Central Library

The Central Library of Rotterdam, situated in the heart of the city near the Blaak station, was designed by Dutch architect Jaap Bakema of the firm Van den Broek & Bakema. The library was completed in 1983 and quickly became a landmark of late modernist and structural expressionist architecture. Its bold industrial aesthetic, featuring exposed structural elements such as the prominent yellow external air ducts, draws clear visual parallels to the Centre Pompidou in Paris, a key inspiration. Inside, the library spans six spacious, terraced levels and houses a collection of approximately 400,000 books, along with reading areas, multimedia stations, and cultural programming spaces.