El Mercado

Although the French call it Marché, the Spanish name it Mercado and English say Market Hall. More or less the fabulous Markthal in Rotterdam makes you feel like Alice in Wonderland. As soon as you walk inside the artwork on the ceiling elevates you towards higher levels. Which is what the artists Iris Roskam and Arno Coenen want you to feel like. The artworks name is Horn of Plenty and is 4000 steel panels with a surface of 11.000 mlarge.

After 5 years of construction Dutch Queen Maxima opened the Markthal in Rotterdam in October 2014. This Market Hall in Rotterdam is by the architects of MVRDV. These are the first letters of their last names. Therefore standing for (Winy) Maas, (Jacob) van Rijn and (Nathalie) de Vries.

Different from the famous Spanish Mercado’s, the Market Hall in Rotterdam is the first of its kind. With the combination of 1200 parking spots, 96 food stalls and 228 appartments quite exceptional. Around half of the apartments have windows on the inside and all have balconies on the outside. With on top the penthouses. The Market Hall is 40 meters high with a total of 16 floors and 25 elevators inside. This is with the four underground floors where the three lowest floors are the parking garage.

Once inside the Markthal you forget about the outside world. Even the Pencil building next door will be forgotten for a moment. There are plenty of restaurants, two supermarkets, food and drinks from almost everywhere. Also visit the floors -2 to -4 where the many found artefacts are exhibited. Here is the location!

markthal mvrdv rotterdam architecture