Anyone who loves surprising spots in the city quickly thinks of parks or courtyards. But did you already know about this legendary spot? Just under 50 minutes from Amsterdam Central Station, these world-famous tilted cubes beckon. Among the slanted walls of the Kubuswoningen, you’ll find hidden galleries, a museum house, and a hostel where you can stay overnight to experience this bizarre architecture from the inside.
How architect Piet Blom built a village on stilts
Behind this unique project is Piet Blom, a rebellious former carpenter who wanted to seriously challenge traditional housing design. Instead of boring, gray blocks, he designed “Het Blaakse Bos” in the 1980s. His idea was as simple as it was ingenious: each cube represents a tree, and all the homes together form a cozy, lively “village” within the big city. To save valuable space, he cleverly built this geometric work of art as a sort of roof spanning a busy Rotterdam thoroughfare.
A geometric world without straight walls
How do you furnish a home when not a single wall is straight? In these geometric cubes, standard furniture is unusable, and a quarter of the space simply goes unused due to the bizarre angles. Due to the 54-degree slope, you look straight down onto the street through the windows. Because curious tourists were constantly peering inside to see how it works, one resident even opened a special “Viewing Cube.” This way, you can see for yourself during the day just how creatively you have to live here.
Spend a night yourself in a giant Super-Cube
Do you really want to experience this unique architecture? Instead of just looking around during the day, you can now actually stay overnight in the complex. One of the giant “Super-Cubes” has been converted into a hostel. Only when you spend a night here will you realize what it feels like to wake up under a completely tilted ceiling.
