The Cube Houses of Rotterdam

A blog about my recent long weekend in Rotterdam is on its way, but special mention must go to our weird and wonderful accommodation in The Cube Houses of Rotterdam.

I need to ‘fess up – this was my very first experience of Airbnb and if it weren’t for my friend choosing the accommodation, I probably wouldn’t have found such a corker of a house, so I’ll definitely be trying it again.

Upon arrival, our host welcomed us, introduced us to the quirks of the house and gave us a little info about where to eat and drink locally.

The cubes are located in a central location just above Rotterdam Blaak underground station, with our particular cube overlooking a small harbour and the river. There are 38 houses in total, with two ‘super-cubes’ which now accommodate a hostel.

We found our home to be a tourist attraction, constantly surrounded by visitors with cameras (and were occasionally made to jump by a bright flash in the dark!).

Designed by architect Piet Blom in 1984, the cubes are based on the concept of “living as an urban roof”. Blom tilted the normal house shape 45 degrees, and rested it upon a hexagon-shaped pylon. His design aimed to create a kind of village within a city; a safe haven.

The angled ceilings sometimes made moving around a bit difficult, our muscles got a workout just from closing the windows and the steep steps were a little challenging for the runners in our group (we stayed to run and support the Rotterdam Marathon). We had beautiful weather in early April, which made the greenhouse-like top floor rather stifling. But the views from those picture windows were incredible and the location was perfect for exploring the city (and in particular, the nearby Markthal food hall).  All in all, it’s a really quirky place to stay, but I’m not sure I could live there full time.

Rotterdam’s Museum of Chess Pieces is also housed in the complex. What more could you need?

Sadly our exact house is no longer listed on Airbnb, but I’ve managed to find a listing that’s a shared room in a Cube House or other rentals in Rotterdam.