Market halls: where trade puts a roof over the city
For centuries, Rotterdam held its markets in the street. In 2014, the Markthal put that trade beneath a residential arch — on top of the place where the city began.
Fresh fish, cheese and meat sold in an open square came into conflict with stricter hygiene regulations. Rotterdam turned the solution into a building. MVRDV's Markthal opened on 1 October 2014: a horseshoe-shaped arch of apartments surrounding a covered fresh-food market, shops and restaurants. Residents call it the Koopboog, referring both to its shape and to the nearby Koopgoot, the sunken shopping street between the Lijnbaan and Hoogstraat.
Older Rotterdam lay beneath the floor. Excavations reached back to the settlement of Rotta on the Rotte: remains of farmhouses, followed later by the medieval dyke town, trade in beer and textiles, and fishhooks. The Binnenrotte remained home to a weekly street market. The Markthal is not a replacement for that tradition, but a permanent roof beside it, on the site where the river gave rise to the city. Finds have been made visible inside the building.
A market hall is more than a shopping centre. It is a compromise: traders want customers, the city wants conditions that are clean and dry, and residents want to live above the bustle. In Rotterdam, those three interests occupy a single arch. Stand on the market floor and look up at the apartments. Trade and residential life share the same air here.
A fresh perspective
Medieval finds emerged during construction; some of them can be seen inside the building.
Walk from the open Binnenrotte into the hall: from weather and market stalls to a permanent indoor floor.