FIRST Rotterdam

The Groothandelsgebouw (meaning Wholesale Building or Offices) is an extensive building and monument in the center of Rotterdam, Netherlands next to the Central Station of the city. Completed in 1953 it is one of the first major buildings built after the bombing of Rotterdam in the Second World War. Because during the war much business was lost, there were early plans for new office space. The idea for a new building came from a wholesaler Frits Pot who realized that a rather large building would be smaller than tens of buildings of separate wholesalers. During Christmas 1944 he made a sketch and on May 4, 1945 it was discussed in the Chamber of Commerce. Together with architect Hugh Maaskant and (later Director) G. Thurmer he made a study trip to Chicago, USA in 1947. The building is modeled after the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. The final building fitted exactly in the vision of Rotterdam and the post-war reconstruction of the city. The Wholesale House was an innovative project for that time: the very large building was designed not only by many companies, but included a complete route through the building. During the construction phase in 1951 a grand cafe-restaurant, conference center etc. was installed. The building itself was completed in 1953. Characteristic of this building is a constant grid of concrete columns in which the building rests. Center-to-center distance of the columns is 6.72 meters. The columns are octagonal. Supporting the outer walls are approximately 65 inches, the inner columns are about 85 centimeters. The building has 5 entrances, marked with the letters A through E. The main entrance is located at the A station 45. The entrances D and E (sometimes called the back) are on Conrad Street. The building also lies on Weena Street. Exceptions to the constant grid of the wholesale building are the spaces created by the oblique lines of the building. These (imaginary) lines are about the length of the A wing and the imaginary line from D to C.

The Ocean Cleanup is a nonprofit engineering environmental organization based in the Netherlands, that develops technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and intercept it in rivers before it can reach the ocean. After initial testing and prototyping in the North Sea they deployed their first full-scale prototype in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It ran into difficulty after two months and was towed to Hawaii for inspection and repair. In June 2019, their second prototype system was deployed. They also deployed their river technology, the Interceptor, in two locations in 2019, revealed the project publicly in October 2019, and deployed another in 2020. In 2021 they announced that the prototype testing of System 002 was successful.The organization conducts scientific research into oceanic plastic pollution. It was founded in 2013 by Boyan Slat, a Dutch-born inventor-entrepreneur of Croatian and Dutch origin who serves as its CEO. It has conducted two expeditions to the North Pacific Gyre, the Mega Expedition and the Aerial Expedition, and continues to publish scientific papers. Their ocean system consists of a floating barrier at the surface of the water in the oceanic gyres, that collects marine debris as the system is pushed by wind, waves and current, and slowed down by a sea anchor. The project aims to launch a total of 60 such systems, and they predict this capability could clean up 50% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years from full scale deployment.In late October 2019, The Ocean Cleanup announced a new initiative, the Interceptor, to tackle the trash problem closer to the source, with plans to prevent 80% of riverine trash coming from 1000 rivers worldwide.

Weena is a street with many highrises in the center of Rotterdam. The street leads from the Stationsplein to the Hofplein. On the other side of the Centraal Station the street is called the Beukelsdijk. In 2007 Weena was named the most air-polluted street in the Netherlands.Weena was named after the Hof van Wena, a 12th-century keep which stood at the site of the former Hofplein Station.

Moments Contained is a 2022-2023 bronze sculpture on the Stationsplein, in front of Rotterdam Centraal station, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was created by artist Thomas J. Price, a London-based artist with Caribbean roots.

Rotterdam Centraal railway station (Dutch pronunciation: [rɔtərˈdɑm sɛnˈtraːl]) is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in South Holland, Netherlands. The station received an average of 110,000 passengers daily in 2007. The current station building, located at Station Square, was officially opened in March 2014.

Millennium Tower is a 35-story, 130.8 m (429 ft) skyscraper in Rotterdam, Netherlands design by WZMH Architects and AGS Architecten. It was completed in 2000. The tower was built on Weena in front of the Central station. It is currently mixed use, the first 15 floors belong to the Rotterdam Marriott Hotel, including 2 restaurant, the other floor are being used as offices.

The Millèn is a restaurant in Rotterdam. On December 17, 2018, The Millèn received a Michelin star.

Havo voor Muziek en Dans (School for Music and Dance) formerly Hogeschool voor Muziek en Dans is a secondary school (havo) in Rotterdam, Netherlands that specializes in music and dance. It has about 200 pupils from all parts of the country. The Havo voor Muziek en Dans shares a building and music and dance teachers with Codarts, the Conservatory of Music and Dance Academy.

Codarts University for the Arts (Dutch: Codarts hogeschool voor de kunsten) is a Dutch vocational university in Rotterdam that teaches music, dance and circus. It was established in its present location in 2000.

C.S. kwartier is the central neighborhood of Rotterdam, Netherlands, immediately surrounding Rotterdam Centraal Station.

Delftse Poort (English: Delft Gate Building) is a twin-tower skyscraper complex at Weena 505 next to the Rotterdam Centraal railway station in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Tower I is 151.35 m (496.6 ft) with 41 stories, and Tower II is 93 m (305 ft) with 25 stories. Until May 2009, Tower I was the tallest office tower in the Netherlands. Both towers are built over a 4-storey multifunctional podium which adjoins the Rotterdam central station. The entire complex has 28 elevators. The gross floor area in the complex is 106,000 m2 (1,140,000 sq ft), and the offices occupy 66,000 m2 (710,000 sq ft). It was constructed between 1988 and 1991. The cost of the construction was 240 million Dutch guilders, or about €110 million. Due to a metro tunnel running underneath the complex, advanced construction methods were required, allowing only a single underground floor to be built. The building is also known as Nationale-Nederlanden building, because until 2015 the Dutch Company 'Nationale-Nederlanden' (National-Netherlands) was the main user of the building. Nationale-Nederlanden was the local insurance branch of ING Insurance until 2014. In April 2015, the building was officially reopened by owner CBRE Global Investors as a general-purpose office building with 65,000 m2 (700,000 sq ft) of office space. Nationale-Nederlanden became a tenant renting only a third of the building complex, and hence their logo on Tower I was removed. Since then the building has established its own identity, displaying its own logo on Tower I.Until 2004, an annual race up the building's stairs took place in this building.

Oude Westen (Old West) is a neighborhood of Rotterdam, Netherlands adjacent to the city center. The neighborhood was created in the late 19th century when the territory of the district belonged to the then municipality Delfshaven. Delfshaven put few demands on ground operators, which became a neighborhood filled with speculators construction. In 1886, because of the annexation of Delfshaven, Oude Westen became a part of Rotterdam. The municipality of Rotterdam applied a systemic approach regarding urban expansion of Delfshaven, which, among other things, caused paved roads and sewers in the neighborhood. As the city grew, the western part of the city reached to Schiedam. Since then the oldest part of district is called Oude Westen. Oude Westen is a neighborhood with two main roads: The West-Kruiskade, known for its Chinatown and the many shops where products or foodstuffs are sold from abroad, and Nieuwe Binnenweg, known for its cafes, coffee shops, nightclubs and foreign restaurants. Trams run by these two streets. Oude Westen is bordered on the western side by the Henegouwerlaan and 's-Gravendijkwal, on the eastern side by the Westersingel and by the northern and southern side the Weena and Rochussenstraat. In the neighborhood live people from many different nationalities: 70% of the shops are run by people of foreign origin. The neighborhood is known as pleasant to visit, but is considered, especially in the evening hours, as a "problem neighborhood". After the crime in the 1990s in this area greatly increased, the municipality of Rotterdam has taken several measures to improve the safety including drafting cameras.