Kijk-Kubus Museum

The Kijk-Kubus is a show house inside one of the Cube Houses in Rotterdam, and it allows visitors to see how people actually live in these famously odd buildings. The Cube Houses were designed by the architect Piet Blom and built in the early 1980s beside the Blaak station and the Oude Haven, in the centre of the city. It is a furnished home that can be toured, and it is one of the most popular curiosities in Rotterdam.

The cubes are the key. Each house is a cube that has been tilted through forty-five degrees and balanced on a hexagonal pylon, so that it stands on one corner like a diamond. The cubes are linked together in a group that forms a kind of artificial forest, with Blom's idea being that each cube was a tree and the whole complex was a village over the street. Beneath the cubes, walkways, shops and cafes create a covered public space. The idea was to create a dense, lively urban community at a human scale, in contrast to the large functional blocks that were common at the time.

Inside, the strange geometry is both a challenge and a charm. The walls and ceilings lean at angles, and a large part of the floor space is not usable in the normal way, since the sloped walls make it difficult to put furniture against them. The house is arranged on three levels, with the living area at the entrance level, the bedrooms above and a small top room, called the cube's tower, with windows looking out over the city. The show house is furnished to show how the space can be used, with clever solutions for storage and seating.

Visitors usually walk through the rooms with an information sheet or a guide, and the tour takes around fifteen to twenty minutes. Some people find it disorienting to move around in a tilted room, and the sensation is part of the experience. The residents who live in the other cubes are real, and the complex is not a museum as a whole, so visitors should respect their privacy.

The Cube Houses are close to the Markthal, the Sint-Laurenskerk and the Oude Haven. The show house suits architecture fans, families and anyone who loves oddities. Check opening times, as it is often closed in winter, and combine it with a walk around the neighbourhood.