(continued)

Both the choice of materials and their orthogonal organization give the plaza a calculated feel. The plaza is built on a parking garage, and the materials therefore needed to be light in weight yet able to span relatively long distances.

Most of the surface deck consists of a mosaic of wood, rubber, metal, and epoxy. The designers hid utilitarian elements such as fence- and tent-post holes in the surface to further various temporal uses of the space.

Steel- and glass-clad venting pipes from the parking garage stick through the light weight deck. On top of this plane are placed a 210-foot- (64-meter-) long wooden bench, removable palm trees, and four 105-foot- (32-meter-) high, hydraulically movable, steel lightpoles.

By throwing a coin in a slot, individuals can control the lights and direct them to one of the tall office buildings surrounding the plaza. These lights literally illuminate a unique situation: having been destroyed during World War II, Rotterdam is now is the only Dutch city center with numerous sky-scrapers.

The gigantic masts, with their machine-like appearance and folly-like functionality, form the nexus of the plaza's aesthetics. These Minotaurs (part animal, part machine) open up allusions that are removed from the coolness of the engineered and functional underpinnings of the design. The design is calculated and yet playful. The whole ensemble belongs clearly to its context: the city of Rotterdam, the world's biggest sea port. The harbor front with its huge cranes and ships and vast views over open sea overtly resonates in the design of the plaza.

However, the boldness of the design does not resonate so well with the citizens of Rotterdam. Many residents complain that they do not care for the plaza. For someone expecting a cozy, green square, the design is indeed hard to swallow.

Interestingly, this reaction is exactly what the designers intended. Geuze proclaims that this a place where people will suffer from agoraphobia (fear of crowds and open areas); where they will have to adapt to their environment and redefine their behavior. To Geuze this is the ultimate satisfaction of an urban life style.

Citizens have already adapted to their environment to the point that they now, for instance, enjoy living in warehouse lofts. His favorite example of adaptation is the "Maasvlakte" a vast area just outside Rotterdam that is filled with enormous silos and depots with hazardous waste.

Geuze observes that contemporary urbanites have claimed this area for recreational activities such as bungy jumping and sky diving. The new "Schouwburg Plein" demands a similar inventiveness from the urban dweller.

Anita Van Asperdt is a landscape designer who practices in Eugene, Oregon and teaches design studios at the University of Oregon.

Visitors to the plaza can control the angles of the gigantic lightpoles. Photo: West 8 Landscape Architects & Urban Planners Most of the plaza's surface deck consists of a mosaic of utilitarian elements: wood, rubber, metal, and epoxy. Photo: Anita Van Asperdt The perforated metal deck surface contributes to the plaza's reference to the artificially created below-sea level landscape. Photo: Anita Van Asperdt A rubber strip in the plaza surface. Photo: Anita Van Asperdt A synthetic overview of the digital model of the Schouwburg Plein. Image: West 8 Landscape Architects & Urban Planners   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.