I discovered this site
on 14 November 1998. It is a beautiful empty
building opposite the Hunter-Douglas factory in
Rotterdam Zuid. (Hunter-Douglas sounds very
high-tech, but they make aluinium curtains -
Venetian blinds).
If
you want to read about more of my deserted
buildings then look here:
The Piekstraat is a
very adventurous place. There are many holes in
the floors, and sometimes whole floors and
wall-segments have been broken away. You have to
watch your step continuously.
The stairs are
accessible from the first floor. You can go all
the way to the roof. From here you can see the
Feyenoord-stadium, the Brienenoord bridge and the
old water tower on the opposite side of the
river.
Below is
the view from the stairs:
Several doors lead to
nowhere. If you open them you drop two floors
down. The concrete ring on the quay probably
supported a harbour crane. In the background you
see modern social housing projects. They are neat
and nice but the inhabitants have to look at this
deserted building continuously.
The whole building is full of
holes. In the roof, and in the floor. You have to
watch your step all the time. But it has a
beautiful colour that always reminds me of Italy:
Stairs without
handholds, broken windows, peeling paint, puddles
of rain water on the floors and heaps of pigeon
shit.
For two
years this place remained undisturbed.
Interesting weeds were growing in the courtyard.
Long
passages stretching the whole length of the
building. The tiles along the walls create a
laboratory atmosphere. According to Walter they
made instant-coffee and chocolate in this place.
It's going to be renovated in August 1999.
