The new market in the historic center of Rotterdam, characterized by its roof which is a horseshoe arch of 40 meters in height, offers a mixture of different programs aimed at revitalizing the Laurenskwartier district where it goes up. Aside from the market, the complex harbors shops, restaurants, housing, and underground parking, and its design is the formal expression of the separation of programs and legal restrictions – European codes make it obligatory to cover traditional meat and fish markets for hygiene and health reasons. In this way, the projects uses the roof to equip the building with the full complementary program, freeing up the interior and favoring the ancestral quality of the plaza and the market.

The 228 apartments in this inhabitable arch, ruled by strict Dutch regulations, use a double facade and place the main rooms towards the exterior, making kitchens, storage areas, and dining rooms face the market. The inner surface of the vault is covered with a colorful and dazzling mosaic of fruits, flowers, and vegetables carried out by artists Arno Coenen and Iris Roskam, whose 11,000 square meters transform this market into the largest artwork in the Netherlands.