says Wubben, “so the space needed to be as minimally designed as possible.”

To achieve this discreet expression, MVRDV decided to keep all other functions – such as window frames, floors and ceilings – in a calm, grey tone. “We needed an acoustical ceiling which had no seams whatsoever, and the correct colour possibilities, so there we used ROCKFON Mono® Acoustic,” Wubben says. The result is an impressive structure with a remarkable balance between peaceful privacy and hectic interaction. “In the end we created a space, a framework you could almost say, that is the host for a market, but we could never have imagined the way the city has embraced this project. And although we have worked towards this in the design, the way that people use this building in the end is overwhelming,” he says.

The walls of the market are covered with ceramics and LCD TV screens (Perforated Aluminium sheets from Grupo Andalucia!) with giant images of fruits and other products that can be found in the stores. The entrance, 40 feet tall and wide is covered with a flexible glass façade.

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The construction of The Rotterdam Market Hall began in November 2009. The building, which is a hybrid of market and apartment s, is a commitment of the Dutch city to repopulate the center, relegated to office spaces since much of the area burnt dow during World War II. The construction of the first indoor market in the Netherlands and it will have a total area of 100,000 square meters. Located next to the church Laurens (one of the few buildings left standing after the bombing of World War II), the Market Hall stands "as a new urban typology that integrates market, restaurants, leisure, housing and parking" .

The walls of the market are covered with ceramics and LCD TV screens (Perforated Aluminium sheets from Grupo Andalucia!) with giant images of fruits and other products that can be found in the stores. The entrance, 40 feet tall and wide, is covered with a flexible glass facade that will see the exterior and the entrance of sunlight.

The structure includes a huge market floor on the ground floor under an arch of apartments. Its shape, vibrant interior and the height, turns the building into an unique spectacle. The combination of an apartment building covering a fresh food market with food shops, restaurants, supermarket and an underground parking is rare.

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Rotterdam has a new icon: Markthal Rotterdam. At a historical location at the Binnenrotte, next to Blaak Station and the largest weekly open air fresh food and hardware market in Rotterdam, the first covered market of the Netherlands was realised. Markthal includes a huge market floor on the ground floor under an arch of apartments. Its shape, its colourful interior and the height turns Markthal into an unique spectacle. Unique is not only its shape and size, but especially the way the different functions are combined. The combination of an apartment building covering a fresh food market with food shops, restaurants, a supermarket and an underground parking is found nowhere else in the world.

Streetlife delivered CorTen Shrubtub Color Tree Tubs for the public space around the new building. The color of these tubs is chosen by the municipality of Rotterdam specifically and used all over the city.

The Shrubtubs remain moveable and are therefore perfect for intensively used public spaces.

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Streetlife delivered CorTen Shrubtub Colour Tree Tubs for the public space around the new Markthal in Rotterdam. De colour of these tubs is chosen by the municipality of Rotterdam specifically and used all over the city. The Shrubtubs remain moveable and are therefore perfect for intensively used public spaces.