Giant fresco at Rotterdam's Market Hall

IN THE DOWNTOWN OF ROTTERDAM, A COVERED HALL CREATES SURPRISE BY HOSTING AN ARTWORK OF 11,000 SQUARE METERS: THE MARKET HALL.

"Here are fruits, flowers, leaves and branches ...", said Paul Verlaine cheerfully as he walked through the Market Hall in Rotterdam. Indeed, if it is the most important market covered with fresh products built in the Netherlands, it is also the most surprising, both by its situation and by its aesthetics. Initially, the idea was to expand the Binnenrotte market and to boost the economy of the city, and Winy Maas's MVRDV won the competition.
The originality of the project? Inscribe the hall at the very heart of the houses, under an arch of a volume of 120 meters long by 70 wide and 40 high. An enormous space, structured in three bands that accommodate 92 stalls, not counting the shops, restaurants and cafes that run along the edges. But the highlight of the show is certainly the fresco that adorns the interior façade, designed by artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam, and called "Horn of Plenty" in Dutch, which unveils a farandole of fruits, vegetables, flowers, shrimps, fish , etc. Dynamic, multicolored,
it brings a note of cheerfulness and freshness and has been printed using state-of-the-art digital technology. A certain homage to the still lifes of the masters of Dutch painting of the seventeenth century. Note that this arch also houses 228 dwellings.