De Kuip, Football stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands
De Kuip is a football stadium in Rotterdam with 51,577 seats, named after Feyenoord, the club that plays its home matches here. The steel, concrete and glass tiers provide unobstructed views of the pitch from all seats without columns or posts blocking the sight lines.
Architects Leendert van der Vlugt and Johannes Brinkman completed the construction in 1937 as a modern sports venue in the New Objectivity style. The structure received municipal monument status in 1991 as a witness to pre-war functionalist architecture.
The nickname 'De Kuip' translates as 'The Tub' and refers to the bowl-shaped form of the seating banks that wrap tightly around the pitch. This design amplifies sound during matches and creates the intense atmosphere that visitors experience on match days.
Access to the ground is through several gates around the building, and visitors should arrive well before kickoff as crowds can build up quickly. On non-match days guided tours are available that let visitors explore the facility and learn more about its construction.
The seating structure uses cantilevered roofs without visible supports over the spectator areas, a technical innovation for the construction period. This solution later influenced the design of sports arenas across Europe and beyond.
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