Arrival at Schipol Airport and meet with local assistant. Departure for Rotterdam in private coach (about 70km), passing the ING headquarter building (Meyer/ van Schooten, 2002).
Arrive in Rotterdam at the Hotel New York, situated on Wilhelminapier, a peninsula undergoing heavy reconstruction (Masterplan, Norman Foster). The area is part of a larger peninsula known as Kop van Zuid, on the Southern banks of the Nieuwe Maas, which before 1990, was mainly made up of industrial buildings and warehouses.
Meet with local guide, specialised in architecture and lunch outside at the cafè of the hotel (weather permitting).
In the early afternoon, departure on bicycle for an architectural tour of 30 modern and contemporary buildings in Rotterdam. The city of Rotterdam was heavily bombed during the second World War, making way for new, very interesting, modern architecture during the reconstruction period. The tour includes Cube Houses (Piet Blom, 1984), Schouwburgplein (West 8, 1996), Van Nelle Factory (Brinkman & van der Vlugt, 1931), residential complex (Mecanoo, 1985), several buildings (J.J.P. Oud), Naval Simulation Centre (Norman Foster, 1993), the Ichtus School (van Egeraat, 2000) and several others.
Return to hotel, dinner and free time.

Discover our suggestions about eating, drinking and clubbing in Amsterdam.

Breakfast buffet at the hotel and departure for Utrecht, the third largest city in the Netherlands (about 60km).
Arrival at the Uithof Campus (Masterplan Art Zaaijer/OMA,1986), and guided tour of the following buildings (the first four will be visited inside): the Educatorium (Koolhaas/OMA, 1997), Minnaert building (Neutelings Riedijk Architecten, 1997), Faculty of Economics (Mecanoo, 1995), Library (Wiel Arets, 2004), student housing complex (Rudy Uytenhaak, 1999), NMR- Faculty of Science and laboratories (Ben van Berkel/UN Studio, 2001), landscape (West 8, 2000).
Lunch buffet at the Basket Bar (NL architects, 2001), cafè with a basket ball court on the roof and winner of the Rietveld Prize in 2003.
Departure for Erasmuslaan and guided tour of the Rietveld-Schröderhuis (Gerrit Rietveld, 1924) and another terraced housing complex in Erasmuslaan (Rietveld, 1931-34). The tour proceeds towards Wilhelminapark to see the exterior of several interesting private homes like Villa KBWW (MVRDV/Mastenbroek, 1997). For those more interested in Classical architecture, extra time can be spent on buildings in the Amsterdam School style in the area.
Departure for the city council in the centre of town to discuss the Utrecht Green Energy Plan, which was based on a decision by the city council to drastically reduce energy consumption in public and private sectors. 100 public buildings were targeted and monitored, whilst a huge campaign informed residents on actual consumption and methods/reasons for reducing private energy consumption.
Free time along the canals of Utrecht, with several very interesting, ‘mid-century, modern’ shops, cafès and bookshops, or free time to visit the Centraalmuseum to view the large collection of furniture and objects designed by Gerrit Rietveld. Return to Rotterdam and dinner on own.

After buffet breakfast, departure on foot to the museum quarter of Rotterdam known as Museumplein- about a half hour walk from the hotel, (masterplan Koolhaas/ OMA, 1993) passing by the World Port Centre (Norman Foster, 2001), Luxor Theatre (Bolles & Wilson, 1999), KPN Telecom (Renzo Piano, 1999), Erasmusbrug (UN Studio, 1996)and the bridge connecting the two sides of the city.
Guided tour of the NAI - Netherlands Architecture Institute (Coenen, 1993) and free time to visit the Kunsthal (Koolhaas/Hoshiro, 1992), the Nature Museum (van Egeraat, 1992), landscape (Koolhaas/OMA,1993), Boijmans van Beuningen (extension by Henket, 1991) and the recently restored Sonnenveld House (Brinkman & Van der Vlugt, 1929). Return on own to the hotel, dinner on own.

Breakfast buffet at hotel and departure for a mini cruise of Europoort, the largest cargo port in the world (about 40 km in length). The cruise lasts about 90 minutes and follows the Northern area of the port, dominated by supermodern skyscrapers and office blocks. Lunch on own. In the afternoon, departure for a nearby VINEX locatie, satellite residential areas of the major cities, built mostly in the late 1990’s to overcome the huge housing shortage in the Netherlands.
Return to hotel, dinner and night over.

Breakfast buffet at hotel and departure for Amsterdam.
Arrival in Amsterdam and tour or the new residential islands of the Oostlijk Havengebied, docklands east of the city and converted in the early 1990’s from an industrial port and warehouses to a residential area. The walking tour covers Java eiland (Masterplan Soeters), KNSM eiland (Masterplan Coenen), Borneo and Sporenburg (Masterplan West 8). Lunch at a cafe on Blijburg and continue tour to the newest development: the IJ burg, an artificial island with 30,000 inhabitants.
Free time to visit the Stedelijksmuseum, Rijksmuseum or Van Gogh Musuem (on drawings by Rietveld opened in 1973 after his death; extension Kurokawa, 1999) or NEMO science museum (Renzo Piano, 1997). Proceed to the ArcAm, centre for architecture of the city of Amsterdam (René van Zuuk, 2003) on the waterfront at Oosterdok.
Departure for Schipol airport passing by WoZoCo's (MVRDV, 1997) and outbound flight.