MANCAMONDO

Central Western
Europe

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Benelux Union is a politico-economic union of three neighbouring
states in western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

The name Benelux is formed from joining the first
two or three letters of each country's name.

Benelux

Holland

ROTTERDAM

The Netherlands, also known informally as Holland, is
a densely populated country in Western Europe, also
incorporating three island territories in the Caribbean.

It is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The four largest cities in the Netherlands are
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.

Rotterdam is a city in South Holland within the
Rhine Meuse Scheldt river delta at the North Sea.

A major logistic and economic centre, Rotterdam is Europe's largest port.

Rotterdam Kingdom of the Netherlands july 2016

Rotterdam is known for its university, riverside setting, lively cultural life, maritime heritage and modern architecture.

The near-complete destruction of the city centre in the World War II Rotterdam Blitz has resulted in a varied architectural
landscape, including skyscrapers designed by architects such as Rem Koolhaas, Piet Blom and Ben van Berkel.

The city centre is located on the northern bank of the Nieuwe Maas, although recent urban development
has extended the centre to parts of southern Rotterdam known as De Kop van Zuid.

Gebouw Delftse Poort, one of the tallest office buildings in the Netherlands.

Rotterdam's new Central Station reopened in March 2014, designed to handle up to 320,000 passengers daily.

Rotterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands, july 2016.

In terms of alternative culture, Rotterdam had from the 1960s until the 2000s a thriving squatters movement
which as well as housing thousands of people, occupied venues, social centres and so on.

Rotterdam is also the home of Gabber, a type of hardcore electronic music popular in the mid-1990s, with hard beats and samples.

Rotterdam features some urban architecture projects, nightlife, and many summer festivals celebrating the city's multicultural
population and identity, such as the Caribbean-inspired "Summer Carnival", the Dance Parade,
Rotterdam 666, the Metropolis pop festival and the World Port days.

Kingdom of the Netherlands july 2016

The Rhine, Meuse and Scheldt give waterway access into the heart of Western Europe, including the highly industrialized Ruhr.

The extensive distribution system including rail, roads, and waterways have earned
Rotterdam the nicknames "Gateway to Europe" and "Gateway to the World".

From its inland core, Rotterdam reaches the North Sea by a swathe of predominantly harbour area.

Built mostly behind dikes, large parts of the Rotterdam are below sea level.

Erasmusbrug (Erasmus Bridge) is a combined cable-stayed and bascule bridge, construction began in 1986 and was completed in 1996.

It crosses the Nieuwe Maas in the centre of Rotterdam, connecting the north and south parts of this city.

Rotterdam has become world famous because of its modern and groundbreaking architecture.

Rotterdam Kingdom of the Netherlands july 2016

Throughout the years the city has been nicknamed Manhattan at the Meuse.

Cube houses (Dutch: kubuswoningen) are a set of innovative houses built in Rotterdam and Helmond 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 optimise 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.

Cube houses (Dutch: kubuswoningen) Rotterdam, july 2016.

Cube houses (Dutch: kubuswoningen) Rotterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands, july 2016.

The Markthal (English: Market Hall) is a residential and office building with a market hall underneath, located in Rotterdam.

The Markthal was designed by architectural firm MVRDV. The grey nature stone building has an archwise structure like a horseshoe.
The building has a glass facade on both sides; these are made up of smaller glass windows.

Rotterdam, Kingdom of the Netherlands, july 2016.