Hoogstraat

The Hoogstraat played a significant role in the development of Rotterdam, but lost its cultural status after being destroyed in the 1940 bombing. To restore its identity, this project adds a new cultural layer to the street. Inspired by its history and architecture, five architectural follies repair the gaps left by the post-war reconstruction.

The project started by looking into the role of memory in architecture and the role of architecture in memory. Memories are complex and fragmented, so an associative research was conducted using an atlas of collected cards to establish connections between memories of the Hoogstraat and theories from art and architecture. \nThe stories in which the street plays a role, were an inexhaustible source, full of architectural and spatial traces. A collection of traces made it into a reconstruction, a first reading of the street. Different stories emerged, such as that of the brothers Niek and Tom Schoenmaker. As children, they moved into a luxurious upper house on the Hoogstraat, just four weeks before the bombing. They remember the marble staircase with a red carpet and copper banisters as a symbol of the brief prosperity they experienced here. And finally the statue of Mary falling from its pedestal as a warning of the impending bombing raid.\nNow these traces had to be given a place in the Hoogstraat. \nAfter the bombing of 1940, the Hoogstraat became an emptiness. In the reconstruction, planners looked beyond what the center once was. North-south became more important than the east-west connection that the Hoogstraat forms. The new north-south connections left gaps in the street, 5 empty spaces.\nToday the status quo of the Hoogstraat is apparent, especially on an average weekday when the flow of people shopping is absent. In the 5 voids, 5 follies break through that status quo. Aiming to give the Hoogstraat, the oldest street of the city, back a piece of its cultural status, and contribute to the appreciation of the specific identity that belongs to this part of the city.\nSo go on a journey through the Hoogstraat. Cross the Coolsingel and discover how this used to be water on the edge of the city. Follow the red carpet, amid functional buildings and shop boxes. Climb the stairs with copper railings, symbolizing the short-lived prosperity of the Schoenmaker brothers. Experience the emptiness, the roof of the castle that once marked the beginning of the street, turned upside down. Welcome to fabulous Hoogstraat Rotterdam