Daan Verhoeven

I am an architect by training and worked for eleven years in a Rotterdam office that designed housing in the city centre. Rotterdam lost its old heart in the bombing of May 1940, and everything you see downtown is the result of decisions made after that: some brave, some wrong, a few still argued about in my family at birthday parties. That is what I like to explain. I am not a fan of every tower on the skyline and I will say so. I also know the older parts that survived, Delfshaven and Katendrecht, where my great-grandfather worked on the docks. I speak Dutch, English and German. On my walks I carry drawings and plans, so you can see the city as it was meant to be and as it turned out. I prefer groups who ask questions, and I am comfortable with architecture students who want to go deep on concrete. These days you can join me from anywhere: I walk Rotterdam live with my phone and answer questions on the spot.