Rotterdam, The Netherlands.. City Tour (Part7/12) Kolk/Blaak station/cube houses (4K)

Rotterdam (/ˈrɒtərdæm/ or /ˌrɒtərˈdæm/; Dutch: [ˌrɔtərˈdɑm] is a city in the Netherlands, located in South Holland, within the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt river delta at the North Sea. Its history goes back to 1270 when a dam was constructed in the Rotte river by people settled around it for safety. In 1340 Rotterdam was granted city rights by the Count of Holland and slowly grew into a major logistic and economic centre. Nowadays it is home to Europe's largest port and has a population of 633,471 (2017, city proper), ranking second in the Netherlands, just behind Amsterdam. The Greater Rijnmond area is home to approximately 1.4 million people and the Rotterdam The Hague Metropolitan Area makes for the 168th most populous urban area in the world. Rotterdam is part of the yet larger Randstad conurbation with a total population of 7,100,000.
The city of Rotterdam is known for the Erasmus University, riverside setting, lively cultural life and its maritime heritage. The near-complete destruction of Rotterdam's city centre during World War II (known as the Rotterdam Blitz) has resulted in a varied architectural landscape including sky-scrapers, which are an uncommon sight in other Dutch cities. Rotterdam is home to some world-famous architecture from renowned architects like Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom, Ben van Berkel and others. Recently Rotterdam was listed eighth in The Rough Guide Top 10 Cities to Visit and fifth in Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2016 and was voted 2015 European City of the Year by the Academy of Urbanism.
The port of Rotterdam is the largest cargo port in Europe and the 10th largest in the world. Rotterdam's logistic success is based on its strategic location on the North Sea, directly at the mouth of the Nieuwe Maas (New Meuse) channel leading into the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta. The rivers Rhine, Meuse, and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, including the highly industrialized Ruhr region. The extensive distribution system including rail, roads, and waterways have earned Rotterdam the nickname "Gateway to Europe", and, conversely; "Gateway to the World" in Europe.
Cube houses
Cube houses (Dutch: Kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, designed by architect Piet Blom and based on the concept of "living as an urban roof": high density housing with sufficient space on the ground level, since its main purpose is to optimize the space inside. Blom tilted the cube of a conventional house 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design represents a village within a city, where each house represents a tree, and all the houses together, a forest. The central idea of the cube houses around the world is mainly optimizing the space, as a house, to a better distribution of the rooms inside.
The houses in Rotterdam are located on Overblaak Street, right above the Blaak Subway Station. There are 38 small cubes and two so called 'super-cubes', all attached to each other.
As residents are disturbed so often by curious passers-by, one owner decided to open a "show cube", which is furnished as a normal house, and is making a living out of offering tours to visitors.
The houses contain three floors:
ground floor entrance
first floor with living room and open kitchen
second floor with two bedrooms and bathroom
top floor which is sometimes used as a small garden
The walls and windows are angled at 54.7 degrees. The total area of the apartment is around 100 square metres (1,100 sq ft), but around a quarter of the space is unusable because of the walls that are under the angled ceilings.
In 2006, a museum of chess pieces was opened under the houses.
In 2009, the larger cubes were converted by Personal Architecture into a hostel run by Dutch hostel chain Stayokay.
Rotterdam Blaak is a railway station and metro station in the Dutch city of Rotterdam, located on the Breda-Rotterdam railway between Rotterdam and Dordrecht. The station is located in the centre of the city, near the cube houses and the Markthal.
On 2 May 1877 the first railway station on this location was opened, then called Rotterdam Beurs. This station was part of a 2.2 km (1.4 mi) long viaduct. After the station had been destroyed during World War II, a new station opened in 1953, called Rotterdam Blaak.
When the underground metro station was opened on 6 May 1982, space was already reserved for a possible underground railway station directly underneath the metro station. On 15 September 1993, this new underground railway station was opened, as part of a 2.8 km (1.7 mi) long tunnel. This tunnel, including the station, now had 4 tracks instead of the 2 on the viaduct.
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