These are being posted in three parts for the three cities in the Netherlands I visited.

Rotterdam

We arrived in Rotterdam on Sunday afternoon and immediately checked into our hotel. We'd have to be quick, because we actually had a field study scheduled today!

Here the view from the balcony outside our hotel room. I think it would have been a LOT nicer if the weather was better. But it's not a bad view.

So we went to the National Architecture Institute (I think that's what it translates to) and saw an exhibit of Dutch urban planning projects for a competition. Then we went back to our hotel, napped, then had dinner, then had a roof party, since we'd taken over all the rooms on the top floor. One thing I noticed: Rotterdam was rather dead at night. Well, it was sort of dead during the day too. I'm not sure if it was the dreary weather, the days we were there, actual lack of city life, or some combination, but this relative emptiness (absolutely drastic compared to Paris) made Rotterdam our least favorite of the three Netherlands cities we actually visited.

The next day we took a walking tour of the city.

One thing that's great about Rotterdamn, however: they're not afraid to experiment on architecture. The city has a lot of bold, sometimes wacky buildings. Skyscrapers that are almost sculptural. Like this one.

Here's the Eristotle Bridge, a landmark of the city. This would look about 4982 times better in front of a blue sky, but the Dutch weather once again was not cooperating. It's a nice cable stayed bridge though. I tend to think these types of bridges are more elegant than most other suspension type structures. Tend to. But you can thank Antonio Calatrava for that.

There's some docks on the other side of the river, so here's a picture of me. This side was much nicer, with a waterfront full of character and ambiance.

Here's what traditional Dutch architecture looks like. Lots of bricks.

We went to the Kunstaal Museum. Well, we went around it. It was closed, so we just "studied" it from the outside.

And finally, we found actual life! At the city center! This is a sunken retail development designed by the Jerde Partnership. It's pretty nice, but highly "Americanized" in its faux cladding and repetitive nature. I liked it, but it wasn't amazing.

We left Rotterdam on Monday afternoon, en route to Amsterdam. The short stay might be why I don't have much to say about this city. Disappointing while we were there, but I think I might enjoy it a lot more on a sunny day.

Amsterdam

This would prove to be everyone's favorite city of Holland, and all for various reasons, I suppose! We arrived late Monday afternoon and checked into our hotel. The following day, we took a trip to a large residential development called Borneo Sporenburg.

One part that I liked was this area where each unit was given to a different architect to design. The buildings were essentially row houses, and they all had requirements about how much void space they needed to cut away from the building envelope to let light and air into the building, but other than that, the architects could go wild. This created a huge variety of facades that were really cool to look at when placed next to each other.

See?

Very cool, I think! I love these elevations!

They've got a funky bridge that connects a large waterway that splits part of the development.

This photo glances inside the courtyard of a large apartment building nicknamed "The Whale." Borneo Sporenburg features a nice mix of low rise developments with some big, taller buildings sprinkled in to act as local landmarks. A nice urban mix, methinks.

Across the waterway, there are more developments, showing of Amsterdam's more contemporary architecture.

Another high rise that acts as a landmark. You can tell where you are in relation to what unique building is nearby, and there are enough of them to enable you to get around relatively easily just by identifying icons.

My friend, Sarah, and I sitting on a nifty little "retaining wall" made out of rocks enclosed by metal wire tubes. Next to this was a playground. I liked the low wall (that we're sitting on). I guess it's because I'm an archi-nerd.

Next to Borneo Sporenburg was another residential development. I forget its name, but it was pretty cool too.

Looking out over the waterway again. I messed up the numbering, so the next one is "18" too, although it goes with the previous one.

I mean, check out that funky architecture!

That night, we (and by "we" I mean almost the whole class, including one of our professors) strolled through the Red Light District. No pictures from there, both because I didn't bring my camera and because this e-mail IS going out to my parents and younger brother, among other people, but it was very interesting. Prostitution is legal in Holland, so everywhere, you'd see hookers in windows basically posing and trying to be enticing. They had black light shining on them, and most wore white lingerie and that sort of stuff, so they sort of glowed in a really weird way. Puts a new spin into window shopping... but that's essentially what it was. Window shopping for sex. 50 euros gets you the basic deal. So if you're into that sort of thing... yeah...

To be honest, half of the girls weren't very attractive at all, in my opinion. Not that I was intently looking or anything... yeah... not at all...

Actually, that whole area was pretty funny, just because of the sheer number of sex-related stores and businesses. And I can't tell you how many Japanese businessmen I saw. It was downright hilarious in how stereotypical that was...

Anyway, onto the next day.

This is the NEMO museum, designed by Renzo Piano. It's got a nifty roof deck, and it's basically a ship rising out of the ground. It's a concept that hundreds of architects have tried before, but Renzo made this one literal.

Amsterdam has some beautiful canals and waterways.

Just so darn pretty!

We went to the Heineken Experience on Wednesday, our free day, and had some beer. What I learned: Heineken is really good straight from the tap! And I don't even normally like beer!

HOORAY... BEER!! (photo taken by my friend Amar)

In the afternoon, I explored Amsterdam by myself. Lo and behold, I found H.P. Berlage's Amsterdam Stock Exchange! Well, actually, a friend had pointed it out to me the night before, but still, this was pretty cool, finding a building I'd studied in school! More specifically, we'd built a large light study model in first year. Ah, the memories.

More nice waterway action.

Amsterdam (and really, the Netherlands as a whole, it seems), is HUGE on bikes. Everyone uses bikes. Bikes are everywhere. Bike lanes are very plentiful, and it's actually cheaper to get around on bikes because parking is so expensive. And this picture is proof that Amsterdam loves its bikes.

I'm a sucker for waterside living. Canals rule!

Here's a farther view of the NEMO again.

Along the waterfront, I randomly found a swan. Yup. A swan.

Here's a night shot of Amsterdam.

So that night, we went out to an ice bar. Meaning a bar made entirely out of ice. I've never been to one of those things, so it was pretty cool. Well, actually, it was downright freezing, but pun intended.

Here I am realizing someone's taking a picture of us. So I look like an idiot. =D It was pretty awesome, though, because we basically took over the bar after most of the other people left after an hour. The temperature inside? -6* C. Pretty cold indeed!

And here's a blurry photo of how it looks like to a camera when you don't use flash.

Tomorrow would be onto Utrecht! I certainly wish I could have spent more time in Amsterdam, though. In retrospect, we didn't even really get to a lot of the architecture. And it's just an absolutely splended city!

Utrecht

We arrived in Utrecht Thursday morning. Our purpose in this city (which really does smell like cows... everywhere) was to tour a few buildings at Utrecht University.

The city is pretty nice. I prefer it over Rotterdam, easily.

Our first building was the Minnaert Building, which has an indoor pool that collects rainwater. The lobby (shown here) is pretty nice with the pool. It's a cool example of taking something "outdoors" and putting it indoors.

Next was the Educatorium, by Rem Koolhaas. It reminded me of several friends' library projects from second year, where they folded the floor plane around.

Rem is very big into stairs and ramps that take people on a circulation journey. You explore this building; it's not like everything is revealed openly.

I'm convinced there either was or will be some extreme sport special done here someday. It's a natural halfpipe... tilted on its side!

The university has a lot of interesting architecture, like this building. I wish USC was this daring. It'd certainly make the campus more interesting than an Ivy School lookalike, but then again, I guess we wouldn't get the movie filming deals.

This is inside the University Central Library, by Weil Arets. It's an interesting space, with a soaring atrium over the lobby, lots of bridges, and different paths for going up. I love the dynamic space and the verticality and all the bridging. Just my cup of tea!

"Ground" level.

Our last building was the Faculty for Economics and Management building. It's more like three buildings combined into one: a long bar controls circulation and access into each wing on one side, and each wing encloses a courtyard with a different theme. This one is the zen patio.

Here's the water patio, which you can't actually get to. You just look at it.

And finally the jungle patio, which has a cool elevated pathway level that takes you "through the trees." There are sitting areas, and it's another tranquil place to relax and meditate.

We found out that some Dutch mobsters killed Spongebob Squarepants and dumped him into the water patio.

Utrecht has canals too, and that's what really won it over for me. So much charm and character... I love it!

More canals.

So pretty.

And finally, we visited the Schroder House, a pinnacle of modern architecture. We weren't allowed to take photos inside, but everything in there is flexible and has multiple purposes. Rooms have moveable walls, shelves double as ventilation gaps, and even beds can be reconfigured and positioned with a few folds of wood. Very cool.

Another view of Gerrit Reitveld's famous house.

Our tourguide took us to another house Reitveld designed for Madame Schroder some years later. It was nice, but not as amazing as the first. This picture is here because I thought it captured the light very, very well.

And finally, on our way back to Paris, we stopped in Belgium (for three minutes). I got out of the train. Technically, that means I've stepped foot on Belgium soil, which means I've been to Belgium. Yup, it's a credit! =D