“Everyone says Rotterdam is the one city in Europe that has turned the disasters of war and occupation into triumph. For once, everyone is right,” wrote Lewis Mumford in 1957. Rotterdam was bombed on May 14, 1940 and its medieval center was destroyed. During the German occupation, different plans had been discussed for the new city and at the end, the City Council chose the Basic Plan that gave Rotterdam a new and thoroughly modern image. Under this spirit of modernity and triumph, Van Den Broek and Jaap Bakema – two local architects with strong ties to the reformative branch of the modern movement, i.e., the Team X – , drafted a very important project: the Lijnbaan shopping center. It was the first pedestrian market in Europe and since its birth it has been exemplary for both Europe and North America. It is a complex of shops in the center of Rotterdam so designed as to reinforce a communal spirit and a sense of freedom not only to its frequenters (i.e., passers-by and/or shoppers), but most importantly to the shop-owners and managers of their physical properties. The Dutch government deservedly pronounced it a modern national monument in acknowledging its architectural value combined with the fact it has sustained its original use until now.
In this research project, I will try to present a comprehensive picture of the Lijnbaan shopping center in terms of both its history and its architecture. I will first trace its development in the first urban plans, which were drawn in the aftermath of the city’s devastating destruction during WWII with an eye to both: what the city had been and what it wanted to be. Then I will analyze the architectural project in terms of both its contextual and its design qualities by taking account of the professional and ideological agendas of its two architects, as well as of the broader political dynamics in which these operated. Finally, I will review the fluctuating reputation of the complex over the years in conjunction with shifting commercial strategies after the original and most successful phase of it. Lastly, I will attempt an overall assessment of the Lijnbaan complex and its impact – i.e., whether enduring or not, whether still a vital part of the citizens’ lives or not – through a self-designed survey questionnaire addressed and distributed in situ to an ad hoc sample of the Rotterdam population.
