Arno Coenen Inside MVRDV's Markthal

John Hill

9. July 2014

Photo: Courtesy of Aaron Betsky

Over at Architect Magazine, Aaron Betsky takes a sneak peek at MVRDV's almost-completed Markthal (Market Hall) in Rotterdam, an arching building whose underside is covered in colorful prints by artist Arno Coenen.

Betsky explains in the article that the project started in 2006, when MVRDV proposed to incorporate housing into an EU-mandated, covered market to replace the traditional outdoor market stalls. This housing would help to pay for the market, which would be a grand space with graphics "celebrating the fresh food on sale below and offering opportunities for advertising," per Betsky. As can be seen in the photograph above, windows from the housing units actually look into the market, uniting the apparently irreconcilable typologies.

Photo: Frans Schouwenburg/Flickr

Steel cable glass façades (the largest in Europe, MVRDV purports) cap the end of the market and give fairly unencumbered views of Coenen's impressive artwork. The colorful graphics are reminiscent of EMBT's Santa Caterina Market in Barcelona, except Coenen's art is on the ceiling rather than the roof, and it is digitally printed rather than made from tiles. Nevertheless, each project makes us think there must be a relationship between color and food, perhaps as a means of stimulating the appetite of the shoppers.