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Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 1)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 2)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 3)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 4)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 5)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 6)
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Rotterdam City Centre: Anneke Bokern (Thumbnail)
Anneke Bokern
Almere, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht

Anneke Bokern is an architecture journalist and writer based in Amsterdam. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, she studied History of Art and Architecture in Berlin. She moved to the Netherlands in 2000 and has been writing about architecture and urban development for German and international publications including Bauwelt, Baumeister, Topos and DETAIL ever since. She is also the author of several books on Dutch architecture.

Her passion for Dutch building culture led her to found architour in 2004 and co-found the Guiding Architects Network, making her one of the pioneers of professionally guided architecture tours in the Netherlands.

She develops programmes, curates tours, and leads groups in English, German, and Dutch, and continues to write and publish on Dutch architecture.

anneke-bokern.com

Rotterdam City Centre: Paul Vlok (Thumbnail)
Paul Vlok
Almere, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht

Paul is an experienced architect and lecturer. Born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, he graduated from TU Delft with an honours degree in Architecture in 1995.

In the years that followed, Paul worked for several Dutch architecture firms, contributing to projects in urban extensions and renewal areas. His work has consistently focused on housing and urban planning.

Since 2018, Paul has been a partner at architour. He develops and organises programmes and leads tours in English, Dutch and German. He also teaches at the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture.

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Tour in Rotterdam:
Rotterdam City Centre

Rotterdam is a harbour city with rough charm and a striking skyline, shaped by a century of radical change. Its port expanded rapidly in the 19th century. When wartime bombing destroyed the city centre in 1940, planners seized the opportunity to build something entirely new on a canvas of around 260 hectares.

The result is a city centre unlike any other in the Netherlands: modernist in its bones, with pedestrianised streets and a skyline that was designed to grow. Postwar landmarks like De Lijnbaan sit alongside more recent projects by architects like MVRDV and OMA, which explore how to introduce more urban life into a centre that was originally designed around commerce and traffic flow.

This tour takes you through the layers of Rotterdam's development — explaining how modernist ideals shaped the centre, what the city looks like when those ideals meet contemporary urban challenges, and how architects are responding today.

  • Duration: 3 hours

  • Transport: walking

  • Services: experienced local architect as guide

  • Languages: Dutch, English, German or French

  • Group size: max. 25 participants per guide

Projects:

  • Explanations about urban development, post-war planning, recent interventions

  • Central Station (Team CS, 2013): Modern transport hub that reflects the city’s ongoing reinvention

  • Residential densification projects in the city centre

  • Shopping street Lijnbaan (Van den Broek en Bakema, 1948) and Bijenkorf department store (Marcel Breuer, 1957)

  • Housing and office building Timmerhuis (OMA, 2015)

  • Cube Houses (Piet Blom, 1984): Striking example of experimental architecture, with homes built at a 45-degree angle

  • Market Hall (MVRDV, 2013): Multifunctional space that combines a covered market with apartments

  • Wijnhaveneiland

architour is led by Anneke Bokern and Paul Vlok. We currently have a team of 18 guides, based in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Eindhoven.

Get in touch!
Guiding Architects
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 7)

Ossip van Duivenbode

Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 8)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 9)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 10)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 11)
Guiding Architects, tour: Rotterdam City Centre (Fig. 12)
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