Teun van der Beek
Heritage and Architecture
The Maassilo towards a machine for exchange of culture: Working as a link between users, local and international culture
As the Rotterdam harbour rapidly grew larger during the twentieth century, the Maassilo expanded along, in search for the enormous scale the harbour gained. Nowadays, the Maassilo is centrally located in the urban neighbourhoods of the city, amid many cultural hotspots.
This design is an attempt to facilitate the Maassilo as a link between Rotterdam the port city and Rotterdam the future cultural harbour. The building enables different groups of makers, collaborators and visitors to (internationally) exchange cultural and creative products. The project includes work places, a restaurant, exhibition spaces, a night club and an acoustic music hall.
A central hall with organic shapes and warm materials adds a warm heart to the massive concrete building. It is designed as the intersection between the spaces and infrastructure inside and the urban harbour area outside. The exhibition space that spirals above the central hall exposes the cut-out grain silos.