Rotterdam, as is often commented in the built environment circles, is a deeply ‘architectural’ city. Today part of the most populous metropolitan area in the Netherlands and Europe’s largest seaport, Rotterdam saw its city centre nearly entirely razed to the ground in 1940 during Second World War bombing. It was rebuilt post-war at a 20th-century pace around its few surviving downtown buildings, such as modernist architecture gems Sonneveld House and Chabot Museum. This gave birth to an influential generation of architects along the way, who dominated the world scene at the end of the century and the first quarter of the next – such as Rem Koolhaas’ OMA/AMO, MVRDV, and Neutelings Riedijk.
