( CNN ) -- It looks like a portal to another dimension crafted from alien technology to bridge yawning chasms across time and space . In reality , it 's a fruit and vegetable market . Either way , it 's unlikely that anyone could fail to be excited by the prospect of loading up on groceries at Markthal , a combined food hall and housing project that opened earlier this month in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam . The development , already feted by architecture critics , houses 100 market stalls beneath a gigantic , brightly decorated archway that contains 228 apartments . Informally known as the `` Horseshoe , '' the impressive structure adds to the limited roster of attractions in Rotterdam . To date the city 's chief tourism claims are that it 's the busiest container port in Europe and is home to the Netherlands ' most popular zoo . 'Valhalla of food ' Designed by Dutch architectural firm MVRDV , Markthal is a key project in a major regeneration of the city center around Rotterdam 's Binnenrotte Square . The building is described in promotional materials as a `` Valhalla of food . '' `` The combination of an apartment building covering a fresh food market with food shops , restaurants , a supermarket and an underground parking is found nowhere else in the world , '' it says . It 's certainly a first for the Netherlands . The archway , closed at either end by vast walls of glass , is the country 's only indoor food market and has been built in response to new regulations that require produce retailers to be under cover . So it 's functional and street legal as well as eye-popping .
Rotterdam 's new city hall resembles vast intergalactic cities . Markthal features a huge arch and more than 200 apartments . It 's built to comply with new Dutch laws that require all markets to be under cover .