The New Rotterdam Centraal Station Officially Opened by his Majesty King Willem-Alexander

Yesterday at 2.45pm the new Rotterdam Centraal, a station 10 years in the making, was officially opened by his Majesty King Willem-Alexander. The King who “was so happy to be there” opened the station with a royal handshake on a video screen to an audience of thousands.

Station designers, Team CS (a cooperation between Benthem Crouwel Architekts, MVSA Meyer en Van Schooten Architecten and West 8) together with representatives of ProRail, NS Rail, the local council and the hundreds of workers who helped build the station celebrated the day with delighted members of the public who witnessed performances by the ‘Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra’, ‘Conny Janssen Danst’, ‘Codarts’ and ‘Mothership’ in the main station hall.

The celebrations continued with a royal tour around the station. Accompanied by Mayor Aboutaleb, Marion Gout – van Sinderen (CEO of Prorail), Secretary of State Wilma Mansveld, Boukje Bügel (CEO retail & transfer NS) and alderman of the City of Rotterdam Jeanette Baljeuaan, King Willem witnessed, first hand, the grandeaur of the station, which draws around 110,000 passengers daily, a number expected to triple by 2025. Partly because of the beautiful spring weather, there were many more people at the opening than expected, but the king waved and smiled enthusiastically as he was greeted by of cries, “Hey, Willem!”.

The King’s visit kicks off a four day opening festival in and around the station, a place touted as a “travelers paradise” by Ms. M. W. Gout- van Sinderen , President of the new CS ProRail. The station which cost over seven hundred million to build has been incredibly well received by travelers, with 90% of visitors giving the station a score of seven or more.

The new Rotterdam Centraal Station is a pleasant, open and transparent public transport terminal which functions as an iconic meeting point. President of the Dutch Railways, T. Hughes added “that the city of Rotterdam has a beating heart again”. A spontaneous poem about the new station written by the well known Rotterdam poet, J.A Deelder, captures the essence of the new station beautifully, Rotterdam Centraal “is the beginning of the there and the end of the here.” Interwoven into the urban network, the station connects the diverse characters of the city and marks the beginning of Rotterdam’s cultural axis, “bringing Rotterdam alive again like never before.” 

For more information on the station design visit Rotterdam Centraal Station

image credit: © Luke Harley

West 8 is an award-winning international office for urban design and landscape architecture founded in 1987. Over the last 25 years West 8 has established itself as a leading practice with an international team of 70 architects, urban designers, landscape architects and industrial engineers. West 8 developed projects all over the world in places such as Copenhagen, London, Moscow, New York, Madrid, Toronto and Amsterdam. The office gained international recognition with projects such as Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam (NL), Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam (NL), Chiswick Park in London (UK) and Expo \’02 in Yverdon-les-Bains (CH). Many of the projects are the result of groundbreaking entries in important international competitions. Recently won competitions include Toronto Waterfront in Toronto (CA), Governors Island in New York (USA) and Playa de Palma in Mallorca (ES).

Amongst the numerous awards received by West 8 are the Honor Award of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), Lifetime Achievement Award for Architecture 2011, Mondriaan Fund (formerly BKVB),  the International Urban Landscape Gold Award (IULA), the Prix de Rome, the Dutch Maaskant Award, the Bijhouwer Award, the Rosa Barba First European Landscape Prize, the Green Pin and the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for Urban Design.

For more information: Public Relations, Winnie Poon or Lydia Franken, +31 (0)10 – 485 58 01, pr@west8.com, www.west8.com