24Hofpoort
24Hofpoort was an exhibition in Rotterdam, which activated a vacant building with cultural programme over a 24 hour period, creating a ‘vertical city’ of events. The exhibition was part of Dutch Day of Architecture 2013 which brought 5000 people to the Hofpoort tower, formerly the headquarters of Shell. The 1970’s office building had been empty for 15years due to the rigid structure and layout, which like manyoffice buildings is no longer a desireable work environment.
ZUS Architects have been working on the regeneration of this area in central Rotterdam since 2007, and have successfully developed the creative work environment of Schieblock and delivered a crowdfunded bridge Luchtsingel. The aim of the Hofpoort exhibition was to attract more people to the area and test quickly, some re-appropriation techniques over a 24 hour period, giving the building owners an insight to how the space can be used.
The project was hosted by ZUS Architects, in partnership with Archiguides (Architecture Cycling Tour guides), AIR Foundation (the Rotterdam Architecture Institute) and included opportunities for local companies, start-ups and educational platforms to deliver projects.
An extensive and diverse programme was produced over the 24 floors of the ‘vertical city’ including, a museum, a restaurant, shopping street, roller disco, yoga studio, playground, camping and talk show. Each activity/event was curated to bring visitors to the building, from child friendly activities in the day to DJ’s and dance performances until the early hours of the morning.
Following the success of the project, the Hofpoort building is now being used for various exhibitions and new clients are slowly moving back into the building, after seeing the potential of the space. In the summer of 2015, students from Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam used the building for their final year show which can be seen here
Floor 13 – Skyline Rollerdisco from 10pm-2am
Floor 10 – Pop-up shop for local internet based retailers. Saturday 5-10pm & Sunday 10am-5pm
Floor 20 – Sundial Bar facilitates Yoga for Sunrise – 5AM
Floor 9 – Home for a Moment by Minsun Kim
Floor 6 – Super Lucky Mall – Experimental food market