MVRDV

In 2004 MVRDV and Bouwhaven started an initiative for a new stadium for Feyenoord to be located at an iconic location at the Maas. In this plan the stadium is wrapped in a dense mix-use program. In december 2008 the Rotterdam city council decided moving the stadium to the proposed location at the Maas.

Click here for the first publication in 2004 (Dutch)
Click here for the debate in Rotterdam, September 2008 (Dutch)

De Kuip (the bowl), the home of Rotterdam’s famous Feyenoord football club is a 70 year old stadium, a fantastic monument that has honoured many heroes. Since a recent renovation this heroic atmosphere is left only inside the stadium. Its surroundings are mind-killing, the monument sits in a desert of parking spaces, a comparison with an Atlanta shopping Mall is apparent: the stadium is not integrated in the city whilst it should be part of animated city life, an icon of the people. Currently plans for renovation or demolition and new construction are on their way. The easy option is to build a new stadium right next to the old one.

But should these plans not be used for a more comprehensive gesture for Rotterdam? A new stadium should mean progress for the neighbourhood, the city and the football club. A new temple for Feyenoord needs to be visible from many places in the city. The proposed site next to the old Kuip is the contrary: hidden and anonymous.

Rotterdam accompanies the river Rhine which is locally called the ‘Maas’ on its last kilometres to the sea. From the mouth of the Maas to the city centre the city has constructed one beacon after the other, the Europoort, the Maasland Barrier, the container and petro port, the city centre with its bridges and the skyscrapers along the water. But in the east of the city between Willemsbridge and van Brienenoord bridge there is a nondescript area, mostly built up with anonymous housing. This is the area the new Kuip could occupy. In the bend of the river, widely visible from many sides and accessible through the already massively present infrastructure. The embankment is still in the neighbourhood Feijenoord which lent its name to the football club so the club can stay at ‘home’ and still be omnipresent in Rotterdam.