http://www.mvrdv.nl/ project: Brabant Library

Each village in the province of Brabant (the Netherlands) has a public library. This is the legacy of the sixties. The relative limited budget and dense distribution have led to a series of libraries with modest, unilateral, local, sort of the same, average collections. This concept doesn't hold up to the enormous production of books. Because of the ongoing urbanization and densification a larger and more differentiated demand for books arises.

The new developments of the new media ask for attention to: the enormous grow and potential of new information carriers like the cd and computer make it possible to have information everything and anywhere. The possibility to download and print books looks like the end for the existence of libraries. Is it useful, given these new developments and the given situation, to maintain the existing concept? Or could it be that this is the right moment to rearrange the Central Library of Brabant? To give it new direction?

The developments ask for a reconsideration of the existing strategy. A more central approach seems necessary to offer resistance to the virtual developments and the qualitative impoverishment of the offer by the decentralization. Even though the possibilities of a paperless era increase, we can think of several reasons for a physically present collection. First of all it stimulates the physical experience of reading. Secondly it gives space to already existing and old books. Thirdly a physically present collection makes it possible for people to meet and therefore providing for the coincidental transfer of information.

By bringing together all collections of the small public libraries into one place, a huge and complete library arises, that can compete with other collections in Europe. A library in which everything is immediately accessible. A library in which completeness and/or specialization are guaranteed. By combining this library with a refined distribution system, a personal computer can be used to get a book. A transport system delivers the book to the place where it should be. Or one can download and print the book at home. By placing small but refined collections at public meeting places like bars, train stations, hospitals, schools, gas stations, etc. the demand for books can be stimulated.

What should the central library look like? Information benefits from systematics and overview. The collection is sorted out from A to Z in bookcases, directly and easily accessible. By circulating this wall of books around a communal space, a collective, public lounge arises: a provincial living room with a view over the total collection, the delivery of books, the research departments and also over the city and landscape around the library. It binds knowledge to location, research to leisure. There is a bar with a fireplace at the lowest point of this lounge. A strolling path of 17 kilometers goes all the way to the top of the tower: the highest point of Brabant.]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:15:45 +0100 project: Brabant Library

Each village in the province of Brabant (the Netherlands) has a public library. This is the legacy of the sixties. The relative limited budget and dense distribution have led to a series of libraries with modest, unilateral, local, sort of the same, average collections. This concept doesn't hold up to the enormous production of books. Because of the ongoing urbanization and densification a larger and more differentiated demand for books arises.

The new developments of the new media ask for attention to: the enormous grow and potential of new information carriers like the cd and computer make it possible to have information everything and anywhere. The possibility to download and print books looks like the end for the existence of libraries. Is it useful, given these new developments and the given situation, to maintain the existing concept? Or could it be that this is the right moment to rearrange the Central Library of Brabant? To give it new direction?

The developments ask for a reconsideration of the existing strategy. A more central approach seems necessary to offer resistance to the virtual developments and the qualitative impoverishment of the offer by the decentralization. Even though the possibilities of a paperless era increase, we can think of several reasons for a physically present collection. First of all it stimulates the physical experience of reading. Secondly it gives space to already existing and old books. Thirdly a physically present collection makes it possible for people to meet and therefore providing for the coincidental transfer of information.

By bringing together all collections of the small public libraries into one place, a huge and complete library arises, that can compete with other collections in Europe. A library in which everything is immediately accessible. A library in which completeness and/or specialization are guaranteed. By combining this library with a refined distribution system, a personal computer can be used to get a book. A transport system delivers the book to the place where it should be. Or one can download and print the book at home. By placing small but refined collections at public meeting places like bars, train stations, hospitals, schools, gas stations, etc. the demand for books can be stimulated.

What should the central library look like? Information benefits from systematics and overview. The collection is sorted out from A to Z in bookcases, directly and easily accessible. By circulating this wall of books around a communal space, a collective, public lounge arises: a provincial living room with a view over the total collection, the delivery of books, the research departments and also over the city and landscape around the library. It binds knowledge to location, research to leisure. There is a bar with a fireplace at the lowest point of this lounge. A strolling path of 17 kilometers goes all the way to the top of the tower: the highest point of Brabant.]]> Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:11:23 +0100 project: profile

MVRDV

MVRDV was set up in Rotterdam (Netherlands) in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. In close collaboration the 3 principal architect directors produce designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape design. Early projects such as the headquarters for the Public Broadcasting Company VPRO and the WoZoCo housing for elderly in Amsterdam brought MVRDV to the attention of a wide field of clients and reached international acclaim.

Realized projects include the Dutch Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover, an innovative business park 'Flight Forum' in Eindhoven, the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam, the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan, Unterföhring office campus near Munich, the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, an urban plan and housing in The Hague Ypenburg, the rooftop - housing extension Didden Village in Rotterdam, the cultural centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven, the boutique shopping building Gyre in Tokyo, Veldhoven’s Maxima Medical Centre and the iconic Mirador housing in Madrid.

The grand variety of projects continues in the work of the office. Current projects in progress or on site include various housing projects in the Netherlands, Spain, China, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, USA and other countries, a television centre for Zürich, a public library in Spijkenisse (Netherlands), a central market hall in Rotterdam, a culture plaza in Nanjing, China, large scale urban masterplans in Oslo, Norway, Tirana, Albania and a masterplan for an eco-city in Logrono, Spain. Large scale visions for the future of greater Paris and the doubling in size of Dutch new town Almere are developed.

The more than sixty architects, designers and staff members of MVRDV are organized into teams headed by project leaders. In each team, different fields and scales of MVRDV’s projects are reflected, both in the (international) background of team members and in the variation of work. To allow a wide range of commissions to be handled, special design teams are set up for individual commissions.

Each design team is led by one of the principal architects (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs or Nathalie de Vries) and a senior architect / project manager. Based on the scope of the work in the different phases designers and specialists will be added to the team. The senior architect is responsible for the day-to-day communication and organization. The design team will be assisted by advisors in the fields of building and installation technology, building sciences, building management and building costs. In this way MVRDV’s generalism and verve is linked with the specialization and thoroughness of the other team members.

At an early stage of the design process MVRDV involves as many users and advisors as viable. Reactions to the first designs can be processed quickly, creating a high degree of support for the design and encouraging the sort of new insights that can lead to specific innovative solutions. MVRDV works all over the world and therefore is used to collaborate with local architects, construction groups and specialists. MVRDV has a wide knowledge and experience in working with collective contracts, insurances and planning documents that create a base for collective approaches. MVRDV has permanent relationships with engineering firms to activate the exchange of up to date knowledge.

The work of MVRDV is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards. The monographic publications FARMAX (1998) and KM3 (2005) illustrate the work of the Rotterdam based office.
]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:00:46 +0100 project: Billy Guidoni

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:28:30 +0100 project: Michael Labory

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:22:53 +0100 project: Maciej Grelewicz

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:20:44 +0100 project: Francisco Trivino

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:19:15 +0100 project: Victor Perez Equiluz

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:17:38 +0100 project: Emanuela Gioffreda

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:15:58 +0100 project: MVRDV voted as #44

"No one has better embraced a progressive ideal for our urban future than Dutch design firm MVRDV. Its radical designs comfortably and sustainably fit as many people in as little space as possible.

"The desire, if not the obsession, if not the necessity, is to make cities more suburbanized," Winy Maas, principal architect (the M in MVRDV) tells Fast Company while perusing his local supermarket one Saturday morning. "How do we get people back into the downtown areas, and how do we make that attractive? The middle class should not be leaving cities." In the past 18 months, the 50-architect firm has been winning design competitions, getting projects green-lighted, and breaking ground on its urban climbing utopias, meaning the rest of the world is finally catching up to its way of thinking.

Maas's theory of "vertical suburbias" is perfectly attuned to a world where population is expected to grow to more than 8 billion in the next 20 years, an estimated 5 billion of those people living in urban environments. "We want to synthesize and speculate on new directions, and hopefully open up a world of dreams to developers, economists, and politicians -- dreams that can somehow change our fixed and fearful society," he says. MVRDV currently has projects in 15 nations, from China and Japan to Denmark and its native Netherlands," as featured in Fast Company.

Find out more at Fast Company http://www.fastcompany.com/mic/2010/profile/mvrdv]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:15:38 +0100 project: Pepijn Bakker

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:13:39 +0100 project: Henryk Struski

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:12:37 +0100 project: Ignacio Zabalo Martin

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:08:29 +0100 project: Maria Lopez Calleja

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:07:01 +0100 project: Hedy Somadidjaja

Reception]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:06:08 +0100 project: Renske van der Stoep

Team Leader]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:05:22 +0100 project: David Sebastian Martin

]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:04:06 +0100 project: Book Mountain

The new public library for Spijkenisse near Rotterdam is a long bookshelf spiraling up creating a mountain of books, covered by a glass shell the visibility of the books will act as beacon for accessibility of literature and information. The 10,000m2 building will be an example of sustainable technology, MVRDV also designs a small neighbourhood adjacent to the library.

STORAGE BOXES

Dutch public libraries used to be accommodated in buildings looking like sports halls, schools or other socio-cultural institutes: often squat boxes of brickwork with a window here and there, and a modest recess to mark the entrance. Built in an era when libraries were regarded as unmotivated, socialist storage boxes.

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY

What is the role of the contemporary library in an age of competition with the Internet, with cut-price bookstores and with Amazon? Can it promote itself, and if so, can it restore an active role?
What kind of building initiates this kind of reactivation? Can a library ‘open’ itself up and show itself to the outside world, without losing sight of practical difficulties? Spijkenisse is a classic suburb of Rotterdam, the city of unparalleled individualism. Can we realize here the most visible, the most ‘public’ library possible? Can we realize a library that legitimizes its position and forms a worthy cultural beacon in the young city?

A magnificent shop window for knowledge, information and culture that unambiguously promotes the idea of reading – day and night.

SHELL

The programmed space has a tense relationship with the urban envelope. It threatens to frustrate the original intentions: a multi-story space is no longer possible; grandeur seems out of the question. They are no characteristics for public libraries anyway – or are they?
Taking maximal advantage of the envelope creates space. Utilizing the facade to a height of nine meters forms a connection with the adjacent buildings. Placing a sloping roof on top of this creates the maximum volume realizable, which opens up the possibility of building a prominent landmark in Spijkenisse.

The use of simple wooden trusses results in a gigantic free span within the set budget. It is an urban ‘shell’ within which the library functions can move freely. The outcome is a maximal literary space.

BOOK MOUNTAIN

The Spijkenisse public library consists partly of a closed or closable program of spaces (the commercial spaces, the offices, the storage depots, the conference rooms, the mind-sports rooms, the auditorium, the toilets, etc.) and partly of public program (the reading room and the visible pride of the library, its collection).

Stacking the closable spaces on top of one another creates an intriguing vertical formation due to differences in size. The ground floor contains commercial space, the first floor the offices, the second floor the individual study sections and the mind-sports section, the fourth floor the terrace for exhibitions and events, and the fifth floor the technical rooms.

The terraces support the bookshelves, the reading areas, the desk and the public reading functions. Lining the walls of the terraces with shelves full of books produces a ‘mountain of books’. The walls can be used up to a height of 1,80m for the permanent collection. Above that height, they may optionally be used for archives, obsolete collections, signage, information, and technical equipment. Movable steps and platforms can provide access to these components.
The less public functions are hidden inside the mountain. The terraces can be linked by staircases to form a spiralling route around the mountain towards the top where a panoramic view of Spijkenisse awaits: a contemporary Tower of Babel. Niches in the mountain increase the area available for bookshelves. The niches also provide more intimate search spaces. Doors provide access to various functions inside the ‘mountain’. Windows shed light on those functions that need it.

ROUTES

Three circulation routes are present. The spiral allows arranging the books in a linear alphabetical order. There is a spine consisting of two elevators and two staircases making a floor-by-floor organization possible: a commercial floor, a floor for magazines and newspapers, a floor for children’s books, a floor for literature, a floor for reference works, and a historical floor. The mezzanine floors are provided with sloping ramps and chairlifts for wheelchair users. A series of additional stairways makes (thematic) cross-connections possible and encourage flexibility for the future.

BELL JAR

Executing the shell in glass creates a climatic bell jar over the library. The effect almost that of an open-air library, the ultimate library perhaps. The bell jar is no more than a membrane, an almost invisible envelope. It softens the urban boundaries.

The bell jar can also be regarded as a climate-controlled public space. Solar protection (as used in glasshouses) and ventilation (by means of automatically and manually opening sections) will help ensure comfortable conditions in summer. For comfortable winter conditions, there will be under-floor heating, separate heating elements and double-paned glass.
Under the transparent bell jar, the library (partly open at night) faces out into the streets on all sides. This enhances public safety in the surrounding streets and alleys. Conversely, people in the street can observe activity inside the library, increasing its attractiveness to new users.

NIGHT

At dusk and in darkness, the library changes into an ‘enchanted mountain’. Reading lamps, lamps above the book cases and in the alcoves produce a hill of glittering lights. Tall street lights around the library add to the lighting of the interior and continue the public space from outside to inside. They also reduce the internal reflections from the glass envelope: when inside at night, you can also see the outside world.

CLINKER BRICK

Building the ‘mountain’ in stone achieves a number of aims. It continues the outdoor space and enters into a dialogue with the church; it presents a storage medium for heating and cooling; and it produces an easily cleanable indoor climate. Acoustic mats create “islands” on the clinker floor. Visually, the clinker brick finish of the mountain makes it bulge or rise up out of the paving of the church square.
The closable, rentable commercial spaces are located on the ground floor, making flexible usage conceivable. The plinth, also finished in stone, protects the building against the threat of graffiti or other forms of vandalism. It also places large parts of the library on a podium. It elevates culture: a piano nobile for literature and information.]]> Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:09:03 +0100 project: Olympia Design Presentation

Adri Duivesteijn, City Councilor of of Almere, housing association Stadgenoot and MVRDV presented the design of 82 buildings within the urban plan of Olympiakwartier, an extension to the City of Almere. In order to reach a great urban variety within the ambitious plan, 40 of the in total 82 buildings will be designed by MVRDV; the others by 24 different architecture offices from Europe, Japan and America the United States.

The group of selected architects consists of a varied group of offices, from young and conceptual to more established architects, in order to create true urban diversity. Each invited architect has designed two different building sized between 500 and 5.000 m2.

Within the clear guidelines developed by MVRDV a variety of buildings was designed which despite the differences can be efficiently constructed due to the uniform basis structure. Each building has its very own characteristics and can be adapted to individual user requirements, offering a large freedom of choice. For companies each individually designed building offers flexible workspaces with a clear identity.

Particularly striking for instance is the outstanding tower designed by Studio Gang from Chicago with its louvered façade that creates a dynamic optical impact. A building of by the young Japanese studio Bow Wow resembles stacked canal houses with leaning brick facades, whilst German architect Jürgen Mayer H designed two buildings with fluent lines. The young Rotterdam office 2012 Architects designed a façade of recycled metal kitchen worktops. The buildings designed by MVRDV are distributed over the district and offer calm moments in-between the often expressive designs of the other architects, bringing balance into the neighbourhood.

The buildings will be erected by a group of experienced construction companies under the supervision of MVRDV and Stadgenoot. This joint commissioning is a new, experimental way of project development.

A central parking building serves the urban concept: by avoiding underground parking, therefore large trees can grow in the communal gardens of the various court yards inside the city blocks. The XXL parking building is set to be the centre of the neighbourhood: it connects the shopping centre with the square, it combines parking with working and will have a drive-in cinema on the roof. A combination of natural ventilation, daylight and a green interior court make the structure pleasant to use and energy efficient.

One of the key elements in the plan is flexibility: the scale of the garage, allows double use and brings down the total number of necessary parking spaces in the area from 2840 to 1800. The plinth of the buildings is designed in a way that it can facilitate future changes in use. Part of the buildings are designed with a neutral function. This way the owner, Stadgenoot, can adapt the area more and more to the needs of the residents and the growing city.

The individual sketch designs are joined together by MVRDV into a financial feasible urban design in which observations and assessments of Stadgenoot, the contractors and the municipality have been processed. Already at an early stage all parties which eventually will build are involved in the development and design process. This ‘chain integration’ is a new, experimental form of project development which solves in advance possible problems by exchange of information.

Amsterdam Housing corporation Stadgenoot is developer of the ambitious plan whilst MVRDV is main architect. Olympiakwarter is part of the larger Almere Poort urban plan developed by the city of Almere.

The invited architectural offices are (a-z):

2012 Architects, Netherlands
Atelier Bow Wow, Japan
Baumschlager & Eberle, Austria
BKK-3 Architektur, Austria
Breitman et Breitman, France
Bruno Albert Architecte & Associés, Belgium
Charles Vandenhove Architecture, Belgium
Cobe, Denmark, Netherlands
DierendonckBlancke Architects, Belgium
Édouard François, France
Guallart Architects, Spain
Herreros, Spain
JDS Architects, Denmark, Belgium
Jürgen Mayer H., Germany
Krier Kohl, Luxemburg
LOT-EK, United States
Monadnock, Netherlands
Onix, Netherlands
Powerhouse Company, Netherlands
Sadar Vuga Arhitekti, Slovenia
Studio Gang, United States
Urban Think Tank, Venezuela
Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten, Netherlands
Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects, Japan

Almere, founded in 1976 on reclaimed land, is growing fast into becoming the fifth largest city of the Netherlands. With a foreseen growth of 60.000 new homes and 100.00 new jobs, Almere will become – with 350.000 inhabitants in 2030 – the 5th largest city in the Netherlands. The ‘Scale jump’ offers chances to add new urban and rural qualities to the city, and will be accompanied by considerable investments in infrastructure. As part of the new neighbourhood Almere Poort, Stadgenoot assigned MVRDV to design an urban plan for 60.000m² working units, 120.000m² housing (1.000 units), 2.000m² commercial facilities, 1800 parking spaces and several public spaces. The development will introduce a new urban density to the fast growing New Town. A mix of working, living and shopping with parking, a public square and communal gardens introduces unprecedented inner city liveliness in the extensive plan. Almere Poort will become the second centre of Almere.

]]> Thu, 25 Feb 2010 18:22:35 +0100 project: Winy Maas

Winy Maas (Schijndel, 1959) founded in 1991 together with Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries MVRDV. Early work such as the television centre Villa VPRO and the housing estate for elderly WoZoCo, both in the Netherlands, have lead to international acclaim and established MVRDV’s leading role in international architecture.

Projects of MVRDV are among others the design for the Netherlands Pavillion at the Hannover World Expo 2000, the innovative business park Flight Forum in Eindhoven, the Matsudai cultural centre and the Gyre shopping centre in Japan, the iconic Mirador building in Madrid and the Silodam building and Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam.

Current projects in development are among others the new television centre in Zürich, the new Market Hall for Rotterdam, a number of housing and office projects in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, France, England, Albania, the USA and China. Masterplans in construction are among others the office campus near Unterföhring, Munich and the Xinjin Water City near Chengdu, China. MVRDV also works on the masterplan for Greater Paris and the development of architectural and urban software.

The work of MVRDV/Winy Maas is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards. The monographic publications FARMAX (1998) and KM3 (2005) illustrate the work of the Rotterdam based office.

Winy Maas lectures and teaches throughout the world and takes part in international juries. He currently is visiting professor of architectural design at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is professor in architecture and urban design at the faculty of architecture, Delft University of Technology. Before this he was professor at among others Berlage Institute, Ohio State and Yale University.

In addition he designs stage sets, objects and was curator of Indesem 2007. He is member of the research board of Berlage Institute Rotterdam, president of the spatial quality board of Rotterdam and supervisor of the Bjorvika urban development in Oslo. He is director of the Why Factory, a research institute for the future city he founded in 2008 which is connected to the Delft School of Design. He recently was installed as official city architect of Almere, Netherland to develop a vision for the Dutch boom town.

]]> Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:00:44 +0100 project: TWF Tribune receives LAI award

The new think tank ‘The Why Factory’ at the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology was awarded with the LAi prize 2009. The orange Tribune is designed by MVRDV, the flexible furniture by Richard Hutten. The Why Factory, an initiative of Delft University’s Faculty of Architecture and MVRDV, researches urban futures and is lead by Winy Maas. During the opening event a series of prominent speakers will discuss the future city and Winy Maas will give his inaugural address as professor at TU Delft.

After a fire destroyed their premises, The Why Factory and the faculty of architecture of Delft University moved into the former main building of the university. An interior courtyard was created and designated as the new residence of The Why Factory. MVRDV designed the three floor tall wooden structure, containing lecture halls, meeting rooms and the premises of the research institute. An auditorium stair climbs to the top, literally putting the students on top of their teachers.

The structure distinguishes itself by its bright orange colour which clearly identifies The Why Factory as an independent research centre within the Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology. Furniture designer Richard Hutten designed flexible furniture to allow the space around the tribune to switch function between research hall, lecture hall and exhibition space.

other nominees LAi award 2009 were:

- Doepel Strijkers Architects i.s.m. LEX-Architecten, woonhuis Parksite, Rotterdam

- i29 interior architects, recycled office, reclamebureau Gummo, Amsterdam

- i29 interior architects en Snelder Architecten, poetry in motion, Panta Rhei, Amstelveen

- Martine de Maeseneer Architecten, Bronks Jeugdtheater, Brussel

- Merkx + Girod, Raad van State, Den Haag

The Lensvelt the Architect Interior Price is presented annually to the most innovative interior design project. The awards consists of a sum of 12,000 euros and a specially designed LAI Award.

]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:50:26 +0100 project: Masterplan Architects Commissioned

(Almere, 18 June 2009) Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere, Franck Bijdendijk of Amsterdam Housing Association Stadgenoot and Jacob van Rijs of MVRDV have met today the group of architects commissioned to design each two buildings within the MVRDV masterplan for the Olympiakwartier in new town Almere, Netherlands. In order to reach a great urban variety within the ambitious plan, 48 of the in total 93 buildings will be designed by 24 different architecture offices from Europe, Japan and America.

Each selected office will design two different buildings ranging from 500m2 to 5,000m2. The architect’s selection consists of a varied group of offices, from young and conceptual to more established classic architects, in order to create true variety. The projects will be realized by a group of experienced construction companies under quality care of MVRDV and Stadgenoot who are joint client to the architects, an experimental way of development.

Frank Bijdendijk, director of housing association Stadgenoot: “In order to reach urban variety, flexibility and high quality of a new city, MVRDV and Stadgenoot invited a diverse group of 24 architects to design individual buildings; they range from starting offices to classic established practices. Stadgenoot explores the possibilities for developing a lively inner city district with long term development. Being a housing association, the creation of good quality living areas is part of our public responsibility.”

The selected offices (a-z):

2012 Architects
Atelier Bow Wow
Baumschlager & Eberle
BKK-3 Architektur
Breitman et Breitman
Bruno. Albert Architecte & Associés
Charles Vandenhove Architecture
Cobe
DierendonckBlancke Architecten
Édouard François
Guallart Architects
HerrerosArquitectos
JDS Architects
Jürgen Mayer H.
Krier Kohl
LOT-EK
Monadnock
Onix
Powerhouse Company
Sadar Vuga Arhitekti
Studio Gang
Urban Think Tank
Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten
Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects



Amsterdam based housing association Housing Stadgenoot commissioned MVRDV to be planner for 60,000m2 work space, 120,000m2 housing (1,000 homes), 15,000m2 education, 2,000m2 commercial space, 2,640 parking spaces and various public spaces. This total has been split into 93 volumes of which MVRDV will design 45. The plan demands individual development of the buildings: a dense mix of living and working leading to a complex urban condition. Retail, a public square and communal gardens are also part of the comprehensive plan which introduces inner city life to the mostly suburban typology of Almere. Flexibility is a key objective: All ground floors and part of the office and apartment buildings are designed to facilitate future change of use. In this way the owner, Stadgenoot, can adjust the district more and more to the needs of the growing new town and its inhabitants.

Almere, founded in 1984 on reclaimed land, is growing fast into becoming the fifth largest city of the Netherlands. After realizing a new city centre, Almere now builds Olympiakwartier as a secondary centre. The project follows the ‘Almere Principles’ which are guide lines towards a sustainable city. Completion is expected 2016, the larger urban plan is by Dutch office Mecanoo.

MVRDV is currently also engaged in the development of the ‘Vision 2030’, Almere’s ambition to grow into a city with a stronger identity and a total of 350,000 inhabitants by 2030. This involves the building of 60,000 new homes and the creation of 100,000 new jobs for the expected 150,000 new inhabitants. A key investment in infrastructure, public transport and the attractive adjoining green belt including Almere’s long coastline will connect the city more with its surroundings.


-END-



The 24 architecture teams with the client, Almere city officials and the project teams of MVRDV on site.
© Xander Remkes

More information about the selected architecture offices can be found via:

2012 Architects, Rotterdam, Netherlands www.2012architecten.nl
Atelier Bow Wow, Tokyo, Japan www.bow-wow.jp
Breitman et Breitman, Paris, France www.breitman-breitman.com
Baumschlager & Eberle, Lochau, Austria www.baumschlager-eberle.com
BKK-3 Architektur, Vienna, Austria www.bkk-3.com
Bruno Albert Architecte & Associés, Liège, Belgium +32 4-223 63 56
Charles Vandenhove Architecture Liège, Belgium www.charlesvandenhove.be
Cobe, Copenhagen, Denmark www.cobe.dk
DierendonckBlancke, Gent, Belgium www.dierendonckblancke.eu
Édouard François, Paris, France www.edouardfrancois.com
Guallart Architects, Barcelona, Spain www.guallart.com
Herreros, Madrid, Spain www.herrerosarquitectos.com
JDS Architects, Copenhagen, Denmark & Brussels, Belgium www.jdsarchitects.com
Jürgen Mayer H., Berlin, Germany www.jmayerh.com
Krier Kohl Berlin, Germany www.krierkohl.com
LOT-EK, New York, NY, USA www.lot-ek.com
Monadnock, Rotterdam, Netherlands www.monadnock.nl
Onix, Groningen, Netherlands www.onix.nl
Powerhouse Company, Rotterdam, Netherlands www.powerhouse-company.com
Sadar Vuga Arhitekti, Ljubljana, Slovenia www.sadarvuga.com
Studio Gang, Chicago, USA www.studiogang.net
Urban Think Tank, Caracas, Venezuela www.u-tt.com
Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten, Rotterdam, Netherlands www.vanbergenkolpa.nl
Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects, Tokyo, Japan www.ysmr.com
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:49:48 +0100 project: Balancing Barn presented

(Rotterdam, May 8, 2009) Living Architecture and MVRDV present the design for the Balancing Barn, a cantilevered holiday home near the village of Thorington in Suffolk, England. Living Architecture, a British organization devoted to architecture as experience, has commissioned a series of outstanding holiday homes in the UK. MVRDV and co-architect Mole Architects from Cambridge will create a house sympathetic in spirit and materials to the exceptional natural site, which will be available for holiday rental from 2010.
The MVRDV project will be built on a beautiful site by a small lake in the English countryside near Thorington in Suffolk. From the road, the barn will be almost invisible; the front being only 7 metres wide, with a pitched roof, faces the long straight driveway approach, suggesting a small house with a traditional shape. The volume, however, has a length of 30 metres. At the midpoint it starts to cantilever over the descending slope; a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building; resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space, and giving a wide view over the Suffolk landscape, adjacent lake and surrounding gardens. The long sides of the structure are well hidden by trees allowing privacy inside and around the barn. The exterior will be covered in a reflective material, resulting in the barn changing its exterior by reflecting the seasons.
Within the interior and closest to the driveway, is a kitchen, and large dining room. A series of four double bedrooms follows, each with separate bathroom and toilet. In the very centre of the barn, the bedroom sequence is interrupted by a hidden staircase providing access to the garden beneath. In the far, cantilevered end of the barn, a large living space is created. Throughout all the rooms, full height sliding windows, roof lights and a glass floor, give wonderful views and access into the garden and surrounding landscape, and give the visitors the opportunity to connect with nature.
The barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular. Completion is planned in Spring 2010, when the house will be open for letting.
Living Architecture has commissioned other houses by Peter Zumthor, Jarmund and Vigsnæs Architects, NORD and Hopkins Architects.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:47:15 +0100 project: Gwanggyo wins competition

MVRDV wins Gwanggyo Power Centre Competition, near Seoul, South Korea

(Rotterdam, December 3rd, 2008) The Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo announced the MVRDV concept design for a dense city centre winner of the developer's competition for the future new town of Gwanggyo, located 35km south of the Korean capital Seoul. The plan consists of a series of overgrown hill shaped buildings with great programmatic diversity, aiming for high urban density an encouragement of further developments around this so-called 'Power Centre', one of the two envisioned centres of the future new town.

Since the beginning of the millennium, local nodes with a high density concentration of mixed program are used in Korean town planning. These nodes consist of a mix of public, retail, culture, housing, offices and leisure generating life in the new metropolitan areas and encouraging further developments around them: the Power Centre strategy. The Gwanggyo Power Centre will consist of 200,000 m2 housing, 48,000 m2 offices, 200,000 m2 mix of culture, retail, leisure and education, and 200,000 m2 parking.

The divers program has different needs for phasing, positioning and size. To faciliate thise, all elements are designed as rings. By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life. Plantations around the terraces with a floor to floor circulation system store water and irrigate the plants. The roofs of these hills and terraces are planted with box hedges creating a strong, recognisable, cohesive park. This vertical park will improve the climate and ventilation, reduce energy and water usage. As a result, a series of overgrown 'green' hills appear in the landscape.

The site is surrounded by a beautiful lake and forested hills, the design aims to create a landscape on top of the new program that enlarges the green qualities and that links the surrounding parks by turning the site into a park.

The shifting of the floors causes as a counter effect hollow cores that form large atriums. They serve as lobbies for the housing and offices, plazas for the shopping centre and halls for the museum and leisure functions. In each tower, a number of voids connect to the atrium providing for light and ventilation and creating semi-public spaces. On the lower floors, the atriums are connected through a series of public spaces on various levels linking the towers and serving outdoor facilities of the culture, retail and leisure program. The Power Centre creates a dense urban program with a green regard.

The concept plan is currently at the Gyeonggi provincial authority's Urban Innovation Corporation for further development and feasibility study. The entire new town will be a self sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants. The estimated budget and time frame are still in the process of being established, completion is envisioned for 2011. A consortium led by Daewoo develops the project with local firm DA Group, which commissioned MVRDV to design the scheme. British firm Arup is involved as engineer.]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:46:48 +0100 project: The Collection presented

(Amersfoort, April 14th 2009) Today Bert Meerstadt, the President Director of the NS, Netherlands Railways, and Bert Klerk, the CEO of Prorail, present ‘The Collection’. ‘The Collection’ is a publication in which a selection is made from all Dutch train stations. The stations included in ‘The Collection’ are of cultural and historical value and will be specially preserved for the future. In the book these station buildings are methodically catalogued, like an art collection, specifying their specialties and their historic or monumental characteristics. ‘The Collection’ is an effort conducted by Buro Spoorbouwmeester under the guidance of Nathalie de Vries (of MVRDV) as the Spoorbouwmeester (the official Dutch Railway Advisor on Architecture).

Nathalie de Vries was Spoorbouwmeester, the official Dutch Railway Advisor on Architecture, from 2005 to 2008. This is a supervisory function at the Dutch Railways dealing with the architectural side of the infrastructural operation. A Spoorbouwmeester works part time and is appointed for the duration of three years. In January of 2009 the architect Koen van Velsen was appointed as the new Spoorbouwmeester. Since then Nathalie de Vries is back full time at MVRDV of which she is one of the principal architects and founders.

'The Collection' is published by NAi Publishers and available at www.naipublishers.nl

]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:46:26 +0100 project: De Nieuwe Kuip presented

In 2004 MVRDV and Bouwhaven started an initiative for a new stadium for Feyenoord to be located at an iconic location at the Maas. In this plan the stadium is wrapped in a dense mix-use program. In december 2008 the Rotterdam city council decided moving the stadium to the proposed location at the Maas.

Click here for the first publication in 2004 (Dutch)
Click here for the debate in Rotterdam, September 2008 (Dutch)

De Kuip (the bowl), the home of Rotterdam’s famous Feyenoord football club is a 70 year old stadium, a fantastic monument that has honoured many heroes. Since a recent renovation this heroic atmosphere is left only inside the stadium. Its surroundings are mind-killing, the monument sits in a desert of parking spaces, a comparison with an Atlanta shopping Mall is apparent: the stadium is not integrated in the city whilst it should be part of animated city life, an icon of the people. Currently plans for renovation or demolition and new construction are on their way. The easy option is to build a new stadium right next to the old one.

But should these plans not be used for a more comprehensive gesture for Rotterdam? A new stadium should mean progress for the neighbourhood, the city and the football club. A new temple for Feyenoord needs to be visible from many places in the city. The proposed site next to the old Kuip is the contrary: hidden and anonymous.

Rotterdam accompanies the river Rhine which is locally called the ‘Maas’ on its last kilometres to the sea. From the mouth of the Maas to the city centre the city has constructed one beacon after the other, the Europoort, the Maasland Barrier, the container and petro port, the city centre with its bridges and the skyscrapers along the water. But in the east of the city between Willemsbridge and van Brienenoord bridge there is a nondescript area, mostly built up with anonymous housing. This is the area the new Kuip could occupy. In the bend of the river, widely visible from many sides and accessible through the already massively present infrastructure. The embankment is still in the neighbourhood Feijenoord which lent its name to the football club so the club can stay at ‘home’ and still be omnipresent in Rotterdam.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:45:17 +0100 project: Tirana Rocks wins competition

MVRDV wins lakeside competition with dense urban and ecological masterplan

(Rotterdam, September 3rd, 2008) The city of Tirana and an international jury announced MVRDV winner of the competition for the urban masterplan creating a new dense urban neighborhood with a park and public facilities at the shore of Tirana Lake, in the south of the Albanian capital.

Tirana Lake is one of the highly valuable green areas of the city. The project foresees the regeneration of a 20ha site on the north shore of the lake by creating a dense urban neighborhood liberating space for a park, recreational facilities, new public spaces and ecologic interventions.

The cantilevered and leaning buildings allow for a great variety of apartment types, shopping and offices and ‘echo’ the Tirana typology. The stacked and twisted volumes create spectacular public spaces and provide dramatic vistas. Clad in local stones the buildings turn into a series of ‘rocks’, the ‘Tirana Rocks’.

Dense clustering of the program on the lake side allows the site to become part of the chain of parks surrounding the lake. Planting a park of Jacaranda trees will add a new characteristic element to the area and provide natural shade; the tree’s long lasting blue flowers will appear as a ‘blue cloud’. A promenade along the water creates an active social zone that contributes to the idea of a ‘Copa Tirana’.

Edi Rama, the mayor of Tirana who received the 2004 World Mayor Award presented the winning scheme on national television.

The masterplan consists of 225.000m2 housing, 60.000m2 offices, 20.000m2 public buildings, 60.000m2 retail, a hotel of 15.000m2 and 20.000m2 sport and recreational facilities and a car park. Start construction is envisioned for 2010, the total estimated investment is 600 million Euro. The client is a group of Albanian private developers; the project is managed by Ambito Project Management, Madrid, Spain.

MVRDV won the competition from among others Bolles + Wilson, David Chipperfield Architects and Carlos Ferrater.]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:45:12 +0100 project: Olympia Kwartier presented

MVRDV presents ‘urban beads’ for Almere, Netherlands

(Rotterdam, September 12, 2008) In the larger context of the presentation of the new Almere Port area, Dutch housing association Stadgenoot and the city of Almere presented the MVRDV project for Olympiakwartier, introducing an ambitious new urban density and variety into the fast growing city near Amsterdam. MVRDV is architect for a part of the new development.

Almere, founded in 1984 on reclaimed land, is growing fast into becoming the fifth largest city of the Netherlands. After realizing a new city centre Almere now is building a new urban neighborhood “Olympiakwartier”, at its Western border close to Amsterdam, which will introduce urban density.

MVRDV will design a series of different elements that will be used to compose nine dense urban blocks. The elements will achieve great variety in design and function and will be accompanied by a series of ‘specials’ that will be designed by Dutch and international offices under quality supervision of MVRDV and housing association Stadgenoot.

The strategy is comparable to a bead necklace which can be composed of a variety of different or repeating elements. The elements can be exclusive and inexpensive, large and small and repeat in different colors or materials. The plan allows for individual development of the elements within the grid: a dense urban mix of living and working within some of the elements, flexible elements facilitating transformation and development leading to a complex urban condition. Retail, an urban square and gardens are also part of the comprehensive plan.

Housing association Stadgenoot commissioned MVRDV to be architect and planner for 60,000m2 work space, 120,000m2 housing (1,000 homes), 15,000m2 education, 2,000m2 commercial space, 2,640 parking spaces and various public spaces.

Frank Bijdendijk, director of housing association Stadgenoot said “We asked MVRDV to develop in a short timeframe a plan which offers a great variety, flexibility and high quality of the building blocks. The result is magnificent. Stadgenoot is very confident that this plan will give Olympiakwartier the exposure the quarter deserves.”

MVRDV’s project foresees in sustainable features such as natural ventilation, efficient use of daylight, mechanical parking facilities and ecological facades. Together with British engineering firm Arup an innovative ecological element is in development which will contain the latest in energy efficient and green technology.

Completion is expected in 2016, the Amsterdam based housing association Stadgenoot commissioned MVRDV and development company Kristal for the project. Dutch architecture firm Mecanoo has designed the urban masterplan and the city of Almere is supervising principal.]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:45:06 +0100 project: Grand Paris presented

(Paris/Rotterdam, 12 March 2009): Today Winy Maas presented MVRDV’s vision for Greater Paris 2030 to the Economic and Social Council of France. The project “Paris Plus petit” by MVRDV in collaboration with ACS and AAF is one of ten proposals by international architecture and urbanism teams to envision the future of the French capital and its vast agglomeration. The urban challenge has been commissioned by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France.

“Paris Plus” stands for more: more ambition, more optimism, more density, more efficiency, more ecology and more compactness. Greater Paris needs a strong combination of responsibility and ambition to continue its development, to ensure its consistency and to develop a cohesion that can build a base for a collective enterprise to solve its problems, to enlarge its presence and attractiveness, to create an even more remarkable, exemplary city.

MVRDV with ACS and AAF‘s response for President Sarkozy’s 2009 urban planning consultation for the great challenge of the Greater Paris area is represented in four parts: the ‘Synthesis’, the ‘City Calculator©’, the ‘Data’ and the ‘Observation’.

The Synthesis defines the spatial agenda for the city, based on ambitious and responsible strategies for the French capital. It is the core of the response and proposes a series of 17 large scale interventions that are based on an analysis of the city’s fabric, its future programmatic needs and spatial possibilities. The proposals are interventions based on available space and feasible. Among them the ambition to make Paris highly accessible: the creation of a grand central station at the location of Les Halles, underground densification of the Boulevard Périphérique by adding a metro line and two underground motorways ring-roads, the creation of new Grand Axe’s and a subterranean infrastructure band along the Seine. The space liberated by the buried infrastructure is used for a housing program that allows for urban living in pleasant and green environments. Further parts of the vision are investments into transport, nature, education, culture, social cohesion and vast amounts of renewable energy. The sum of all projects can avoid future sprawl and radically transform Paris into one of the densest, most compact and therefore sustainable high quality cities in the world: “Paris Plus petit”.

The City Calculator© is a proposed demo version of a potential software and possible webtool, which quantifies the ‘behaviour and performance’ of a city and makes it comparable to others. It connects qualitative to quantitative parameters. It can be used as a public and planning tool to support sustainable planning. The City Calculator© will be conceived in collaboration, by The Why Factory at Delft University of Technology.

The Data gives the overview of the detailed research on the functioning and performance of Greater Paris, which has been the background for the spatial proposals.

The Observations are a series of articles on the backgrounds, the history, the potentials and the problems of the French metropolis.

President Nicolas Sarkozy commissioned in June 2008 ten teams of architects and urban planners to imagine an exemplary "Grand Paris" a sustainable and boldly designed capital. The project was hailed being the most ambitious since Haussmann changed Paris in the 19th century. The challenge for the 10 teams was envisioning the European metropolis in 2030 being a "post-Kyoto" green urban centre which allows for growth beyond the current two million Parisians and provides them with attractive urban environments.

The ten plans will be presented in an exhibition at “Cité de l’Architecture” open to the public from the 29th of April 2009 until the 22nd of November 2009. www.citechaillot.fr

]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:44:46 +0100 project: Construction Balancing Barn started

(Rotterdam, May 8, 2009) Living Architecture and MVRDV present the design for the Balancing Barn, a cantilevered holiday home near the village of Thorington in Suffolk, England. Living Architecture, a British organization devoted to architecture as experience, has commissioned a series of outstanding holiday homes in the UK. MVRDV and co-architect Mole Architects from Cambridge will create a house sympathetic in spirit and materials to the exceptional natural site, which will be available for holiday rental from 2010.
The MVRDV project will be built on a beautiful site by a small lake in the English countryside near Thorington in Suffolk. From the road, the barn will be almost invisible; the front being only 7 metres wide, with a pitched roof, faces the long straight driveway approach, suggesting a small house with a traditional shape. The volume, however, has a length of 30 metres. At the midpoint it starts to cantilever over the descending slope; a balancing act made possible by the rigid structure of the building; resulting in 50% of the barn being in free space, and giving a wide view over the Suffolk landscape, adjacent lake and surrounding gardens. The long sides of the structure are well hidden by trees allowing privacy inside and around the barn. The exterior will be covered in a reflective material, resulting in the barn changing its exterior by reflecting the seasons.
Within the interior and closest to the driveway, is a kitchen, and large dining room. A series of four double bedrooms follows, each with separate bathroom and toilet. In the very centre of the barn, the bedroom sequence is interrupted by a hidden staircase providing access to the garden beneath. In the far, cantilevered end of the barn, a large living space is created. Throughout all the rooms, full height sliding windows, roof lights and a glass floor, give wonderful views and access into the garden and surrounding landscape, and give the visitors the opportunity to connect with nature.
The barn responds through its architecture and engineering to the site condition and natural setting. The traditional barn shape and reflective metal sheeting take their references from the local building vernacular. Completion is planned in Spring 2010, when the house will be open for letting.
Living Architecture has commissioned other houses by Peter Zumthor, Jarmund and Vigsnæs Architects, NORD and Hopkins Architects.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:43:17 +0100 project: Almere 2030 presented

(Rotterdam, July 1st , 2009) Dutch new town Almere plans to grow with 60,000 houses, 100,000 work places and related facilities. Consequentially Almere will become the fifth largest city of the Netherlands in an effort to relief and to offer new qualities to the urbanised west of the Netherlands. MVRDV was commissioned to collaborate with the city to design a concept structure vision to accommodate this growth. The growth will take place in four main areas: Almere IJland, a new island off the coast in the IJ-lake, Almere Pampus, a neighbourhood focused on the lake and open to experimental housing, Almere Centre, an extended city centre surrounding the central lake, and Oosterwold, an area devoted to more rural and organic urbanism. Together the proposals form the new framework to accompany the growth of the city until 2030. Together with the entire board of city councilors and the mayor, Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere and Winy Maas of MVRDV, presented the concept structure vision to the ministers of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (V&W), Camiel Eurlings and minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Jacqueline Cramer (VROM) on June 26th. The design of IJland has been a collaboration with Adriaan Geuze of West8 and William McDonough of McDonough and Partners.

“The structure vision for Almere is more than an urban masterplan…” said Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere, “…it describes how the city can develop in economic, cultural and social terms. The expansion is not a quantitative effort. Even though the number of 60,000 new homes is impressive, the main objective is the addition of new qualities. Almere wants to serve the demand of the Randstad and at the same time needs the chance to develop into an ecologic, social and economically sustainable city”.

The Axis: Nowadays Almere is a city with 185,000 inhabitants, 30 years ago it was an empty stretch of land reclaimed from the sea. The growth will preserve and further expand Almere’s model of a poly-nuclear city. It will diversify the existing city by adding various densities, programs and characters that do not yet exist in the current situation.
The vision consists of four major development areas, each with their own character, logic and identity. These new area developments are linked by an infrastructural axis which connects the metropolitan area of Amsterdam with Almere. Between the two cities Almere IJ-land (referring to IJ-lake) is a connector, literally as well as economically and culturally. The axis then leads to Almere Pampus, the Centre of Almere and Oosterwold in the east, and will in the future be continued to link Utrecht.

Almere IJland: Together with Adriaan Geuze of West8 and William McDonough, MVRDV worked on the unique opportunity to design a series of urban and nature reserve islands with the primary objective to improve water quality in the IJ-Lake, which is urgently needed. Combined with the new railway connection to Amsterdam, this offers in addition the potential to propose a living area with 5,000 up to 10,000 homes. IJland combines ecological and infrastructural interventions with the possibility to live, work and recreate in a natural riparian environment. The island could as well host special programs in the future, for example as part of the possible Dutch bid for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Almere Pampus: This area will combine the feeling of a coastal town with high density and make room for 20,000 homes; all streets within Almere Pampus will lead to the boulevard at the lake. The existing maintenance harbor will be reused for leisure and floating villages. There will be a new train station with a plaza at the coast.

Almere Centre: The current centre will grow and extend to the south bank of Weerwater, turning the central lake into Weerwater-park and become in time the cultural and economical heart of the city. On the junction of the new axis, the motorway and the railway connection, the motorway will be covered making an adjacent development of up to 5,000 homes, offices and public amenities possible. The central station will be developed into an economical hub and will be surrounded with new program.

Almere Oosterwold: This large area in the east offers room for up to 18,000 new homes and a variety of functions such as business and retail centers. It will be developed following individual and collective initiatives, from small to large scale, with plots that are always surrounded by nature development, urban agriculture or local parks. The area will reserve areas for future development after 2030.

The vision 2030 is not a blueprint but a flexible development strategy. Duivesteijn: “It is a framework which can be filled in by the people of the city. By remaining flexible we create possibilities to adjust the plans to future opportunities.” Almere wants to develop according to this structure vision in order to become an ecological, social and economically sustainable city. Large investments in infrastructure are needed to connect the city and its anticipated total of 350,000 inhabitants to its surroundings and to Amsterdam.

Winy Maas will remain involved in the further development of the concept structure vision in a supervising role. MVRDV has a long history of engagement with Almere: Earlier projects include two studies on new ways of organic urban development for Almere Hout and Almere Homeruskwartier, a study for the A6 Boulevard and the study for Pampus harbour, a neighbourhood of 500 floating dwellings. MVRDV’s Jacob van Rijs currently works on part of Olympiakwartier, a dense urban district of in total 220.000m2 mixed use with public facilities. ]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:41:54 +0100 project: Almere 2030 collaboration

Almere and MVRDV to collaborate on urban quantum leap

(Rotterdam, October 1st, 2008) The city of Almere has commissioned MVRDV to substantially deepen and develop the existing concept vision ‘Almere 2030’ that foresees a doubling in scale, new urban qualities and a strong identity for the ‘new town’ outside Amsterdam. MVRDV will collaborate with a team of experts and the municipality on the programmatic and spatial long term planning for the fast growing city. Almere city councillor Adri Duivesteijn today opened the first work session. For the municipality Mr. Henk Meijer, project director for the structure vision oversees the project; for MVRDV its co-founder Mr. Winy Maas will be in charge of the project.

Almere, founded in 1984 on reclaimed land, has the ambition to grow into a city with a strong identity and a total of 350,000 inhabitants by 2030. This involves the building of 60,000 new homes and the creation of 100,000 new jobs for the expected 150,000 new inhabitants. A major investment in infrastructure, public transport and the attractive adjoining green belt including Almere’s long coastline will connect the city more with its surroundings.

MVRDV will work in close collaboration with the municipality on this framework for the future, based on the existing concept vision for ‘Almere 2030’. The new effort will consist of a substantial elaboration of the existing concept and the design of an inspiring programmatic and spatial development. This larger urban master plan will be conceived in a multidisciplinary team integrating social, economical and political issues. Special attention is given to sustainability and flexibility. The result will be presented to the citizens of Almere, the national and provincial government and serve as framework for the future expansion.

Henk Meijer about the collaboration with MVRDV: “We will start with this team an exciting and inspiring project. The quantum leap for Almere is a unique task which we will meet with enthusiasm and passion.”

MVRDV has a long history of engagement with Almere: Earlier projects included two studies on new ways of organic urban development for Almere Hout and Almere Homeruskwartier, a study for the A6 Boulevard and the study for Pampus harbour, a neighbourhood of 500 floating dwellings. Currently a part of Olympiakwartier is being developed, a dense urban neighbourhood of in total 220.000m2 mix use with public facilities.

MVRDV is currently engaged in a similar project to the Almere 2030+, be it on a metropolitan scale: Rethinking the future of Greater Paris, commissioned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the mayor of Paris Bertrand Delanoë.


*copyrights images background image by Google
http://www.google.com]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:41:43 +0100 project: Celosia completed

(Madrid, 16 July 2009) In Madrid-Sanchinarro the first residents received the keys to their apartments in the just completed Celosia building. Jacob van Rijs of MVRDV and Blanca Lleó have completed the social housing block near the Mirador Building, which is an earlier collaboration. The perforated block of Celosia assembles 146 apartments, communal outside areas throughout the building, and parking and commercial program in the plinth. The total floor area is 21,550m2. With a construction cost of 12,6 million Euro the apartments can be sold for affordable prizes. The city block is opened and allows wind and light to enter the building, offering vistas and outside spaces contrasting the surrounding area. The client is EMVS, the public housing corporation of the city of Madrid.

The given volume of the city block was divided into 30 small blocks of apartments. These blocks are positioned in a checkerboard pattern next to and on top of each other, leaving wide openings for communal patios throughout the building. 146 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments are all accessed via these communal spaces. Most apartments offer additional private outdoor space in the shape of a loggia right behind the front door. Inhabitants have the possibility to gather in the communal high-rise patios which offer views towards the city and the mountains and provide natural ventilation in summer. Opening the front doors connects the private outdoor areas to the communal area.

The façade is made of coated concrete which was from the ground floor up constructed in complete mould system, an efficient and clean way to cast concrete, keeping the construction cost to a minimum; an important asset for this social housing project. The polyurethane coating allows the façade to shimmer and reflect depending on the light condition.

All windows are floor to ceiling height and can be shielded from the sun. Each apartment has the possibility of cross ventilation through two or three facades and enjoys views through the building and to the surrounding. A system of power efficient boilers is used in the building; solar panels on the roof heat water reducing energy consumption further.

Underneath the building a parking garage on two levels provides 165 parking spaces. The ground floor offers room for 6 individual retail units.

The nearby Mirador building which was completed by MVRDV and Blanca Lleó in 2005 also discusses the traditional building block by putting it vertical. The Celosia building is horizontally arranged around the interior court but opposes the generic introverted architecture in the area by bringing light and communal space into the building allowing a perhaps more extraverted Spanish lifestyle as every apartment opens up to a small plaza.


]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:41:07 +0100 project: Construction Book Mountain started

Start construction MVRDV Book Mountain

(Spijkenisse, May 28 2009): Today the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Public Library for Spijkenissse, near Rottterdam took place. Completion of the building designed by MVRDV is scheduled for fall 2011. The new public library with a surface of 10,000 m² will be an example of energy efficiency and advertise reading through its design of a book mountain.

The new public library with a surface of 10,000 m² will be located in the inner city of Spijkenisse, at the corner of a major throughway, the central market square and the church opposite. In addition to the book collection and reading areas, the library will accommodate commercial facilities, offices, an auditorium, conference rooms, and exhibition spaces.
The exterior of the building refers to a traditional Dutch barn style typology, in shape and choice of material; as a memento to the agricultural history of Spijkenisse Village, now a suburban area of Rotterdam with statistically a low average of readers.

The library is designed to advertise reading. By stacking facilities such as offices, meeting rooms and auditorium vertically, terraces of different sizes emerge upon which the book shelves are positioned creating a grand book mountain. The terraces are linked by staircases to form a route that curves around the mountain to the top, where a panoramic view of Spijkenisse awaits.

The book mountain is covered by a glass shell, creating a bell jar, an open-air library. The bell jar is a simple membrane, an almost invisible envelope that softens the edges of the building. The bell jar is also a climate-controlled public space. Solar protection (as used in greenhouses), natural ventilation and an underground heat storage system provide for comfortable conditions all year round. The climate system is a carefully balanced collection of sustainable features which together form an innovative new, highly sustainable system. Underneath the transparent bell jar, the library faces the streets on all sides, which enhances the safety of the public space around the building.

The climate system was developed in close collaboration with Arcadis Engineers and was last year nominated for De Vernufteling award, declaring the library an inventive and resourceful project with social and economical importance.

The new public library is part of a greater scheme for the inner city of Spijkenisse. In order to strengthen and densify the inner city, MVRDV has proposed a series of apartment buildings which reflect the local typology though on a larger scale. The entire new complex including the public spaces will be clad in brick. The result is an extension of the existing pattern and enhancement of the local identity.

Completion of the library and the apartments are expected September 2011.

The ground breaking ceremony took place in the presence of Spijkenisse City Councillors Gert Jan ‘t Hart and Marjolijne Lewis and the director of the Spijkenisse Public Library Mr. Huub Leenen. Further architect Winy Maas of MVRDV, Jaap Bosselaar and Charif Mounji of Arcadis and Mr. Meurs, director of contractor Vorm Bouw, took part in the ceremony which was also attended by elementary school children from Spijkenisse.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:40:53 +0100 project: Westerdok completed

(Amsterdam, 2 February 2009) Openness as design concept: The minimal amount of materials used, glass, steel and concrete, results in maximum openness for the façade.

The building which has just been completed with a total surface of 6000 m2 contains 46 apartments and a day-care centre. Each apartment has a balcony of varying depths which stretch as bands along the entire facade, offering varied outside spaces and views over the western docklands of Amsterdam. The floor-to-ceiling glass façade can be fully opened and contrasts with the other buildings within the so called ‘VOC Cour’ port redevelopment that are mainly made of brick.

The urban plan is a closed city block with buildings of differing heights surrounding a central court. After two earlier urban plans failed, the client O.M.A. (Ontwikkelings Maatschappij Apeldoorn) has in fact determined the current urban plan. The MVRDV building is located inside the court with one façade facing the waterfront of the Westerdok. The project started in 2004 and is currently one of the nominees for the Amsterdam Architecture Award.



Images by Rob 't Hart

www.rob-thart.nl
http://www.rob-thart.nl]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:49:37 +0100 project: Construction TWF Tribune started

The Why Factory (T?F), the Research Institute for the Future of the City which is liaised with the Technical University of Delft and MVRDV will move to it's new home at the Faculty of Architecture in April. The TRIBUNE, designed by MVRDV, is currently being built as part of the conversion and extension of the Faculty building at the Julianalaan in Delft. Placed in a covered courtyard, the structure will house research and education facilities. Large screens will allow to turn the student space into a large presentation and event space.

MVRDV together with Delft University of Technology run the new research institute. T?F wants to give argumentation back to the architectural and urbanistic world.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:48:29 +0100 project: Construction DnB NOR HQ started

(Oslo, September 17, 2009): With the completion of the foundations up to basement level, the construction of the main building of the new DnB NOR headquarters in Norway, has entered its main phase. The new headquarter cluster with a total surface of 80,000m2, is developed by the Norwegian Oslo S Utvikling (OSU), and its central building, designed by MVRDV with 17 floors and a surface of 36,500m2, is due to be completed in 2012. The pixelated design adapts to the urban context and combines an efficient and flexible internal organisation, based on small-scale working entities, with a variety of specific communal spaces, a sheltered public passage and respect for urban view lines.

In 2003, MVRDV, together with Norwegian firms Dark and a-lab, won the competition for the Bjørvika waterfront development and designed a dense urban master plan along Nyland Allé, the Oslo Barcode, that will be developed and realised by OSU in phases.

The international Norwegian financial institution DnB NOR decided to concentrate their twenty office locations currently dispersed over the city in the Barcode. In 2007, the master plan team was commissioned by developer OSU to design the urban concept. A new cluster of three volumes and a common basement with a 3,000m2 underground concourse, which interlinks the three buildings of the bank, was developed. MVRDV was commissioned as architect for the central building and co-responsible for the concourse.

The development of a new headquarter cluster is a strategic operation aiming for synergy and a clear identity. The objective was to translate the social and democratic character of the organisation into a building with excellent working conditions and spatial qualities. The structure is conceived as a steel ‘rack’ which permits adaptation to the flexible nature of the organisation.

The steel rack is wrapped in a stone skin, which adopts Norwegian environmental standards. It appears as a rock, a strong shape within the boundaries of the Barcode. The niches of this rock provide space for vegetation growth: the positioning of the pixels creates roof gardens or outside areas for every floor.

The generic office floors recline and are recessed in various places to reflect the urban context and to create communal indoor and outdoor areas and outstanding daylight conditions. At street level the building volume is opened by sheltered entrance zones, and intersected by a public passage leading to the Oslo Central Station. The pixelated design allows this specific response whilst being highly efficient and flexible. As a result, every floor of the building is both unique and generic: the pixelated volume makes the generic specific.

Besides more than 2,000 flexible work spaces the building contains a panoramic 140 seat canteen on the top level, the executive lounge with a view over the fjord, the board room, in the heart of the volume, DnB NOR’s trading room with 250 work stations, and the main entrance with a reception and access to the concourse. These collective elements are connected by a staggered continuous internal route of terraces, encouraging informal meetings and communication between employees.

The route meanders from the reception upwards through the building, connecting all office levels with the communal areas. A series of wooden stairs and bridges allow employees to switch levels or even to walk the 17 levels up to the canteen on one side of the building and down on the other side. The route accommodates communal areas to the office floors and is made homely with a series of pantries, informal meeting areas and fire places. It gives access to the various outdoor terraces and roof gardens. All these collective spaces are designed as glass pixels allowing views over the surroundings and transparency from the exterior. The route is naturally ventilated and has a high performance glass fit for the cold Norwegian winter.

On behalf of OSU, MVRDV collaborates with Norwegian co-architect DARK Arkitekter AS and various Norwegian engineering firms. Project management is executed by Norwegian firm Vedal Project AS. The second building of the DnB NOR cluster is designed by A-lab and the third building by Dark Arkitekter, all within the overall master plan and the Barcode urban master plan by MVRDV / DARK / a-lab. DnB NOR is the largest financial services group in Norway. The Group consists of brands such as DnB NOR, Vital, Nordlandsbanken, Cresco, Postbanken, DnB NORD and Carlson.

]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:47:18 +0100 project: Construction Market Hall started

(Rotterdam, 18 November 2009) Today the mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb and city councilor Hamit Karakus have officially started the construction of the new Rotterdam Market Hall. The arched building located in the centre of Rotterdam, developed by Provast and designed by MVRDV is a hybrid of public market and apartment building. Completion is set for 2014. Total investment is 175 million Euro with a total surface of 100.000 m2.

At the place where Rotterdam was founded, near the historic Laurens church, the Market Hall will be realized as a new urban typology. The Market Hall is a sustainable combination of food, leisure, living and parking. Fully integrated to enhance and use the synergetic possibilities of the different functions, a public building emerging from housing.

An arch of 228 apartments, of which 102 for rent, will create a large hall which houses 100 market stalls, shops and restaurants, 1200 parking spaces and an underground super market. The apartments will all have a balcony on the outside and a window to the inside of the market. Insulation will prevent any unwanted effects. The 40 meter tall and wide opening of the front and back will be covered with a flexible suspended glass façade, allowing for maximum transparency and a minimum of structure. The interior of the arch will display market produce.

The project with a total of 100.000 m2 is set to be completed in 2014 and part of the current regeneration of Rotterdam’s post war centre. Project developer Provast realizes the building, Unibail Rodamco invested in the shops and restaurants whilst Housing Corporation Vesteda will manage the rental apartments, making the building a socially integrated part of the city.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:46:25 +0100 project: Sky Village wins competition

MVRDV and ADEPT win Copenhagen high rise competition with ‘Sky Village’ design

(Rødovre - Copenhagen, November 3rd, 2008) The municipality of Rødovre, an independent municipality of Copenhagen, Denmark, announced today MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT winner of the design competition of the Rødovre Skyscraper. The 116 meter tall tower accommodates apartments, a hotel, retail and offices. A public park and a plaza are also part of the privately funded scheme.

The new skyscraper with a total surface of 21,688m2 will be located at Roskildevej, a major artery East of the centre of Copenhagen. The skyscraper’s shape reflects Copenhagen’s historical spire and present day high-rise blending in the skyline of the city, it further combines the two distinctive typologies of Rødovre, the single family home and the skyscraper in a vertical village.

Responding to unstable markets the design is based on a flexible grid, allowing alteration of the program by re-designating units. These ‘pixels’ are each 60m2 square and arranged around the central core of the building, which for flexibility consists of three bundled cores allowing separate access to the different program segments.

On the lower floors the volume is slim to create space for the surrounding public plaza with retail and restaurants; the lower part of the high rise consists of offices, the middle part leans north in order to create a variety of sky gardens that are terraced along the south side. This creates a stacked neighbourhood, a Sky Village. From this south orientation the apartments are benefitting. The top of the building will be occupied by a hotel enjoying the view towards Copenhagen city centre. The constellation of the pixels allows flexibility in function; the building can be transformed by market forces, however at this moment it is foreseen to include 970m2 retail, 15,800m2 offices, 3,650m2 housing and 2,000m2 hotel and a basement of 13,600m2 containing parking and storage.

Flexibility for adaptation is one of the best sustainable characteristics of a building. Besides this the Sky Village will also integrate the latest technologies according to the progressive Danish environmental standards. Furthermore the plans include a greywater circuit, the use of 40% recycled concrete in the foundation and a variety of energy producing devices on the façade.

A public park adjacent to the Sky Village is part of the project and will be refurbished with additional vegetation and the construction of a ‘superbench’, a meandering public path and bench. A playground, picnic area and exercise areas for elderly citizens are also part of the plan.

Lead architect MVRDV and co-architect ADEPT Architects won the competition from BIG, Benisch and MAD. Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs present the plan today in Copenhagen together with Anders Lonka and Martin Krogh from local office Adept Architects, Dutch engineering firm ABT and Søren Jenssen act as consultants for the project. Earlier MVRDV realised the Frøsilo / Gemini Residence in the port of Copenhagen: a residential project marking a new way in refurbishment of old silo’s which was highly acclaimed and received international awards.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:44:36 +0100 project: Green light for Eco City

Government of Rioja gives green light to MVRDV’s Logroño Montecorvo Eco City

(Rotterdam, September 23rd, 2008) The government of the Spanish province and autonomous community Rioja has decided to go ahead with the development of the extension to Logroño. The Eco-City designed by MVRDV in collaboration with GRAS foresees the construction of 3,000 social homes and complementary program. The new neighbourhood achieves a CO2 neutral footprint by producing renewable energy on site. The total investment is 388 million Euro.

The 56 ha site, just north of Logroño on the two small hills of Montecorvo and la Fonsalada, offers views over the city and vast south facing slopes. The masterplan is designed in a compact way occupying only 10 % of the site: the linear compact urban development meanders through the landscape, providing every apartment with views towards the city. In addition sports facilities, retail, restaurants, infrastructure and public and private gardens are part of the plan.

The remaining landscape becomes an eco-park: a mix of park and energy production. As the slopes are south facing solar energy is easily generated. A tapestry of PV-cells clad the mountain, covering the hills in golden reflection. On top of the two hills, windmills generate part of the energy needed for the 3.000 social houses and at the same time they work as landmarks for the development. 100% of the energy demand is generated on site by a combination of solar and wind energy. A greywater circuit and on site natural water purification are parts of the plan that combines dense urban living with real ecological improvements. All these measurements will allow the new development to reach a CO2 neutral footprint and the highest Spanish energy efficiency rating.

Next to this, by building as compact as possible (following the optimal height line of the hill) the building costs are minimized. A further part of the plan is the construction of a funicular accessing a museum and viewing point hidden in the top of Montecorvo which will also house a research and promotion centre for renewable and energy efficient technology. The on site production of clean energies and the quality of construction will allow to save an excess of 6,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

The total sum of investment is 388 million Euro of which 40 million will be invested in renewable energy technology. MVRDV won the competition in collaboration with Spanish architecture office GRAS. Client is the city of Logroño; the project will be developed by Spanish firms LMB and Grupo Progea and was conceived in collaboration with Arup. ]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:43:15 +0100 project: Well received opening of The Why Factory

]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:42:07 +0100 project: Opening of The Why Factory

(Delft, 8 October, 2009): Ronald Plasterk Minister of Education, Culture and Science will officially open on October 15 the new think tank ‘The Why Factory’ at the Faculty of Architecture at the Delft University of Technology and the structure it occupies, an orange Tribune designed by MVRDV. The Why Factory, an initiative of Delft University’s Faculty of Architecture and MVRDV, researches urban futures and is lead by Winy Maas. During the opening event a series of prominent speakers will discuss the future city and Winy Maas will give his inaugural address as professor at TU Delft.

The Why Factory (t?f)

The Why Factory is a global urban think tank and research institute, run by Faculty of Architecture, Delft University of Technology and MVRDV, led by Professor Winy Maas. It started in 2008 with the ambition to enlarge the argumentative power of the architectural and urbanistic profession.

The Why Factory’s future cities research program explores the endless possibilities for the development of our cities – at a moment that a majority of the world’s population becomes citizen. The outcome is a series of models and visualisations for the cities of the future, theories and practical solutions, proposals for existing cities, applied software design, movies and a series of publications by NAi Publishers.

Executed research projects have dealt with the challenges of green architecture and urban design (The Green Dream), food consumption and the possibilities of urban farming for Manhattan and The Hague (Food Print and City Pig), the implications of the current economic downfall for Berlin (After the Crisis), the future development of Hong Kong (Hong Kong Fantasies) and the collective responsibility versus the individual desire (the Parametric User). Current and future projects are the Green City Calculator, a software tool measuring green performance of urban centres, a research into the challenges and implications of robotics and intelligent machinery to envision a fully automated city, the challenges of leisure activity (Death of the Leisure City) and the challenges of post crisis urbanism (Austerity).

The Why Factory offers cutting edge master studios for students of architecture and urbanism with challenging topics, a Research-by-Design platform for PHD candidates. It collaborates with other international institutions and has so far organised studios and workshops at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Aedes Network Campus Berlin, the Tamkung University Taipei and Berlage Institute in Rotterdam.

A series of institutional partners forms a strong network with the Why Factory which collaborated with among others engineering firms Arup, ABT and DGMR, Rotterdam Climate Initiative, Dutch Green Building Council, CUHK, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, Berlage Institute, Aedes Forum Berlin, VPRO television, Thonik, Stroom The Hague, Droog Design, TU Delft and MVRDV.
]]> Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:41:27 +0100 project: Schweizer Fernsehen Headquarters

The ‘Beehive’ concept combines studios and offices in one building. The studios (together with the stage direction department) are located in the centre of the volume; their position is fixed. The studio annex rooms and offices are ‘wrapped’ around the studio complex as rings and stacked on top of each other creating one single volume. A spacious atrium emerges above the roof of the studios. The ‘roof’ of the studio complex functions as the lobby and event space, the atrium supports the climatic conditions inside the building. In order to get access, facilitate orientation and create views from inside as well as outside the building, the shape of the rings is modified in various places. Not only does this allow for new interior lighting configurations but it also creates extra space on each floor: in the form of additional space for circulation and informal meeting areas inside the atrium, or external terraces.

This intervention also facilitates internal cohesion through visibility, the building becomes a connector for its occupants.

By modifying the shape of the rings - the floor plates - the building becomes an impressive object in the skyline of Zurich-Leutschenbach: as a new high-rise typology. The building’s identity is perceived differently depending on the viewer’s location: Seen from far, it is the unique silhouette which is perceived and makes the building recognizable. From close up, the terraces and variations of the floor plates create the building’s identity. They create spatial relationships with the building’s immediate urban context, whilst functioning as informal meeting areas inside the building.

The lobby is accessed via escalators from the Fernsehstrasse, which enter the building at the point where the rings are opened. The lobby stretches across the entire atrium. Cores are positioned on either end, which provide access (by means of elevators and staircases) to the offices on the floors above. The studios and its annex rooms are accessed at ground level and are interconnected by a continuous circulation route.

A steel construction transfers the load of the upper floors via a transfer level across the studio volume down to the ground. Trusses of a floor-to-ceiling height span across the entire atrium. The news department is located here. The two floors above house the MSC-Technology and Multimedia departments. ]]> Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:45:07 +0100 project: Celosia

The opening of the European borders has caused a real estate boom in Spain. The value has been increased enormously, thus leading to an enormous production of housing. This operation is facilitated in Madrid by a giant new neighborhood that surrounds the old city. A series of new cities that are mainly constructed of blocks that surround a private patio, with a more or less introverted architecture with small windows, somehow opposes the extraverted Spanish culture.

In PAU de Sanchinarro, one of these new cities, situated on the northeast edge of Madrid, two plots are given to develop a possible “escape” from the uniformity and claustrophobia of this “sea of six-story-high blocks.”
Next to the Mirador housing, a second escape has been created by “opening” a given block on all levels. Blocks of eight houses are seen as separate prefabricated figures. They are positioned in a checkerboard pattern next to and on top of each other in such a way that they leave openings for communal gardens in between. A perforated block appears, in which shadow and ventilation compensate for the strong climatic constraints. It creates views from the street through the building. It creates views from the houses to the surrounding area. It defends against the claustrophobic conditions of the existing developments.
]]> Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:51:23 +0100 project: Taipei Pop Music Center

“The Hidden Valley”

THE QUESTIONS AND QUESTS
How could a new ‘pop temple’ in these MP3-times form a true base for pop musicians and their fans? Expressing Taiwan’s innovation and vitality, the TPMC should be a unique building; a pop building; a rock building; a show building? Yes, but not a show-off building. It’s the show that matters and the building should facilitate that. It should draw a crowd, but also serve that same crowd without drawing too much attention, a delicate combination.

SPECIFIC & NEUTRAL
Each concert, each show is a unique experience that people want to be a part of. The building should accommodate this desire by offering maximum possibilities to create different moods each time. Each visit should contain an element of surprise. The building should combine for contrasting combinations, like a specific character vs. a neutral podium. It should be recognizable and surprising; edgy and smooth; messy but controllable.

A VENUE SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR POP MUSIC
A concert hall for pop music is different to a traditional concert hall, or an opera house. The whole event of dressing up, showing off and hanging out is part of going to any concert. But the setting and the behaviour demand something really different. A pop music building should be tough and easygoing at the same time; cosy but also easy to control.

OUTER APPERANCE: Tough and soft, rock meets pop
The outer appearance of the building and the position of the building on the site mark its image as a tough block with soft edges; rock meets pop. The interior of the lobby and the public spaces in between the different auditoria and halls inside the building address a similar ‘mood’ that combines these contrasts.

INTERIOR OF HALLS: Neutral for infinite possibilities
Once entering a specific performance space the interiors are more neutral allowing the performer to dress up the room, by lights stage sets, or just perform without any décor, just music, each artist or each night a different experience.

URBAN REACTION
The volume of the TPMC is bridging the Xin Sheng Road linking the park strip with the Nangang neighbourhood. Its basic block-like volume has been modified in a few steps into an articulated and recognizable silhouette over the road. This bridge creates a clear ‘address’ on the Zhongxiao Road in the middle of a series of shops, bars and other commercial facilities. Spicing up the street life between the two MTR-stations

OUTDOOR VENUE: Hidden Valley with Infinite Surprises
The open-air theatre acts like a hidden valley inside the building. Its presence can be sensed by the smaller bumps in the roofline of the building. The valley is a controlled outdoor performance space that forms an integral part of the building, but can function independently as well. The indoor and outdoor stages can be used together to conduct a show with tremendous possibilities, guests can move between the indoor and outdoor performances. It is also possible for a performance to play to both the outdoor and indoor quests because the backstage areas of the stages are directly connected. Once inside the valley visitors experience music, in an asymmetrical variation of the classical amphitheatre, under the stars between the city lights of Taipei. The valley can be accessed via the main lobby as well as directly via a green ramp integrated in the park strip. The outdoor valley stage can be easily serviced by trucks. The movement of the trucks and the crowds are completely separated. From an acoustical point of view the outdoor venue is also a valley. The “noise” is contained by the bowl and, due to its shape, directed towards the hills on the south side.

LOBBY
The public can enter the building from several points; the plaza, the ramps in the green park zone and the main entrances on the Zhongxiao Road. Once inside, a spacious lobby opens up, a varied 3d space formed by the space in between the volumes of the performance halls, the stacked boxes of the live houses, shops and exhibition spaces and the contours of the building volume. Boxes act as multimedia billboard for concerts.

FLOWS
The Taipei pop music center has a complex and varied program; many different activities have to take place at the same time. Routes are laid out in such a way that different activities can take place without impeding each other and where possible enrich each other.

MATERIALS AND FACADE
The building is like a sculpture, its surface is rough and rocky, where openings are cut, or pushed into the volume it is smooth and round. At night LED, s shine out creating different colour moods around the building]]> Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:12:13 +0100 project: 3D Renderer & Visualiser

MVRDV is a globally operating design firm dedicated to innovative architecture and urban design founded in Rotterdam in 1993. MVRDV works on projects ranging in scale from small objects to urban plans with a progressive ideal for the urban future.
We invite qualified visual designers to apply for the position of 3D Renderer and Visualiser.

Candidates are to be creative, innovative and their vision reflects the work of MVRDV. Excellent render skills in 3D Studio Max (Mentalray), modeling in Rhino and CAD skills are required as well as the Adobe suite. Candidates have to be stress resistant and able to work in international teams.
Given the international character of our office, candidates are to be fluent in English.

The principal responsibility of this position is to visualize and animate the design concepts of MVRDV within a dynamic style through computer rendered images, used both for the internal design process and client presentations. The 3D Renderer and Visualiser will be working on a wide variety of projects and mark the visual style of MVRDV.

Successful candidates receive a temporary contract with the ambition to extend. Salary is based on experience and according to Netherlands collective labour agreement (cao).

Rotterdam is a dynamic modern city that can be traveled entirely by bicycle. Frequent events in art, film, design and architecture are organized boosting the city’s architectural activities.

MVRDV is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to treat all employees and applicants equally, regardless of gender or marital status, race or color, nationality or ethnic origin, religion or religious belief, sexual orientation, disability or age.

Please address your motivation letter, cv, recommendation and portfolio preferably as pdf not larger than 5mb in total to: jobs@mvrdv.nl. Applications without portfolio will not be considered.

Hardcopies can be send to: Wenchian Shi, MVRDV, Postbox 63136, 3002 JC, Rotterdam, Netherlands mentioning, ‘3D Renderer & Visualiser’.
]]> Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:27:25 +0100 project: Internships

Highly recommended students can apply for an internship, here on the left are the different types of internships explained. Please be aware that we would like you to enclose an excellent recommendation with your portfolio.]]> Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:14:01 +0100 project: Fondation Pinault

The museum complex is conceived as a composition of different programmatic elements surround the public plaza, the very heart of the museum. It realizes the uttermost public museum space: a space in which one is surrounded by all the museum functions. The museum complex consists of the following elements:

THE SKY CITY
The main object of the museum is this 'floating' platform, which houses the permanent collection. It is conceived as a space without direct urban liaisons, in between heaven and earth, plaza and sky.
A composition of 50 different rooms is based on a grid, allowing for multiple variations. Walls, ceilings and floors are composed out of layered variable sheets (glass, sunshade,…). Any composition can be imagined.

PLAZA BRIDGE & HILL BRIDGE
The bridge between the complex and the metrostation is designed as a 30 meter wide wooden 'plaza' that contains the main access route for the public as well as delivery and VIP lanes. The bridge between Sevres and the Ile Seguin is designed as an elegant 15 meter wide element, almost 'touching' the skycity before entering it.

THE ART-FACTORY
The existing industry halls are hardly touched. The complex can do with and without them. They can be turned into the open 'urban lobby' of the complex.

THE SOCLE & THE WELL
The socle contains the 'concourse', the enclosed part of the 'acceuil', that connects between the different programs. It can be directly accessed from the plaza by a void, the well, where the Seine can be 'seen'.

THE MARINA, PROMENADE & CONVIVIALITY PROGRAM
By excavating a harbor out of the socle, the plinth has an 'address' for the bigger boats, that can visit the museum. The restaurants, shops and other conviviality program are located in the socle, directly connected with the boardwalk.

THE POWERSTATION
The existing powerstation is used for the temporary collections in a factory-like environment. Floors are hung in the existing structure. The façade towards the plaza has been replaced by a fully openable glass façade, that acts as a shopping window towards the plaza.

THE INCLINED OFFICE
By tilting this tower direct views from the offices to the Seine and the Marina are created. Thus the offices are 'lit' by the light that is reflected in the water. It realises a 'grand escalier' to 'heaven', both inside as outside.
One stair offers access to the offices, a inclined gallery space connecting the permanent collection and the plaza and socle. On top are giant outside stairs that can perform as public tribunes, turning the plaza into an open air theatre. Inclined elevators allow for possible easy access.

THE MEDIAVALLEY
The 'cité numérique' is designed as a double set of inclined volumes.
One of them houses the theatres, that can be separated through huge sliding walls. The other houses the mediatheque, in which a central void positions the internet-cafe, surrounded by all media.
Together they act as a 'valley' underneath the 'sky-city'.

THE ARCHIVES ROCK
The archives tower with its stone-like-appearance can be seen as the petrified silent memory 'Rock' of the museum.
It is surrounded by the elevators. Glimpses of the archive-collection can be given to the travelling people in the elevators through small 'cracks', that allow as well for access to parts of the collection and the restoration workshops.
This building literally becomes the pillar of the Foundation.

THE 3D PLAZA
The acceuil with the reception desk is situated on the middle of the plaza, heated by heaters from the skycity above, using its rest-heat. It allows the public space to be used in all conditions and allows differentiated uses and opening hours.
This three dimensional 'art-district' enlarges the coincidental meetings between art and visitors. It turns the Fondation into a welcoming 'urban machinery'.]]> Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:35:05 +0100 project: Schielandhuis

The Schieland House was built between 1662 and 1665 and is one of the few historic buildings in the center of Rotterdam that survived the bombings of the Second World War. The building does however appear only authentic as it has almost completely burned down in 1849. After a careful renovation in "17th century style" the museum was reopened in 1986, perhaps more than Disney authenticate the building nowadays is genuinely loved by the citizens being one of the few historic remains, being unique in the context Rotterdam.

The building now holds the Historic Museum Rotterdam, a vibrant and active institution that organizes popular exhibitions. Because of its great success the museum is desperately looking to extend in order to be Able to organize larger exhibitions Unhindered by the small scale of the current building.

As the building sits on a prime location and can not be extended with a new wing, the proposal is to lift the Schieland House onto a pedestal which can then hold the demanded neutral and functional exhibition spaces. The extension is also from the outside of neutral character, contrasting with the existing building and therefore relates to the building on top like a stage displaying a precious piece of art. A few openings connect the interior of the extension to the city and a stair which spirals up to the House Schieland along the walls invites city life to enrich the façade, giving access to the new entrance.
]]> Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:49:49 +0100 project: Les Halles/ The Rose Window

The refurbishment and re-engagement of Forum Les Halles through a series of precise interventions leading eventually to a new ‘Grand Projet’ in the centre of Paris. The Forum plan includes opening of the main metro station in Paris to daylight, as well as radical improvements to the surrounding facilities such as cultural amenities, a pool, the shopping streets, the metro stops, the underground roads, the parking lots at the Forum by centering them around an underground valley covered by a gigantic ‘rose window’.


LES HALLES

The development of Les Halles in Paris in the 1970s can be seen as a project with great ambition but not entirely successful outcome. The demolition of the old food market followed by the introduction of the RER metro system, the creation of a dense station and shopping center, and an introduction of cultural programs, and all of it then covered with a garden, can clearly be seen as a grand intervention: it has impact on the city and the region. It became the entrance to Paris for many. But despite this programmatic scale and its intense usage, it has not brought “grandeur.” It has not given an icon to the city. The shopping center is hidden and dark. The station is overcrowded, dark and claustrophobic. The park does not possess a strong character. Les Halles lacks recognition and therefore attention and possibilities. Can a redevelopment of this complex lead to grandeur again?

LES DALLES

Paris has been the dream city for experimentation for three-dimensional urbanism. It has created impressive infrastructure like the Villes Nouvelles, La Defense and Rive Gauche. It has given space to radical modernism in the heart of the city. This process in the 1960s helped Paris to overcome antiquity and to combine it with modernity. It gave the city a future. For a while. But the reaction of the cultural elite was not positive. The strong reactions to the scale of the projects and proposals lead to strong protectionism. A tremendous neurosis towards towers and ‘dalles’ (plinths with program) emerged that blocked a serious discussion on urbanism. The Forum Les Halles can be considered as the last project in the spirit of the 1960s. Halfway through its construction the reactions of the neighbors became dramatic. It stopped it from being completed and therefore prevented its success. Les Halles was doomed. It was not considered as a complex of opportunities but as a ‘hole’, a backdrop. As a result it was literally buried with soil and grass. A cemetery for three-dimensional urbanism. How can we live with this controversy in an age that balances protectionism and cosmopolitanism, fear and new enlightenment? Can we give Les Halles a chance again?

MINIPROJETS

In the present time of growing individualism, reduced state interventions and a more market-driven approach to urban development, one can begin to understand the determination for the end of the tradition of ‘Grand Projets’ as developed at the close of the 20th century in France. Though some might consider this as a desired direction, such a development can start to underestimate large-scale considerations and projects. Without orchestration, the complexity of large-scale developments can result in a cacophony of voices and parties involved. The complexity can even lead to inertia and lethargy. The cohabitation of parties can lead to blockage and protectionism. Can the renovations of Les Halles produce a new model that can avoid this lethargy and that can overcome protectionism? Can this lead to a new cohabitation of small-scale interventions and large-scale ambitions? Can choreographing relatively smaller say mini-projects lead to a large-scale solution? Can we aspire for the ‘Grand’ through ‘Petites’?

APPROACH

By allowing every partner to maximize their desires we can start to formulate a possible collaboration. By giving all of them their own identity, architecture, and form, it increases their identities. By gluing these identities together it becomes an appealingly colorful amalgam that reflects the operation and situation.

OPENING ACT

All these entities share one target: to be opened; creating comfort and trust, safety and orientation. With a precise implementation of all possibilities, based on practical, pragmatic interventions, the given complexity can be unraveled. The station can be opened, as well as the foyers of the cultural amenities, the pool, the shopping streets, the metro stops, the underground roads, the parking lots. This intervention can start to combine the desires of the three main parties involved: the transport system RATP, the commercial Espace Expansions and the City of Paris. They can start to convince each other of the benefits that can be created by solving each others’ necessities. By gluing this series of demanded interventions, each with its own character, each with its own budget and momentum, these projects can turn into one collaboratively rich and nuanced space. Like a ‘Vitrail’, (a stain glass window) it would re-ignite the tradition of composing monumental grandeur out of small pieces. Each one is different, but all together form a unit.

GLASS GARDEN

This opening act can turn the renovation of a hidden environment into a visible and monumental operation. It can create a renovation that shows itself to the world by opening up the underworld as much as possible. By scraping away, in a precise manner, all the possible needed openings and turning all possible redesigned elements into glass, a valley is found, a jewel of an ‘objet trouvé’, a final manifestation of ‘mille plateaux’. Covered with glass it turns the found valley into a new ‘Grand Hall’, echoing the place’s history. It results in a phenomenal public space on top: a glass garden orchestrated and lit from below. It becomes a remarkably intense and deep square that shows and covers the now-hidden treasures, that reveals grand cavities and the abyss of the city. There is beauty under the pavement.

THE HIDDEN DEEP CITY

This valley, this hidden city is composed of a series of elements, of clients. These elements have a certain hierarchy in usage: due to the excellent access and central position, a shopping program serves not only the neighborhood but the region as well and the park can become a regional destination. By mixing the three functions they can benefit from each other more. Such a new ‘amalgam’ starts to increase the overall potential.

CULTURAL CENTER

By opening the roofs of the cultural amenities of the center, visibility will be increased. The public pool, the foyers of the music center and the library, will obtain an address at the plaza.

GRAND GARE

Les Halles is the entrance to Paris! The people from the outskirts appear here for the first time on ground level after an underground journey. And then they find this alarming claustrophobia. It is striking to find the busiest place in Paris and even in Europe so badly conditioned. Does Paris look down on its neighbors as in Dickens’ time the bourgeois looked down to the working class?

The incredible amount of visitors (more than ten times as much as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre Museum) is hosted in cramped, dirty, uncomfortable catacombs without light. By opening the current main station space both downward to the platforms as well as upward through the “Place Basse,” light and openness is introduced. By replacing some shops to other positions, this opening can be increased amounting to a true opening, so very needed to serve the millions of visitors: a welcoming “cathedral” can be created. The current Salle des Echanges is converted into a series of bridges that lead to the entrance hall where escalators take the visitors via the shopping center to the city. The capacities are designed as big as possible for allowing not only the current amount of visitors, but to be able to attract more people as well. This creates a strategy for possible new programs on top. By solving phase-wise the current underground traffic nodes the connections between Les Halles and the Chatelet section can be improved. Using different technical methods, it can gradually become a real Grand Gare that stretches from the Rue Montorgueil to the Seine. A true grand space, partly 35 meters high, with grand spans and rich in nuances, due to the phasing, the existing configuration and the existing monuments on top. It causes a fantastic series of “addresses” in the urban tapestry on top. It could be the start to fantasize about a connection of the TGV lines between Gare du Nord, Lyon and Montparnasse. The Paris passage now is a sincere burden. Travel from London to Lyon via Paris takes two hours more than needed. Such an extension of the TGV lines turns Les Halles into the real Central Station of Paris. This could change the perception of the city. It could be more the “Center of Europe” where all lines connect.

PETIT BOUCLE

Skipping the Petit Boucle in the underground road system creates better connections between the station and the western part of the shopping center, without destroying the underground traffic system. It creates possibilities for light and access. It creates a possible new shopping street that connects the north with the south.

SHOPPING AND CULTURAL CENTRE

The shopping center is focused on the development of the current two axes. These axes, north-south and east-west, connect the station with the surroundings. They are organized by re-shaping the space where possible and clearing the views. On all floors access zones are added, thereby intensifying the usage of the axes. These access galleries are stepped back, terraced, so that from every floor all other floors become visible. It increases social interactions in the project. A shopping level on the current ground floor level is added that encourages the usage of the axes. The axes are opened to the sky and covered by glass roofs that can be opened. The ends of the axes are redesigned creating ‘waterfalls’ of stairs and escalators. These elements turn them into monumental Shopping and Cultural Valleys, inversed Gallerias.

PODIUM

The openings in the station area and in the axes cause the reduction of available floor area that is compensated on the current ground level. By removing the soil and the roofs, and rebuilding a new roof slightly higher up, a true reservoir of program can be housed that can even accommodate extra program for the economic and social viability of the project. These programs are clustered so that urban identities can be imagined: the cultural program, the informational program, the grand shops like H&M and FNAC, the cinema complex, etc. They all have an address on the main axes as well as to the ground floor level and the garden. The height difference between the streets and the podium underlines the special position of the new public space. It creates a “podium” for urban activities. Amphitheatres, valleys, stairs and slopes allow for easy access. An undulated podium appears.

ROSE WINDOW

This new program allows for further openings of the new roof in order to create transparency, appearance and access from the garden and the city.
For every space below another roof is suggested that answers the specific qualities and desires of these spaces. From totally transparent to colored glass to dark glass. From advertising façades to cultural façades. From large openings to small roof lights to linear light wells. They give the hidden program an appearance and address. They ‘emerge’ from the underground.

A forest of ‘floating’ trees that grow in pots suspended in between the glass beams give protection against the sun. The glass is protected for slipping by adding silicate grain, rough stainless steel ‘leaves’, mirror pieces, infiltrated stones and other elements. The glass pieces are framed in nature stone. It turns the roof into a mosaic of different treatments that together form a park floor that echoes the desires from beneath; that literally shows the underground; and that manifests the intense usage of the spaces below. It becomes the representative façade, the horizontal ‘rose window’ of the dense three-dimensional underground city.

Lit from below this ‘rose window’ stages the users day and night. It turns the garden into a ‘dance-floor’ that can serve the trendy generation that uses Les Halles with their tattoo and t-shirt shops.

This ‘rose window’ keeps a large space within the dense city. It creates a scale that covers not only the scale of the project. Les Halles becomes Le Hall. By making the flattest piece of architecture thinkable, it becomes symbolic for an era in Europe that is more about restoration and shrinkage, more about consolidation than acceleration. This act reinterprets the meaning of the plinths. It gives the ‘dalles’ a public life again. It can be seen as an attempt to overcome the lingering Parisian fear of 1960s urbanism.

VOID

This urban void can be seen as a space that is not only able to stage world class events, but that even ‘waits’ for a program. The improvement and enlargement of the access spaces downstairs can facilitate a new programmatic enterprise on top. The pedestal is ready for it. As long as there is no program for new Eiffel Towers, no Olympic buildings, no National Auditoriums (has Paris built everything? Is Paris ‘spoiled’?), it becomes a void for the future, the base for a new monument. The opening act of the underground will light any new object, planning to celebrate their appearance later. A ‘waiting’ space for a later time.]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:48:43 +0100 project: NYC 2012/ Olympic Weaving Village

The Olympic and post-Olympic Village deserves intensity and visibility. We propose achieving this by dividing the given plot into two radical, synergetic elements: one empty, one full. The skyline beach opens the site as a NYC attraction: views plus unimpeded space. The village employs a mini-grid to condense the program to a point that triggers NYC-style urbanity, otherwise diluted on the site. Residents park their cars under the plinth, leaving the above surface for public use with views over the beach, the creek, the skyline and the railyard. Emphasis on urban public life is further invigorated with "weaving" towers, slender to the top and tilted to reveal more views in and from the Village. Sometimes they even "kiss." These urban moves generate a three-dimensional neighborhood, reflecting the Olympic spirit and challenging the current Manhattan tower typology.]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:48:14 +0100 project: Parco Monteluce

Umbria 2006 - a growing tapestry of private properties covers the old pastoral landscapes, a gradual transformation from an agricultural setting to a real estate park.

Moving the former
Policlinico di Monteluce in Perugia to a more peripheral location creates the opportunity to offset this trend. Settling the majority of the proposed private functions on the slopes liberates the summit and provides the citizens with a new Parco Monteluce. The hilltop is the perfect setting for the more public elements (the existing monuments, the shops and retail, the hotel, the conference centre) of the project’s programme.

Public Spaces
The positioning of the new public functions in and adjoining the existing monuments forms a series of public spaces that reinforce the sequence of piazzas and squares in the existing city. The current square in front of the convent is a messy affair of parked cars and drop-off areas. A new underground car park allows the square to open up and to become a pedestrian area.

Convent
The monumental parts of the convent are renovated and put to use by the health centre (possibly also retail). A new building is added which houses the hotel, conference centre, restaurants and shops. Together the buildings form an intimate piazza with a vibrant atmosphere: the Patio del Convento. Lobbies and roof terraces interact with the city; hotel rooms offer views of the landscape. The addition to the convent is built of natural stone. The windows are designed as small loggias.

Parco Monteluce
The top of the hill is kept as open as possible. Trees provide shadow and shelter for benches and tables. The surrounding houses are kept low so the view from the park is unobstructed. Steps connect the park to its surroundings; there are raised areas with broad borders to sit on, like amphitheatres. Natural stone is to be used in different areas of the park and the steps. The different kinds of stone match the colour of the new convent structures, thus blending the buildings in with the park.

The Slope Village Most of the housing is positioned on the slopes to the south, the residents benefit from the view and the sun. The housing is composed of small units, allowing owners to construct in phases. The irregular placement due to variations in heights and views creates an intriguing maze of streets and piazza’s. Different volumes create different typologies of housing: social, private, student. They are to be clad with different types of natural stone from Italy, creating abstract volumes – a different type of stone for every building, forming a rich collection. The southern slope transforms into a new neighbourhood.
]]> Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:47:27 +0100 project: Motorcity Alcañiz

The combination of the racing activities and the dry, arid landscape gives the new Alcaniz race track area a distinct character. Its development can be easily compared with Las Vegas. But can we learn from Vegas again?
More ecology? Less gambling? More leisure based on the powers of the landscape?
Maybe instead of an artificial new icon, that specific contradiction, this specific situation itself can lead to an outstandingly remarkable development and approach.

Each of the different programs have there own timing, size and character.
By positioning them close to each other, they can share their parking, they can create a climatic pocket and they can share a collective plaza. And the rest of the grounds can be used in the future...
It gives a compact settlement that enlarges the possibility for remarkability in the vast landscape.

By covering the undeniably huge roofs of the program with the found material (red sand, stones, small plants, vegetation), the buildings can obtain a heavy roof that can act as temperature buffer for the program. The buildings gain a more ecological and natural character. They "blend" in with the landscape.

By lifting the edges of these buildings just slightly a pleasant shadowy plaza can be created for access and activities. For each of them, the lifting act opens a glass facade for views from the program to this plaza. And vice versa.
The roofs of these pieces of earth can turn into mini parks, for each programmatic block, with trails, viewing points, tribunes.

The walls of these emerging blocks are conceived as concrete walls that act as beams for the cantilevers. The concrete allows for a climatic buffer. The concrete is pigmented white to enlarge the sun reflection. It makes a strong contrast with the sandy environment, creating an oasis sensation. Windows are cut out where functionally useful. Their differentiation gives character and orientation.
The different programmes are thus conceived as pieces, as "stones" of the desert. Together they form gradually a new remarkable rock or even better: earth-formation.

By making a new northern road, together with the existing planned road along the tribunes of the track, a ring system can be created. This allows for access to any possible building, now and in the future, while keeping a potential central pedestrian spine over the site.

Per phase, a parking element has been foreseen that fulfils the wishes of the parking of that phase.
They are designed on one or two levels depending on the amount of cars, thus avoiding long walking distances to the destinations.They are covered with a roof that will be used as a plaza. They thus cause comfortable shadowy parking places.

The parking has been used as a cooling device.Small ribs with stones are positioned in between the parking rows.They form a reservoir for cool air, which can help to cool the buildings as the plaza.
The parking garages are connected with each other by closable connections, allowing for flexibility as for creating fire compartments.

Due to the phasing, the positioning of the buildings, the orientation towards the sun and the height differences, the collective space in between the buildings turns into an intriguing ‚puzzle’ of landscape pieces.
Each building can have its own program. Different vegetation, different character, different water treatments, different leisure programs.
A playground in front of the mall, an aromatic garden next to the restaurant, an olive orchard in front of the administration, fountains at the sports building etcetera. They form together a lush environment, which together with water treatment enlarge the cooling capacity of this oasis.
The gardens are connected through ramps and stairs.]]> Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:39:55 +0100 project: Galije

Montenegro is a strongly growing economy touristic. This is largly due to its rough and unspoiled coastline. Some parts of the coastline are already heavily developed but most of the coastline is still untouched.
On a piece of this untouched coastline, barely 2 kilometers from the monumental village fisher peninsula Sveti Stefan, a resort with a hotel exclusive Aston Martin is projected. The client was determined to combine exclusivity with a responsible sustainable embedding of the project in its surrounding landscape. they were convinced that the attraction of the Montenegranian landscape could only be maintained by preserving its rough beauty. Exclusivity and building a high quality standard would be the best strategy serving this preservation.

The split / limbo we found ourselves in was to design an iconic exclusive luxury resort in projecting total of 100,000 library program that should be invisible. An exclusive residence under cover.
As a result we designed the whole project as an offset to the terrain and covered it with a blanket of the original landscape. Where a higher density was needed we lift the blanket to create a hill. The iconic hotel is formed by pulling the blanket in front of the cliff to create a even more dramatic overhang. The more flat parts of the landscape hold the villa's organized around their private patios facing the sea.]]> Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:35:34 +0100 project: Studio Thonik
coördinaten: 52.35324, 4.90994

Orange advertiser
In an inner court of an Amsterdam Block, hidden from the outside world, the owners, graphic designers, wanted a house, but were only allowed to make an office. It was called the ateliers.
They had a strong desire for a building that would obtain national attention, so that in the slip stream the design office would obtain attention. But for a small budget. How can we do that?
By making a simple box, constructed out of thick blocks, that avoids isolation layers and that can easily be built.
By cladding the complete building (the walls, floors, fences, mailbox, ping pong table, benches, pool, mullions) with an orange polyurethane, a remarkable, recognizable building appears that draws attention to the graphic design office. Architecture as a true advertiser!

Reaction
It led immediately to attention. The building started to be used as a background for advertisements.
But when the first orange colors began to appear, some surrounding neighbors started to complain. The orange color would lead to unlivable circumstances. A photographer complained that the color made it impossible to judge his black and white pictures.
The owners got national television attention. It was reduced to those who found it aggressive versus those that found it cheerful and gay. It is amazing that a color of one house can lead to such attention: architecture works! The building got the attention the client wanted to have!
The neighbors brought it to court. After two court cases, the judge suggested a compromise.
In a dialogue, the municipality decided to pay half the cost of repainting of the house (green) and that the owner would pay the rest, if the owner would be happy with an official living permission (a permit). One can say that architecture has created for the client his final goal: a living permit! Yes, architecture works. It is a tool!]]> Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:14:27 +0100 project: Almere 2030

Dutch new town Almere plans to grow with 60,000 houses, 100,000 working places and all related facilities. By this Almere will grow into the fifth city of the Netherlands in an effort to relief and to offer qualities to the urbanised west of the Netherlands. MVRDV was commissioned to collaborate with the city to design a concept structure vision to accommodate this growth. The growth will take place in four main areas: Almere IJ-land, a new island off the coast in the IJ-lake, Almere Pampus, a neighbourhood focussed on the lake and open to experimental housing, Almere Centre, an extended city centre surrounding the central lake, and Oosterwold, an area devoted to more rural and organic urbanism. Together the proposals form the new framework to accompany the growth of the city until 2030. Together with the entire board of city councilors and the mayor, Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere and Winy Maas of MVRDV, presented the concept structure vision to the ministers of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (V&W), Camiel Eurlings and minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, Jacqueline Cramer (VROM) on June 26th. The design of IJland has been a collaboration with Adriaan Geuze of West8 and William McDonough of McDonough and Partners.

“The structure vision for Almere is more than an urban masterplan…” said Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere, “…it describes how the city can develop in economic, cultural and social terms. The expansion is not a quantitative effort. Even though the number of 60,000 new homes is impressive, the main objective is the addition of new qualities. Almere wants to serve the demand of the Randstad and at the same time needs the chance to develop into an ecologic, social and economically sustainable city”.

The Axis: Nowadays Almere is a city with 185,000 inhabitants, 30 years ago it was an empty stretch of land reclaimed from the sea. The growth will preserve and further expand Almere’s model of a poly-nuclear city. It will diversify the existing city by adding various densities, programs and characters that do not exist yet is the current situation,
The vision consists of four major development areas, each with their own character, logic and identity. These new area developments are connected by an infrastructural axis which connects the metropolitan area of Amsterdam with Almere. Between the two cities the Almere IJ-land (referring to IJ-lake) is a connector, literally as well as in economical and cultural perspective. The axis then leads to Almere Pampus, the Centre of Almere and Oosterwold in the east and will in the future be continued to connect Utrecht.

Almere IJ-land: Together with West 8 and William McDonough, MVRDV worked on the unique opportunity to design a series of urban and nature reserve islands. The new rail connection to Amsterdam and a needed ecological intervention in the IJ-lake offered the potential to propose the creation of a living area with 5,000 up to 10,000 homes, combined with this nature development. IJ-land combines ecological and infrastructural interventions with the possibility to live and work in a natural riparian environment. The island could also be part of the possible Dutch bid for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Almere Pampus: This area will combine the feeling of a coastal town with high density and make room for 20,000 homes, all streets are all leading to the boulevard at the lake. The existing maintenance harbour will be reused for leisure and floating villages. There will be a new train station with a plaza at the coast.

Almere Centre: The current centre will grow and extend to the southbank of the Weerwater , turning the central lake into the Weerwater-park and becoming in time the cultural and economical heart of the city. On the junction of the new axis, a motorway and the rail connection the motorway will be covered which makes it possible to develop up to 5,000 homes, offices and public amenities. The central station will be developed into an economical hub and will be surrounded with new program.

Almere Oosterwold: This large area in the east offers room for up to 18,000 new homes and a variety of functions such as business and retail centres. It will be developed following individual and collective initiatives, from small scale to large scale, with plots that are always surrounded by nature development, urban agriculture or local parks. The area will reserve areas for future development after 2030.

The vision 2030 is not a blueprint but a flexible development strategy. Duivesteijn: “It is a framework which can be filled in by the people of the city. By remaining flexible we create possibilities to adjust the plans to future opportunities.” Almere wants to develop according to this structure vision in order to become an ecological, social and economically sustainable city. For this large investments in infrastructure are needed to connect the city with in future 350,000 inhabitants to its surroundings and to Amsterdam

Winy Maas will remain involved in the further development of the concept structure vision in a supervising role. MVRDV has a long history of engagement with Almere: Earlier projects included two studies on new ways of organic urban development for Almere Hout and Almere Homeruskwartier, a study for the A6 Boulevard and the study for Pampus harbour, a neighbourhood of 500 floating dwellings. MVRDV’s Jacob van Rijs currently works on part of Olympiakwartier, a dense urban district of in total 220.000m2 mix use with public facilities. ]]> Tue, 19 Jan 2010 11:31:15 +0100 project: The Water Cube

WORLD WONDERS
World expos are fantastic. In the literal meaning. They show man kinds fantasies. They allow for this great opportunity to express excitement and admiration. The past has given a series of true world wonders that express that rare combination of entertainment and education, of research and achievement, like the Eifel Tower in Paris, the Sphere at the NY expo, the Montreal Habitat building, Buckminsterfuller’s dome in Montreal. What to add to this history? Can the chosen theme lead to a new powerful object?

THE WATER CUBE
The world expo in Yeosu focuses on the power and beauty of the oceans. How to express that the best? Could it be done by - simply- making a pure visible “block of water” that obviously expresses the beauty and the power? A block that is extracted from the ocean.

THE WATER SPACE
This block is hollowed out, to create a great water space, where one is surrounded by water. Along the sides, above and below. Where light filters through and give every activity a glance. That can be used for the exhibitions, the gatherings, during and after the world expo. One is in the water.

THE WATER FACADE
The water cube is constructed out of a surrounding wall with a series of water basins that are stacked on top of each other. Based on the maximum structural capacities of the glass facades and floors. It allows showing all the different aspects of the oceans! The façade turns into a mini museum, into a library of the oceans!

THE HALL OF THE OCEANS
Thus the central water space turns into a cathedral like space that celebrates the oceans. With all the environmental differences in the world. The deep sea, the tropical parts, the mangroves, the reefs, etcetera.

THE WORLD MAP
The basins are organized like a world map. So that any different sea can be shown and positioned clearly: the polar seas on top and the bottom, and the tropical parts in the middle. The coast lines of the contents are clearly expressed on the facade. They separate the ocean aquaria from the dryer coastal terrarium within the continents.

STRUCTURE
The walls between the basins and the coastal walls together with the ramping track form the structural web in which the water basins can be positioned. The continents have more closed elements in the façade and thus contain the stability elements. The roof is constructed with 5 meter high beams that span from the supporting web towards the centre of the roof: the North Pole.

ECOLOGY
The refreshment between the basins is organized in such a manner that it simulates the movements of the oceans. The cleaning devices are positioned in between the basins. Thus the ocean ecology is expressed and used.

ENERGY
The skin of the building is designed out of four layers of glass, with water in between. The fresh sea water from outside is constantly pumped into the basin to keep the circulation through the building. Thus the water basins are used as a natural temperature adapter for the hall of the oceans. This simulates the temperature role of the ocean for the planet.
The skin contains elements to control the raise of temperature for the basins. These elements contain rolling curtains to control the UV penetration, and solar PV cells to create energy for the water circulation and the light of the building.

THE OCEAN TRACK
A ramping path that is accessible for handicapped climbs along the facades of the cube. It serpentines through the different basins with the different environments. It becomes a track though the ocean’s richness. It turns the skin into a library and into a museum.

ACCESS
One can access the building from the dam, via an underwater tube that ends at the South Pole, where it appears in the bottom floor. Glass lifts and stairs are designed penetrating the water basin.

CIRCULATION
At the entrance hall people are guided in to the lifts that bring the visitors up to the top floor. On the top floor the visitors are guided towards the North Pole bar with a spectacular view over the expo. From here one can find its journey along the basins, via the main ocean’s track or via the stairs and lifts, easily descending from the top to the bottom. One ends in the main hall that gives the spectacular overview over all the experiences that can be seen as the introduction for the exhibits and gatherings in the hall of the oceans. Via an escalator the visitor goes down via the South Pole to the pipe that leads him or her to the main land.

THE LANTERN IN THE OCEAN
The different basins are illuminated each in its specific way according to the demands. A pattern of light can be created according the day and night pattern of the planet. Thus the water cube becomes a true endlessly changing magic water lantern.

AFTER USE
This design allows for a flexible usage afterwards, while keeping the memory of the expo. This hall can turn easily be adapted to a theatre, a concert hall into a ceremonial space, into a museum, even it could become an office building, a town hall. ]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:09:24 +0100 project: Exhibition: China Hills

Beijing/ Rotterdam, 25 November 2009) Saturday 28th of November the Beijing Centre for the Arts will open the exhibition “Green Projects II, Three Dimensional City: Future China” featuring work of Paolo Soleri and MVRDV. The centre piece is an installation by MVRDV, “China Hills”: a scale model of a future Chinese city which offers alternatives to the current urbanization in China. On a hypothetical site of 1x1x0.5 km the plan offers space to accommodate up to 100,000 inhabitants and a well balanced mix of urban program and nature, agriculture and energy production; all in the shape of a Chinese mountain landscape: realizable with today’s technologies. The exhibition is open until February 28th 2010. On 28th November a Forum takes place.

2008 marks the historic global move from a majority of rural population to a majority of urban population. In the last twenty years, the incredible economic growth of China has lead to enormous urbanizations. Though impressive in size, most of these urban developments are rather monotonous and relying on external resources.

As the urban population grows, the needed program will require more space than suitable land is available. In the exhibition MVRDV visualizes the possibilities this offers. The city on a site of 1x1x0.5 km is terraced to offer sufficient space naturally lit for the needed plantation and energy production. This leads to attractive livable areas in high-rises. ‘Stepped’ terraced towers with a rich variety of characters appear. The interiors of these ‘hills’ are destined for retail, industry, leisure and technology.

By inserting these new ‘hills’ in and around the current cities, a sincere Chinese mountain range appears. Blending individuality with collective responsibilities, connecting architecture with urbanism and turning urbanism into landscape architecture.

Beijing Center for the Arts, together with project developer Beijing Vantone Three Dimensional City Investment Co. Ltd, presents the exhibition “BCA Green Project II” – “Three Dimensional City: Future China”. With collective efforts from world’s leading architects and artists, national and international experts and scholars on urban planning, city ecology and environment, decision makers from government and enterprises, “Three Dimensional City” is poised to envision an ideal living environment and future urban ecology. The project addresses the depletion of land and energy resources. As an enlightening project from which future urban planning programs can draw inspiration and as an exhilarating of social reformation.
]]> Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:10:32 +0100 project: New Orleans Lower 9th - concept BENT

Flood Proof Homes

The attempt to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, exactly at the point where the levies broke, is highly courageous. Since the height and quality of the levies is not sufficient to reduce the risk of flooding, living there means living in permanent danger. The primary task is to repair the levies to a level such that they guarantee residents' safety. But how long can they wait for that? While they are waiting they are losing the use of their plot and have to invest in other living accommodations.
So: why do we start?
With that message every building becomes political activity. Why not stress this? Why not show this contradiction explicitly?

In the first phase 150 houses will be built by thirteen different architects. Our design direction was to interpret a classic shotgun house. We propose 5 types of water protected shotgun houses. Each house has its' own quality. The variety adds to the diversity of the 150 houses built, showing the inhabitants and the world some of the possibilities.

In each case one element transforms the classic shotgun, a classical primary structure, into a water-free house. The five houses are lifted escape in different ways. The spaces below the elevated living space benefit from shade in this hot and humid environment. This area can be used as a shadow garden and a carport. The houses are located at the extreme south side of the lot so that the garden wraps around 3 sides, from West to East. The circulation space hugs the south wall so that the living spaces are positioned along the garden on the north side.

ARE THE HOUSE
Bending the shot gun house up in two directions creates a carport at front and a shadow garden at the rear. The center of the house contains the kitchen & bath, it is the lowest level. Stairs lead to a living room on the one side, and bedrooms on the other. The bedrooms and living room are above flood water level. This means that escape would be possible to both the front porch and the rear porch.]]> Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:59:34 +0100 project: Market Hall

The Market Hall is a sustainable combination of food, leisure, living and parking. Fully integrated to enhance and use the synergetic possibilities of the different functions. The hall is mainly shaped by an arch of apartments. A covered square with a pleasant public security and controllability emerges of it. During day it serves as central market hall, after closing hours the hall will be an engaged living area with light and liveliness enriched by the restaurants situated on the first floor.

New laws in the Netherlands require covered areas for traditional open air meat and fish markets due to new hygienic constraints. Can we use this operation to evolve the market hall typology? Can we use it to densify the usage and the city?

The Market Hall is part of the new inner city heart for the Laurens Quarter, the pre-war centre of Rotterdam. A sustainable and intelligent combination of food, leisure, living and parking. Fully integrated to enhance and use the synergetic possibilities of the different functions. A large scale building fitting into the neighbourhood, with main entrances linking up with the natural flow of the public circulation to the train station and the main shopping streets; with separate entrances for the parking garage and the apartments. A building with inner logistic and an attractive and economical parking garage.

The hall is mainly shaped by an arch made of apartments. A covered square with a pleasant public security and controllability emerges of it. During day it serves as central market hall, after closing hours the hall will be an engaged living area with light and liveliness enriched by the restaurants situated on the first floor.

The apartments follow the strict Netherlands laws regarding natural day-light: all rooms that require natural light are situated on the outside. Kitchens, dining rooms and storage are positioned at the market side, establishing a connection to the market.

The interior of the arch will be covered in lcd technology providing the city with an ever changing interior. The front and backside are covered with a flexible suspended glass façade, allowing for maximum transparency and a minimum of structure.

A new icon for Rotterdam, a public building emerging from housing.
]]> Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:49:18 +0100 project: Elche Mirador Palmeral

THE MIRADOR
Mirador What should this look like? On the one hand it discloses an ancient history of the Arabic culture of the Palmeral and on the other hand it should be a contemporary event attraction in the society. How can we make an attractive high structure that will still find its place harmoniously in the skyline of the historical city of Elche? Through the centuries structures where high added to the skyline. The Palace of Altamira, 20 meters at one feels as a bird between the tree tops. The Basilica Santa Maria at 35 meters gives a wide view of the historical center and the groves just behind it. But the best view would be from the bridge, Peunte del Ferrocarril. At 50 meters there one could truly Oversee the entire World Heritage. So the new mirador should be a next step in view points at a height that at least gives the possibility to Oversee the most southern Palmeral.

TORRES
For a small city like Elche the number of tall buildings is remarkable. Unfortunately many of them are no longer in use. The remaining towers of the Arabic defense system are abandoned, while highly potential located at spots around the city. Also a number of Chimneys From The Early Industrialization remain abandoned. By Reviving the old towers and giving them new programs the city center is again being surrounded with viewpoints. The buildings can also hold program that fits the immediate surroundings and serves to link it to the inhabitants of Elche besides being a tourist attraction.

TORRE DE LA PALMA
So a chain of towers can be identified, allo wing ever-different views. The new viewpoint, The Torre de la Palma, is the node in this chain of towers. A city walk starts and ends here. The Palmeral therefore, will be visible in all its grandeur. And vice versa, the remarkable structure can be seen from afar and announces the Palmeral of Elche.

PLAZA DE LA PALMA
At the foot of the tower there is Plaza de la Palma, connecting to the Boulevard de la Palma (previously the "Avenida de la Estacion"). This area could be turned into a pedestrian area linking the Plaza of the Palace and the pedestrian area around the Basilica Santa Maria. In the future this area could be even much larger, stretching over the historic city center. It would free the narrow streets from the numerous cars. The existing parking lot next to the site would be a perfect location for a outdoor bazaar, a carriage and bike rental, a market, Plaza del Souvenir. The parking could be relocated to the sub level terrain in order to open up the prime location.


LA TORRE DE PALMA:

DESTINATION
The tower will have elevators and stairs with vistas on different levels, a comfortable sheltered place, preferably a restaurant, and a viewing platform that invites people to gaze as they look and feel surprised about the sea and palm trees. On the platform also small events can take place, a concert, a party, a congress. At night, the tower should be pleasantly lit, a romantic destination where people will meet or sleepless Elche. On a balcony level the processions can be watched using the Boulevard. In the foot of the tower the tourist office is relocated. It is the key location for visitors arriving (by tour bus or subway) to get informed about visiting the city.

LOGISTICS
There are two elevators, each for 11 people. One could be used as an express, just to go up and down to the mirador platform. The second one could be used for services and on busy days as the 'local' with more stops. There are two open-air staircases, walk slowly down to experiencing the changing view on the city and to serve as fire escape.

MATERIALS
The tower will be build up as a steel structure, cladd with anodized aluminum sheets. The gold like color goes very well together with the brown stems of the trees. The stairs inside are color-coated steel and the terrace could have a wooden parquet floor in the same pattern as the woven structure.

LIGHT
During the day one can easily identify the silhouette of Elches new icon. The intense sun of southern Spain makes the light tower anodized shimmer and shine like a jewel. Around sunset the program within the tower will start to stand out more with their interior lights. At night time though the silhouette will be inversed. The structure will be lit from the inside over the full height so it will glow like a lantern. With festivities this light can be altered to fit the occasion. The fireworks that close of the August event will of course be held on top of the Torre de la Palma. So it's not only an icon that will be seen from afar, but can also be enjoyed from a close distance.

STRUCTURE
The structure should not be bombastic or monolithically, it would only cast shadow and be a dominant obstacle. It should rather be poetic and
Light as an echo from the great craftsmanship of the ingenious Palma, made from the white palm leaves. An optimized combination of an open steel core and steel mesh covering allows making a slender column and an impressive top. The fluent and continuous structural system gives the tower a unique and elegant impression that enfolds high on the pale Meral.
]]> Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:23:46 +0100 project: awards

2009 Lensvelt de Architect, Interior award, NL
- The Why Factory Tribune, Delft, NL

The Great Indoors award, NL
- Shortlist The Why Factory Tribune, Delft NL

Zuiderkerk award, Amsterdam, NL
- Nomination VOC Cour Westerdokseiland, Amsterdam, NL

AAP (Amsterdam Architecture Prize)
- Nomination VOC Cour Westerdokseiland, Amsterdam, NL

2008 Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary European
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Nomination Parkrand building and Didden Village

World Architecture Awards, Barcelona, ES
- High Commendation for Parkrand building, Amsterdam, NL

2007 Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary European
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Shortlist Gemini Residence, Copenhagen, DK

2006 Best Dutch Business Park, The Hague, NL,
- Nomination Flight Forum, Eindhoven, NL

Dutch Mobility Award The Hague, NL
- Flight Forum, Eindhoven, NL

2005 The Marcus Corporation Foundation Prize, Milwaukee, USA
- Complete Work

Copenhagen City Buildings Prize, Copenhagen, DK
- Gemini Residence, Copenhagen, DK

2004 Amsterdam Prize for the Arts 2003, Amsterdam, NL
- Complete Work

2003 Lensvelt Architect Interieur award, NL
- Nomination Restaurant Luten, NL

Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary European
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Nomination Hageneiland Ypenburg, Den Haag, NL

Architectuurprijs Almere, NL
- Nomination Almere Top Tower, Almere, NL

2002 NAi award 2002 (Netherlands Architecture Institute) Rotterdam, NL
- Hageneiland Ypenburg, Den Haag, NL

2001 World Architecture Awards, Barcelona, ES
- Nomination Expo 2000 Netherlands Pavilion as one of the five
best buildings in the Northern area, Hanover, Germany

Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary European
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Finalist Expo 2000 Netherlands Pavilion, Hanover, Germany

2000 International Media Art Prize, Zentrum für Kunst und
Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, DE
- honorable mention for the Metacity/Datatown project

J.A. van Eckprijs awarded by the BNA (Dutch Architects
Association) Amsterdam, NL
- WoZoCo project as the design that in the last 5 years has best
integrated structure in a building.

Fritz Schumacher Preis, Alfred Töpfer Stiftung, Hannover, DE
- Complete Work

1999 Mies van der Rohe Award for Contemporary European
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Finalist WoZoCo, Amsterdam, NL

Belmont Prize by the Forberg Schneider Stiftung, Munich, DE
- Expo 2000 Netherlands Pavilion

1998 National Steel Award, Amsterdam, NL, for Double House
- Honorable Mention Double House, Utrecht, NL

1997 Mies van der Rohe Award for European Contemporary
Architecture, Barcelona, ES
- Finalist 3 Porters Lodges, Hoge Veluwe, NL

Dudok Award from the Municipality of Hilversum, NL
- Villa VPRO, Hilversum, NL

Merkelbach Award, Amsterdam Fund for the Art, Amsterdam, NL
- WoZoCo, Amsterdam, NL

Concrete Award from the Betonvereniging Amsterdam, NL
- Villa VPRO, Hilversum, NL

1996 Heuvelink Architecture Award Arnhem, NL
- Nomination 3 Porters Lodges, Hoge Veluwe, NL

1993 Nomination Art Incentive Award from the Municipality of
Amstelveen, NL

1992 Nomination for the Frans Hals Award for exhibition design,
Haarlem, NL

1991 Europan II
- Berlin Voids, Berlin, DE]]> Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:57:36 +0100 project: UPV Munich

After winning the competition in 1999, the office was commissioned to develop a master plan for an office park in a commercial area north east of Munich. Nineteen different buildings are arranged on a shared plaza in order to create the highest possible density with an urban atmosphere. A parking level under the entire site provides for the necessary parking space with one central exit to the plaza level.

The ‘car free’ plaza functions as a meeting point, open to the public. Car access is only permitted for services and the fire brigade. It is covered with natural stone. Private gardens, lawns and terraces on the roofs form another landscape, visible only from inside the offices.

Surrounded by trees and hedges, the ensemble receives a green belt, bordering on the neighbourhood. The ‘Village’ fills a central void in the commercial area of Unterföhring Park and thus becomes the new centre.

The master plan of Unterföhring Park Village will be realised in two phases. Four of the nine buildings in the first phase are planned by lauber architekten (Munich) and five by MVRDV. The houses vary in volume and façade material as determined by the master plan. This results in a heterogeneous ensemble, contrasting the large-scale projects in the neighbourhood.

A new community is growing out of a mix of various tenants and firms. The project aims at a mix of public and private functions such as offices, shops and gastronomy. Every house has its own address and identity. Together they form a catalogue of materials, like the ‘glasshouse’, ‘stonehouse’ and ‘wooden house’. All four facades are the same, so there is no front or back side.

The flexible office units are being equipped with the latest standard in information technology. They are adaptable and extendable within a 1.35m grid, allowing for uses such as cell office, open office or mixed office. Each floor can be divided into two separate renting units. Individual buildings can also be linked under or above ground in case larger units are needed. Circulation and service space is minimised to a singular inner core.]]> Tue, 08 Dec 2009 10:48:39 +0100 project: Jan Knikker

Public Relations
Business Development]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:06:16 +0100 project: Laura Novo

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:04:44 +0100 project: Gijs Rikken

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:03:19 +0100 project: Nacho Velasco

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:57:46 +0100 project: Irene Visser-Berends

Personal Assistant]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:54:01 +0100 project: Chantal Schoenmakers

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:53:57 +0100 project: Jacob van Rijs

Architect, Co-Founder, Director]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:51:16 +0100 project: Kate van Heusen

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:42:39 +0100 project: Julian Ocampo Salazar

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:41:12 +0100 project: Jonathan Louie

]]> Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:40:25 +0100 project: DnB NOR Headquarters

In 2003, MVRDV, together with Norwegian firms Dark and a-lab, won the competition for the Bjørvika waterfront development and designed a dense urban master plan along Nyland Allé, the Oslo Barcode, that will be developed and realised by OSU in phases.

The international Norwegian financial institution DnB NOR decided to concentrate their twenty office locations currently dispersed over the city in the Barcode. In 2007, the master plan team was commissioned by developer OSU to design the urban concept. A new cluster of three volumes and a common basement with a 3,000m2 underground concourse, which interlinks the three buildings of the bank, was developed. MVRDV was commissioned as architect for the central building and co-responsible for the concourse.

The development of a new headquarter cluster is a strategic operation aiming for synergy and a clear identity. The objective was to translate the social and democratic character of the organisation into a building with excellent working conditions and spatial qualities. The structure is conceived as a steel ‘rack’ which permits adaptation to the flexible nature of the organisation.

The steel rack is wrapped in a stone skin, which adopts Norwegian environmental standards. It appears as a rock, a strong shape within the boundaries of the Barcode. The niches of this rock provide space for vegetation growth: the positioning of the pixels creates roof gardens or outside areas for every floor.

The generic office floors recline and are recessed in various places to reflect the urban context and to create communal indoor and outdoor areas and outstanding daylight conditions. At street level the building volume is opened by sheltered entrance zones, and intersected by a public passage leading to the Oslo Central Station. The pixelated design allows this specific response whilst being highly efficient and flexible. As a result, every floor of the building is both unique and generic: the pixelated volume makes the generic specific.

Besides more than 2,000 flexible work spaces the building contains a panoramic 140 seat canteen on the top level, the executive lounge with a view over the fjord, the board room, in the heart of the volume, DnB NOR’s trading room with 250 work stations, and the main entrance with a reception and access to the concourse. These collective elements are connected by a staggered continuous internal route of terraces, encouraging informal meetings and communication between employees.

The route meanders from the reception upwards through the building, connecting all office levels with the communal areas. A series of wooden stairs and bridges allow employees to switch levels or even to walk the 17 levels up to the canteen on one side of the building and down on the other side. The route accommodates communal areas to the office floors and is made homely with a series of pantries, informal meeting areas and fire places. It gives access to the various outdoor terraces and roof gardens. All these collective spaces are designed as glass pixels allowing views over the surroundings and transparency from the exterior. The route is naturally ventilated and has a high performance glass fit for the cold Norwegian winter.
]]> Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:27:57 +0200 project: The Why Factory Tribune

Several weeks after The Why Factory – a newly established research institute, lead by MVRDV and the Technical University Delft - had moved into their new residence on the top floor of the Faculty Building of the Technical University, the building was destroyed by a fire on May 12, 2008.

Due to the economic crisis, a building closer to the city center of Delft became available that originally would have been developed by Fortis Bank into luxurious apartments. The monumental building – the former headquarters of the TU, was made ready to accommodate the faculty for the coming five years.

Since the building was too small to accommodate the whole faculty, a temporary extension needed to be added for which MVRDV designed several schemes. Starting point was the wish to give the separate institutes and departments within the faculty a more recognizable identity. The destroyed building in its essence was an office building – a grey monolith in which the various institutes such as the Delft School of Design were hidden in anonymity. The temporary building offered the opportunity to make these institutes more visible. The proposals included the distribution of pavilions inside the building and an addition of a recognizable extension to the characteristic tower.

After some economizing, it was decided to keep the plan straightforward and to cover two inner courtyards – a plan executed by Mick Eekhout, who created two light conservatories of steel and glass. Because of the very limited budget The Why Factory needed to be accommodated in one of the conservatories. MVRDV made the design for this.

The eastern conservatory became the new residence of The Why Factory. Surrounded by the glass and steel structure of Eekhout and the original facades of the monumental building, the institute clearly distinguishes itself by its bright orange color. This strong color was chosen to emphasis the independent status of The Why Factory within the TU Delft. For the Netherlands this is a relatively new experiment, but it has already proven itself abroad: the Media Lab for instance became a very respected independent institute within the walls and organization of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Because the wooden construction of the Tribune which accommodates the office and meeting rooms, is painted in the same color, the institute becomes one element within the space.

The ground floor of the tribune provides for a conference room and a room for lecturing. On the first floor the offices of the scientific collaborators are situated, and on the top floor there is another meeting room. The interior is kept work friendly white and for the same reasons the furniture outside of the Tribune are kept black. The door openings are larger than standard doors, so that, with regards to the building regulations, the interior of the tribune also legally counts as part of the conservatory’s interior and no additional air-conditioning was needed. Next to lectures and film projections, the tribune can also be used as an informal work place. This is facilitated by a strong wifi-network and sockets at the seats. The conical tapered form of the Tribune allows for more work spots on the balconies, which is practical in times of deadlines and crowds.

To offer an alternative to the so called Blokkenhal of the old building, the aim was for the furniture to be versatile and flexible in use. The space needed to be able to adapt to various uses: studying, working, meeting, model building and storage, film projections, exhibitions and of course parties and events.

The work places for students are specifically designed for the building by Richard Hutten Studio. Eight tables for making models are distributed in the open space. Extra shelving underneath the tables allows for storing the models. The model tables are on wheels so they can easily be put aside to make room for a presentation or an event in front of the Tribune. The tables are also ideal for exhibition display.

In the upper meeting room of The Tribune is a stackable meeting table, also designed by Richard Hutten Studio. When meeting with a smaller group, the tables are on top of each other in order to create more space around the table. The tables are made out of polystyrene to keep them light and allow moving them around and stacking them easily. The polystyrene is coated with resin – partly transparent, but mostly black. The upper table has integrated light fittings. By placing the tables next to each other, a larger group of people can have a meeting.

The project clearly gives The Why Factory a distinct identity within the larger faculty complex and puts the students first: they are literally studying on top of their mentors. The orange (floor space) is their territory.
]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:04:53 +0200 project: New Leyden

For the inner city of Leiden, MVRDV designed an urban plan for 670 dwellings. Half of the new housing will be developed within the framework of so called private client- and consumer driven developments. The urban plan gives strict parameters to ensure the relative cohesive context of the urban grid, but at the same time offers enough flexibility for consumer driven developments.

Within the fields with the joined, individually designed houses, a new inner-city environment is created in addition to the existing surrounding neighbourhoods.

The urban framework is designed in a way that it guarantees the largest freedom possible in filling in the plots. Along the main road (the Willem de Zwijger Boulevard) a series of characteristic buildings are developed with a mixed and diverse programme, such as housing, retail and education.

http://www.nieuwleyden.nl]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:47:04 +0200 project: Isabel Pagel

Public Relations
Business Development]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:46:25 +0200 project: Anton Wubben

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:45:55 +0200 project: Paula van Baak

Public Relations
Business Development]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:45:16 +0200 project: Inger Kammeraat

Contracts Manager]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:44:43 +0200 project: Gwanggyo Power Centre

MVRDV wins Gwanggyo Power Centre Competition, near Seoul, South Korea

(Rotterdam, December 3rd, 2008) The Daewoo Consortium and the municipality of Gwanggyo announced the MVRDV concept design for a dense city centre winner of the developer’s competition for the future new town of Gwanggyo, located 35km south of the Korean capital Seoul. The plan consists of a series of overgrown hill shaped buildings with great programmatic diversity, aiming for high urban density and encouragement of further developments around this so-called ‘Power Centre’, one of the envisioned two centre’s of the future new town.

Since the beginning of the millennium local nodes with a high density concentration of mixed program are used in Korean town planning. These nodes consist of a mix of public, retail, culture, housing, offices and leisure generating life in new metropolitan areas and encouraging further developments around them: the Power Centre strategy. The Gwanggyo Power Centre will consist of 200,000m2 housing, 48,000m2 offices, 200,000m2 mix of culture, retail, leisure and education and 200,000m2 parking.

This divers program has different needs for phasing, positioning and size. To facilitate this all elements are designed as rings. By pushing these rings outwards, every part of the program receives a terrace for outdoor life. Plantations around the terraces with a floor to floor circulation system store water and irrigate the plants. The roofs of these hills and the terraces are planted with box hedges creating a strong, recognizable, cohesive park. This vertical park will improve the climate and ventilation, reduce energy and water usage. As a result a series of overgrown green ‘hills’ appear in the landscape.

The site is surrounded by a beautiful lake and forested hills, the design aims to create a landscape on top of the new program that enlarges the green qualities and that links the surrounding parks by turning the site into a park.

The shifting of the floors causes as a counter effect hollow cores that form large atriums. They serve as lobbies for the housing and offices, plazas for the shopping center and halls for the museum and leisure functions. In each tower a number of voids connect to the atrium providing for light and ventilation and creating semi-public spaces. On the lower floors the atriums are connected through a series of public spaces on various levels linking the towers and serving the outdoor facilities of the culture, retail and leisure program. The Power Centre creates a dense urban program with a green regard.

The concept plan is currently at the Gyeonggi provincial authority’s Urban Innovation Corporation for further development and feasibility study, the entire new town will be a self sufficient city of 77,000 inhabitants. The estimated budget and timeframe are still in the process of being established, completion is envisioned for 2011. A consortium lead by Daewoo develops the project with local firm DA Group, which commissioned MVRDV to design the scheme. British firm Arup is involved as engineer.]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:43:29 +0200 project: Calveen

On the fringe of a provincial town, next to an internal highway, the demanded office program - that required a “typical plan” of double loaded corridors in a band of 18 meter wide - has been “squeezed” to a 10,5 meter-wide single-loaded type of corridor, which increases the height of the building and its attractiveness.

This new “typical plan” consists of a central core with a passage of 1.5 meters along a closed façade and an office zone along the floor-to-ceiling glass façade. By mirroring the plan on each level in the east-west orientation, a zigzag section is created, which is the most important trademark of the building. It gives the different floors an identity and it stresses the double orientation of the building. The squeezing act increases the exterior space for parking. A pre-requisite of the design is the independent access of the lowest two levels, which would allow for the lowest floor to be rented as an entity. By dropping the asphalt parking lot on the east façade, and raising it on the west, two separate entrances from ground level are created. The “closed” façades are realized in brick. They behave like beams on top of an even more transparent façade below.]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:16:47 +0200 project: Tarra Tower

A combination of companies in the Real Estate Sector wants a tower in the center of Almere that expresses the characteristics of the sector: a combination of introverted solidity and flamboyant communication.
The majority of the activities demand an enclosed and intimate environment. The nine floors are kept “empty”, maximizing usage being a chief concern of the Sector, and are surrounded by a concrete façade with small windows that allow for light and privacy and that avoid the need for air conditioning. It’s an economic solution.
This economy allows for flamboyancy. All of the more communicative components, all the “Tarra” parts of the program, are positioned outside this “castle” and become the more representative parts of the building.
The toilets and kitchenettes are suspended.
The elevators are positioned outside and are connected with the building by glass corridors. The number of lift stops equals the number of addresses needed. It causes “entrance nodes” from where corridors ascend and descend to the different floors.
The corridors are widened to give space for the public components of the companies: the secretaries, the libraries and the waiting lounges.
It creates a visible communicative “web.”
The exposure of these communal elements creates a filter between concentration and the outside world and increases communication (advertisements) with the outside world. It intensifies the relationship between the two. It produces a three-dimensional urban space.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:16:26 +0200 project: Haus am Hang

Haus am Hang - a new family house - is located very close to the vineyards on the Würtenberg, on a steep plot where a small house was already located. The massing of the new house makes maximum use of the plot. The top floor is at street level, and the entrance is on the street side. One enters into a workspace; walking through this space, one spies the big window on the side wall, before entering into the kitchen/dining room. The middle floor houses the main bedroom, a guest room and the living room with an open fireplace set in the hillside. On the ground floor are the children’s rooms and play area, and the big family bathroom. The way the house is tucked into the hill, every room has access to the outside. In that way every floor becomes a 'ground floor'.

]]> Wed, 07 Oct 2009 10:50:34 +0200 project: City Sofa

ICON

The aspiration for a unique new Film Palace in Busan can be interpreted as a demand for a strong and attractive ‘figure’ that celebrates the festival atmosphere. It should become a remarkable and festive background for the festival and the other activities.

The recent production of iconic buildings that have a strong formal emphasis contrasts with this idea. Can the new building formulate its unique character through the specific requirements and its specific position? What new type of Palace can be imagined? Can it become the new icon of the film industry?

URBAN PLAN

The site has very specific urban requirements. In order to arrange for a strongly visible building, the program that is expected to be inserted later is planned at the northern side of the terrain, adjacent to the future media industry environment. It can be seen as a future extension of the area.

By positioning the access zone for the parking and loading between the future program on the northern side and the Palace, the other parts of the site can remain pedestrian. From this one-way road both the Palace as well as the expected new program can be easily accessed. Drop off zones can be located on any side, which makes flexible planning possible. A Memorial Court is on the eastern side of the Cinema Palace, right beside the shopping street. This widens the street and creates views from the city towards the river. It’s aligned with restaurants and bars with terraces that turn it into lively spaces with a view. The pavement is similar to its surroundings, therefore the plaza blends in with the neighbourhood. The Cinema Palace is placed in the heart of this given terrain and is visible from all sides.

VILLAGE

The volume is imagined as a single layer of the demanded program. The programs are sorted in clear functional zones that allow for independent usage throughout the year. In these programmatic zones the different volumes are positioned in a series of ‘boxes’ with streets in-between. The palace is conceived as a cinematic ‘village’, incorporating all programmatic elements. All programs participate in the performance of the palace.

CURLING UP

The volume, the organization diagram has been ‘curled’ up to create a ‘sandwich’ of festive places: an interior valley-like palace positioned between dramatic plazas below and an unprecedented urban open air cinema on top. It combines an interior space with a covered and an open exterior space, suitable for different times of the year. It creates a remarkable volume, an urban ‘chair’. It allows positioning the building within the maximal coverage of the site.

GREEN CARPET

Bending the program opens up the area at ground level. It creates a dramatic cantilevered gesture towards the river. A space paved with a green access carpet: a combination of hard and green surface. As in a fairytale visitors approach the palace by walking over flowers…

This gesture creates a slope for the cinemas on top. And it allows for the required slope for the seating area of the open air cinema on the roof. On the opposite side the bending act leads to an inviting access gesture. Here the volume raises, towers up, connecting the volume spatially with the towers further away. It forms the screen of the open air cinema on top.

INTERIOR ‘VALLEY’

The interior is conceived as a giant ‘valley’ in which all programmatic ‘boxes’ are situated.

At the bottom of this ‘valley’, where the building touches the ground, the concourse is positioned. It connects the exterior monumental plaza with the northern media neighborhood. It acts as the central space for the palace and the environment. The concourse is surrounded with stairs on both sides that acts as giant tribunes; an internal plaza. The cinemas are situated on the western side of the concourse on a giant slope, which follows the same required gradient of the cinemas. They are positioned in such a way that every theatre can be seen from the concourse. On the other side of the concourse, the convention hall, the rentable spaces and higher up the offices are situated. They can be accessed through the stairs and via lift. A dip at the southern end of the concourse connects the concourse with the parking areas.

OPEN AIR CINEMA

All bending acts create a perfect open air cinema on top: sloped seating on the south-western side and a screen on the northern side. By bending the screen, the spectators also have as well a view to the peak of Mount Chan.

PUSH UPS

The ‘boxes’ are sometimes higher than the average height of the concourse, they then push through the skin. These pop-ups create special events in the open air cinema. The cinemas that pop up act as special ‘loges’. The convention hall that pops up acts as a stage. The PIFF offices and archives push through the bent volume; they act as the screen. They form the screen. This can be seen not only as a functional but as well as a symbolical act. On top of this screen the restaurant and its terrace are situated with a view over the theatre, the plazas and the surrounding. The commercial spaces that push through the building allow for a collective ‘balcony’ within the outdoor theatre.

PIPES

Two ‘pipes’ with stairs connect the open air theatre with the eastern and southern green carpet. The open air cinema can thus be accessed both from the city as well as from the river park. It becomes part of the urban public trajectories. These pipes can be accessed from the concourse if demanded.

DIP

A dip towards the eastern plaza allows for an easy and wide access of the open air cinema from the plaza. It acts as an amphitheatre towards the plaza.

SOFA

The open air cinema becomes an urban ‘sofa’, accessible from all sides: a valley connecting the cinema with the plaza. This seat is covered with a shiny silver polyurethane coverage, both the floor, the ceiling as well as the stairs and the benches. The tactility of the material turns it into a soft place, an urban lounge where it is nice to sit and relax.

STARS

A galaxy of ‘holes’ are cut into the skin to allow for views from the concourse and the access zones towards the amphitheatre, the river, the city and the plazas. They function as up-lighters that stage-set the venues on top. The holes can be closed by automatic devices in order to darken the amphitheatre on top which is needed for film screenings.

STRUCTURAL ‘MATTRESS’

The structure is conceived as a floor high ‘space frame’ of prefabricated steel members. This frame can take all the forms, horizontally as vertically it allows for a relative economic lifting act. It can be seen as a ‘mattress’ that can take all forms needed.

The cinemas and other programmatic elements are ‘carved out’ of this space frame. They appear as ‘openings’ within this space frame. The carved out concourse is surrounded by a gallery like space that focuses the activities. The walls of the boxes stiffen the structure. The space frame adapts itself in size and position towards these boxes.]]> Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:23:53 +0200 project: Gyre

AFTER THE BOX
Recent developments in the Omotesando district can be characterized as a spectacular creation of a series of new buildings, each of them box-shaped with a magnificent façade and with a often modest interior. Most of these buildings are flagship stores for major fashion brands. They seem to concentrate on the development of the skin, the façade, regarding themselves as giant advertisements. They are the architectural equivalent of supermodels. But like supermodels they can also be intimidating because of their beauty.

How can a new building here compete with these developments? How can we comment on them? Can a new building be more than merely decoration?

VERTICAL STREET
Why not pick up a line of earlier development that started with the Spiral Building by Maki in 1985 and continued with the YM Square building around the corner form Omotesando, in Harajuku in 2001? These buildings focus on the vertical movement of the visitors and are more public, less exclusive or intimidating than fashionable ‘name-brand’ buildings. But the real qualities of these buildings are not directly visible from the street and they lack the iconic exterior qualities of more recent Omotesando stores. Can we combine an open character with an iconic exterior and get the best of both typologies?

The new building needed to provide flexibility, serving one or several occupants or companies. It should therefore communicate on both scale levels, on the level of the building as a whole and on the level of the independent shops inside the building.

The program consists of 7 floors each with a surface of 60 percent of the total plot. By twisting these floors gradually around a central core, a series of terraces emerge connected by stairs and elevators that are placed outside the volumes. They create a twin pair of two vertical stepped terraced streets, on each side of the core. One is for ascending and the other for descending. The route will spiral upwards from Omotesando Street and then descend towards Cat Street, activating both streets.

These two routes are connected at every level through the block, by passing or crossing a shop or a series of shops around the inside atrium.

This creates an attractive spectacle from outside. It produces a highly iconic and sculptural figure a building that attracts and invites people, not only at the street level, but also towards companies and destinations higher up. It allows equal access to all floors. Combining a public route with a new iconic silhouette in Omotesando Street, it offers spectacular views of the surrounding district. It’s a new destination. Spiral 2.0.

STRUCTURE
The building contains a central core for transport and a bigger structural core, the zone where all floors overlap, from where floor-high, truss-like beams are cantilevered to support the connecting floors. The floors span between the trusses, resulting in flexible shopping and retail areas.

FAÇADES and TERRACES
As the silhouette of the building is already unique, the façade concept can be relatively modest, allowing expressionist possibilities for the users of the building.

A series of shop window-sized openings are applied at every level. They can serve as a door, window or shop window or sign. The closed façade, the ceilings and the terraces are made of blue polyurethane-treated concrete. The terraces contain seating elements and small trees.]]> Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:33:26 +0200 project: Mirador

Sanchinarro is a residential suburb on the north east edge of Madrid. Surrounded by highways, with views towards the Guadarrama Mountains. The building was developed as a reference point for the city extension and region at large, as a counterpoint against the massive uniformity of the surrounding blocks. The 22 level building acts as a frame for the distant landscape. The large lookout at 40 metres above the ground provides inhabitants and neighbours with a community garden and a space from where they can contemplate the skyline. The proposal opens domestic architecture to the new city environment and to its surrounding territories. The Mirador contains a wide variety of compact housing types. In contrast to the serial and rationalist repetition of the standard family unit, the housing units are grouped in small ‘buildings’. These ‘blocks’, stacked and glued together, make up a new towering ‘superblock’. It will provide the neighbourhood area with an unusual urban capacity. The 22 storey Mirador apartment building in Sanchinarro near Madrid is a collection of mini neighbourhoods staked vertically around a semi-public sky-plaza which offers views on the mountains. The 165 apartments are divided in a variety of different types for different life-styles and offer the residents high standards in terms of habitable space, natural light, panoramic views and comfort of fixtures. The building serves as a beacon for the neighbourhood.



The opening of European borders has caused a real estate boom in Spain. Land value has increased enormously, leading to an enormous production of housing. This operation is facilitated in Madrid by giant new neighbourhoods that surround the old city. The architecture of these new cities appears to be rather introverted; compact blocks with small windows surround private patios creating a strong uniformity that opposes the traditionally extraverted Spanish culture.
In PAU de Sanchinarro, one of the new cities situated on the northeast edge of Madrid, two plots are destined to develop a possible “escape” from the uniformity and claustrophobia of this sea of six-story blocks. In the first “escape”, the block of houses that surround an inaccessible patio is “flipped” creating a public patio with a view of the city and the Guadarrama Mountains.

The tower preserves open space needed by the modern city. The large lookout at 40 meters above the ground provides occupants and neighbours with a community garden and a space to contemplate the skyline.
The proposal opens domestic architecture to the new city environment and to its surrounding territories. The semi-public sky plaza is easily accessible with a direct lift connection from the plaza surrounding the building.
This lifted public space is surrounded by different neighbourhoods, a wide variety of compact housing types integrating different social groups and lifestyles. In contrast to the serial and rationalist repetition of the standard family unit, the housing units are grouped in small “blocks”. These “blocks,” stacked and glued together, create a new towering superblock.

The slits in between the blocks act as access zones. They are conceived like vertical alleys. Their transformation along each itinerary agglomerates the compendium of typologies that are structured like small suburbs. It leads to a vertical sequence of stairs, halls, platforms, and streets. It creates a vertical neighbourhood.

It becomes the reference point of the neighbourhood. The allowance for the realisation of this building can be seen as a sincere and honest manifestation of Spanish self criticism, an admirable character trait. Perhaps it is an elementary one, especially for a culture that wants to be open, vivid, and cosmopolitan.

]]> Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:04:05 +0200 project: design statement

MVRDV pursues a fascination for radical methodical research: on density and on public realms. Through investigation and use of the complex amounts of data that accompany contemporary design processes, spaces are shaped methodically.

Clients, users and specialists are intensively involved at an early stage of the design process. Reactions to the first designs can be processed quickly, creating a high degree of support for the design and encouraging the sort of new insights that can lead to specific innovative solutions. In this way our generalism and verve is linked with the specialization and thoroughness of the other team members. The products of this approach can vary therefore completely. They range from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban designs, publications and installations, as well as the development of software programs. ]]> Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:54:22 +0200 project: Wenchian Shi

Team Leader
]]> Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:09:07 +0200 project: Fiero Milano

THE CARVED OUT TOWER
In the center of the Fiero Milano development, a residential high-rise forms together with a neighboring office tower a monumental twin pair that symbolizes the ambitions of the new neighborhood: a mix of housing and working. The residential tower is conceived as a stone figure, that counterbalances the glass and transparency of the office tower. It shelters its domestic component.

The apartments are grouped around a core, which allows for different apartment types and sizes.
By ‘carving out’ parts of the floor plates, a series of protected, communal 'niches' are created. The adjacent apartment are being given access to terraces. By connecting these terraces with stairs a communal spirit can be achieved. It forms almost Balinese 'pocketparks' with communal aspirations. It allows for apartments with neighborhood possibilities. A combination of cosmopolitan housing and suburban qualities. The terraces create 'addresses' for the otherwise anonymous apartments.
Glass curtains protect the pockets from extreme climatic conditions. These curtains are suspended from the ceilings of the niches by means of steel wires. The glass plates are operable by simple mechanisms allowing for open air conditions on nice days.
]]> Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:03:34 +0200 project: Nathalie de Vries

Architect, Co-Founder, Director]]> Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:20:01 +0200 project: Expo 2000 NL Pavilion

The Netherlands is a densely populated country combining a high standard of welfare with a great democratic tradition. It could well be the prime example of a country that has always had to (and knows how to) mold the environment to suit its will. It’s a country that time and time again has won more land from the sea. Perhaps in the near future extra space will be found not just by increasing the country’s width but by expanding vertically. This kind of operation would seem to be applicable to many more countries. It raises questions of global significance. Can increasing population densities coexist with an increase in the quality of life? What conditions should be satisfied before such increases in density take place? What role will nature, in the widest sense, play in such an increase in density? Is not the issue here “new nature,” literally and metaphorically? This kind of effort can be the Netherlands’ specific contribution to the ecological spectrum of the World Fair in Hannover 2000, which seems to be devoted particularly to a nostalgic glimpse of ecology: a simple critique of technology and the consumer society, of asphalt and machinery. What the Dutch entry shows is precisely a mix of technology and nature, emphasizing nature’s make-ability and artificiality: technology and nature need not be mutually exclusive, they can perfectly well reinforce one another.

Nature arranged on many levels provides both an extension to existing nature and an outstanding symbol of its artificiality. It provides multi-level public space as an extension to existing public spaces. And even by arranging existing programs on many levels it provides yet more extra space, at ground level, for visibility and accessibility, for the unexpected, for “nature.” Dividing up the space in the Dutch entry and arranging it on multiple levels surrounds the building with spatial events and other cultural manifestations. The building becomes a monumental multi-level park. It takes on the character of a happening.

The fact that this kind of building does not yet exist means that it also gets to function as a laboratory. It not only saves space, it also saves energy, time, water and infrastructure. A mini-ecosystem is created. It’s a survival kit. Of course, it also tests existing qualities: it attempts to find a solution for a lack of light and land. At the same time the density and the diversity of functions builds new connections and new relationships. It can therefore serve as a symbol for the multi-faceted nature of society: it presents the paradoxical notion that as diversity increases, it seems so too does cohesion.

FROM UTOPIA TO DISTOPIA

The 2000 Hannover World expo fair was not received with big enthusiasm. The number of visitors was much lower then expected and suggested in advance. Did it lack inspiration? The situation somewhere in the middle of Germany - a political choice: the center of west and the newly united east part of Germany - within a very provincial and moderating town did not help in that. It is not very attractive. There is no reason to be there. After the expo, the unemployment rate radically increased. People stared to leave the region. Who can under those circumstances invest the maintenance of the expo? Almost none of the buildings were being re-used afterwards. Many of them were broken down. Except the Dutch. Why? Had it become indeed a monument? The Dutch pavilion remained as a solitude element within a landscape that looked after the fall of a nuclear bomb. Fences were erected around the building. Lifts, trees and windmills were dismantled. Thousands of birds started to inhabit the vacant structure. Squatters (other birds) started to live in the floors. Partyseekers started to use the forest. It became a real park so to say. This distopia was not so bad. It became a ruin in the best German tradition. As in Heine’s poems or in Goethe’s memories, a new ruin was born! We could already imagine a structure overgrown with ivy... The secret discussion on its future, found its current apocalypse in September 2005. Finally it has been sold. Through eBay.



]]> Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:16:29 +0200 project: De Effenaar Pop Centre

With the institutionalisation of rock and popmusic, (there are professors of pop music nowadays) new specific buildings are required. The bands that are performing are not arriving in VW-vans anymore; several 18m long trucks are usual. The new buildings should be sound and vandalism proof, provide easy access for large crowds and every evening host its own subculture. Most of these venues are now situated in old transformed buildings with prior different functions. Churches, factories or cinemas were for years hosting the concerts and dance nights. They offered an alternative for the café or the discotheque. The local rockclub in Eindhoven, notorious in Holland for its acid-house, stoner-rock, and popular hiphop-nights is named the Effenaar. It is housed in an old textile factory from the late nineteenth century.

Presently De Effenaar has all the characteristics of a youth centre: it is introverted and informal. It is rough and smells like beer and cigarette smoke. Together with hall 2b and the garden along the river Dommel, this community echoes the Urania of Berlin: an enclave in the city. In what way could these charms be combined with the request and desire for more professionalism?

In order to achieve a maximal garden and optimal truck-access, the building is situated as far away from the river Dommel as possible. This results in a compact footprint and leads to a stacking of the program. All the different parts of the program of the new Effenaar get their own specific sizes and are then put in a logical order.

By bending a range of little kingdoms, a main hall 'arises' like a test room. This is where the core business of the Effenaar takes place. The shape of the concert hall is a resultant of the space-requirements of the other spaces, like the smaller hall and the café/restaurant downstairs. In this way, a compact volume is made where every programmatic zone is positioned next to the concert hall and is linked to the city in front and the park behind.]]> Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:52:41 +0200 project: Nathalie de Vries

Nathalie de Vries (Appingedam, 1965) founded in 1991 together with Winy Maas and Jacob van Rijs MVRDV. Early work such as the television centre Villa VPRO and the housing estate for elderly WoZoCo, both in the Netherlands, have lead to international acclaim and established MVRDV’s leading role in the international architecture scene.

Projects of MVRDV are among others the design for the Netherlands Pavillion at the Hannover World Expo 2000, the innovative business park Flight Forum in Eindhoven, the Matsudai cultural centre and the Gyre shopping centre in Japan, the iconic Mirador building in Madrid and the Silodam building and Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam.

Current projects in development are among others the new television centre in Zürich, the new Market Hall for Rotterdam, a number of housing and office projects in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, France, England, Albania, the USA and China. Masterplans in construction are the office campus near Unterföhring, Munich, the Xinjin Water City near Chengdu, China, the New Leyden masterplan in Leiden, Netherlands. MVRDV also works on the masterplan for Greater Paris.

The work of MVRDV/Nathalie de Vries is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards. The monographic publications FARMAX (1998) and KM3 (2005) illustrate the work of the Rotterdam based office.

Nathalie de Vries lectures and teaches throughout the world and takes part in international juries. She has been guest professor at the TU Berlin (2002-2004) and is the 2005 Morgenstern Visiting Critic at the IIT in Chicago. She has also been teaching at the Berlage Institute in Rotterdam, the ABK in Arnhem and the TU of Delft.

In addition, she was from 1999 to 2005 board member of the Netherlands Architecture Fund (1999/2005), she was member of the Gestaltungsbeirat of Salzburg (Austria, 2003/2006) and since 2004 member of the foundation board of the Dutch architectural journal Oase. From 2005 to 2008 Nathalie de Vries was National Railroad Architect on behalf of ProRail/NS. She recently joined the supervisory board of the Graphic Design Museum Breda.
]]> Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:13:46 +0200 project: Vertical Village© launched

VerticalVillage© launched in Taipei

The JUT foundation from Taipei, Taiwan has commissioned MVRDV and T?F to curate the fourth edition of the exhibition series 'Museum of Tomorrow'. Under the title 'VerticalVillage©' the exhibtion will explore the possibilities and potentials of informal structures and urban villages in Taipei.]]> Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:41:08 +0200 project: Martijn de Geus

]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:30:44 +0200 project: Chris Green

]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:28:28 +0200 project: Sanne van der Burgh

]]> Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:00:17 +0200 project: Westerdok

Openness as design concept: The minimal amount of materials used, glass, steel and concrete, results in maximum openness for the façade.

The building with a total surface of 6000 m2 contains 46 apartments and a day-care centre. Each apartment has a balcony of varying depths which stretch as bands along the entire facade, offering varied outside spaces and views over the western docklands of Amsterdam. The floor-to-ceiling glass façade can be fully opened and contrasts with the other buildings within the so called ‘VOC Cour’ port redevelopment that are mainly made of brick.

The urban plan is a closed city block with buildings of differing heights surrounding a central court. After two earlier urban plans failed, the client O.M.A. (Ontwikkelings Maatschappij Apeldoorn) has in fact determined the current urban plan. The MVRDV building is located inside the court with one façade facing the waterfront of the Westerdok. ]]> Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:44:15 +0200 project: Matsudai

The village of Matsudai is located deep in the mountains of the Niigata-prefecture. Once every three years in summertime, the ‘Niigata Art Triennial’ (art-festival) is held in the region. During this festival, the building operates as the main stage of events taking place.

By lifting the building in the air, the area under the building is a snow free zone in winter and a dry and shaded plaza during summer. Under the programmatic roof, plays, dance shows and concerts can be held.

The building is supported by bridge-like ‘legs’ that give access to visitors coming from different directions, such as the station, the car parking or the park near the river. These legs form the physical structure of the building and generate a column free space underneath. The leg-spaces are free from the weather conditions and cut through the building dividing the different functional spaces. Lifting up the building also avoids the pressure of the snow from aside.

On the rooftop, a ‘rocky’ landscape is formed, as a ‘force-scape’ shaped by the dynamic demands of the leg-shaped bridges. This artificial ‘icy’ roof landscape will provide an attractive playground and viewing platform to the mountains and the artworks. It might also remind summer visitors of the wintertime, when Matsudai is hidden under a massive layer of snow.
]]> Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:50:04 +0200 project: MVRDV-Architecture Special

The former Amsterdam port along the south bank of the IJ has grown into a popular destination for lovers of modern architecture, featuring spectacular works of innovative Dutch architects, offering attractive vistas over the Amsterdam IJ harbour.
Lloyd Hotel now offers friends of MVRDV the opportunity to discover the architecture along the south bank of the IJ and a reduced fare to stay in the Hotel completed in 2004 by MVRDV. The arrangement further includes an exclusive visit to the Silodam apartment building. A lunch Lunch/cooking demonstration in the Silodam in Living Kitchen from Sub- Zero/Wolf with IJ-view is part of the arrangement.

The special includes :

- A guided tour of the Lloyd Hotel and if available to exemplary hotel rooms
- A bicycle for one day
- Map of bicycle route along the architecture of the South Bank of the IJ
- Lunch/cooking demonstration on the Silodam in living Kitchen from Sub- Zero/Wolf with IJ-view.
- Guided tour Silodam
- One night stay at the Lloyd Hotel in a 3-star room
- Breakfast
- Maximum number of participants: 12 people
- Possible dates: 13 June, 5 September and 7 November

On the dates mentioned above the lunch/cooking demo on the Silodam takes place. You have the choice of either arriving on the same day or a day earlier.

Should you like to book the package on a different date, please contact email post@lloydhotel.com.

Stay in a designer 3-star room, based on two people, at €160,- per person. If you would like to stay for longer, the price of the subsequent nights of your stay will be based on our best available rate. To book please call +31 (0)20 561 36 05 and ask for our MVRDV-special, or send an email to post@lloydhotel.com.

Experience the new Dutch architecture of Amsterdam!

Lloyd Hotel & Cultural Embassy
The Lloyd Hotel is a Dutch hotel centrally situated in the fashionable heart of Amsterdam’s Eastern Docklands Area. Renowned Dutch architects, designers and artists have transformed this monument dating from 1921 in a hotel where many inhabitants of Amsterdam, international artists, tourists and business people feel at home. The service is the same for everybody: 24 hours room service, free WIFI and satellite television on all rooms. There is a restaurant, a bar, a library and even a “corner” shop.
www.lloydhotel.com


The Silodam
The Silodam contains three housing blocks: The new addition is designed by MVRDV (2002) and contains an entire neighbourhood in one single volume.
www.silodam.org

]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:02:05 +0200 project: Grand Paris Exhibition Opened

President Sarkozy opens Grand Paris Exhibition and supports MVRDV plan for Charles de Gaulle Airport

(Paris, 29 April 2009) Today the president of France Nicolas Sarkozy has opened the exhibition presenting ten visions for Greater Paris in 2030. In his inaugural speech he mentioned according to Agence France Press the MVRDV plan for a new forest within the noise affected area of Charles De Gaulle Airport.

“The idea of planting a new forest of one million trees on the 2,500 hectares that are noise affected by Roissy deserves further thinking”, AFP quotes from the presidents speech.

The MVRDV vision defines a spatial agenda for the city. It proposes a series of 17 large scale interventions. Among them the ambition to make Paris highly accessible: the creation of a grand central station at the location of Les Halles, underground densification of the Boulevard Périphérique by adding a metro line and two underground motorways ring-roads, the creation of new Grand Axe’s and a subterranean infrastructure band along the Seine. The space liberated by the buried infrastructure is used for a housing program that allows for urban living in pleasant and green environments. Further parts of the vision are investments into transport, nature, education, culture, social cohesion and vast amounts of renewable energy. The sum of all projects can avoid future sprawl and radically transform Paris into one of the densest, most compact and therefore sustainable high quality cities in the world: “Paris Plu(s) petit”.

The exhibition about the future of Grand Paris opened today and will be open until the 22nd of November 2009. www.citechaillot.fr
]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:01:37 +0200 project: Winy Maas Honorary Fellow AIA

(Rotterdam/San Francisco, May 4 2009): Winy Maas was awarded AIA’s prestigious College of Fellows Honorary Fellowship during an investiture ceremony at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, California, USA, on 1st May, during the AIA National Convention. It is an honor awarded to international architects who have made significant contributions to the architectural profession, not only as an individual, but also to architecture and society on an international level.

The 2009 Jury of Fellows elevated 9 international architects to Honorary Fellowship. The Honorary Fellowship is bestowed on architects of esteemed character and distinguished achievements who are neither U.S. citizens nor U.S. residents, and who do not primarily practice architecture within the domain of the Institute.

Winy Maas received the honor for "Being one of the most influential architects of his generation." The laudation during the investiture ceremony mentioned further that "he is a thought and design leader who challenges current perceptions through a fascination for radical methodical research".

Together with Winy Maas, Jo Coenen of JCCA Architects, Smiljan Radic Clarke, Chile, Bruno Gabbiani of Studio Gabbiani Associati and Manfredi Nicoletti of Studio Nicoletti, Italy, received an Honorary Fellowship.

In the United States MVRDV works at the moment on a series of flood proof homes for the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans which was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, commissioned by the “Make it Right” Foundation, an initiative of actor Brad Pitt. The first home designed by MVRDV will start construction in 2009.

A small number of AIA Honorary Fellows are selected annually by a Jury of Fellows and several practicing architects from the United States. Honorary Fellows selected in previous years include David Adjaye, UK, Stefan Behnisch, Germany, David Chipperfield, UK, and Dominique Perrault, France.
]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 15:01:26 +0200 project: Grand Paris

Pari(s) Plus petit

“Paris Plus” stands for more: more ambition, more optimism, more density, more efficiency, more ecology and more compactness. Greater Paris needs a strong combination of responsibility and ambition to continue its development, to ensure its consistency and to develop a cohesion that can build a base for a collective enterprise to solve its problems, to enlarge its presence and attractiveness, to create an even more remarkable, exemplary city.

MVRDV with ACS and AAF‘s response for President Sarkozy’s 2009 urban planning consultation for the great challenge of the Greater Paris area is represented in four parts: the ‘Synthesis’, the ‘City Calculator©’, the ‘Data’ and the ‘Observation’.

The Synthesis defines the spatial agenda for the city, based on ambitious and responsible strategies for the French capital. It is the core of the response and proposes a series of 17 large scale interventions that are based on an analysis of the city’s fabric, its future programmatic needs and spatial possibilities. The proposals are interventions based on available space and feasible. Among them the ambition to make Paris highly accessible: the creation of a grand central station at the location of Les Halles, underground densification of the Boulevard Périphérique by adding a metro line and two underground motorways ring-roads, the creation of new Grand Axe’s and a subterranean infrastructure band along the Seine. The space liberated by the buried infrastructure is used for a housing program that allows for urban living in pleasant and green environments. Further parts of the vision are investments into transport, nature, education, culture, social cohesion and vast amounts of renewable energy. The sum of all projects can avoid future sprawl and radically transform Paris into one of the densest, most compact and therefore sustainable high quality cities in the world: “Paris Plus petit”.

The City Calculator© is a proposed demo version of a potential software and possible webtool, which quantifies the ‘behaviour and performance’ of a city and makes it comparable to others. It connects qualitative to quantitative parameters. It can be used as a public and planning tool to support sustainable planning. The City Calculator© will be conceived in collaboration, by The Why Factory at Delft University of Technology.

The Data gives the overview of the detailed research on the functioning and performance of Greater Paris, which has been the background for the spatial proposals.

The Observations are a series of articles on the backgrounds, the history, the potentials and the problems of the French metropolis.

President Nicolas Sarkozy commissioned in June 2008 ten teams of architects and urban planners to imagine an exemplary "Grand Paris" a sustainable and boldly designed capital. The project was hailed being the most ambitious since Haussmann changed Paris in the 19th century. The challenge for the 10 teams was envisioning the European metropolis in 2030 being a "post-Kyoto" green urban centre which allows for growth beyond the current two million Parisians and provides them with attractive urban environments.

]]> Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:57:50 +0200 project: STEDENBOUW KUNDIGE V/M

Stedenbouw is een belangrijke discipline binnen het bureau. In het verleden zijn innovatieve projecten opgeleverd, zoals bijvoorbeeld het Flight Forum bij Eindhoven, Unterföhring Park Village bij München en recentelijk een visie voor Parijs 2030. Momenteel werkt MVRDV aan de de verdubbeling van Almere voor 2030, maar ook aan stedenbouwkundige projecten in Albanië, Spanje, Frankrijk, Noorwegen, Nederland, Korea en China.

MVRDV is op zoek naar een stedenbouwkundige met tenminste 5 jaar relevante werkervaring in stedenbouwkundige projecten. We verwachten van kandidaten dat zij goed kunnen werken in CAD, het Nederlands en Engels uitstekend beheersen (in woord en geschrift) en een uitgebreide kennis hebben van de Nederlandse stedenbouwkundige context en de geldende Ruimtelijke Nota’s. Verder dien je in staat te zijn om zelfstandig grote projecten te draaien wat betreft budgetbewaking en planning, maar ook in staat zijn inhoudelijke het team aan te sturen en contact te onderhouden met opdrachtgevers. Standplaats is Rotterdam.

Wij bieden een dynamische, geëngageerde, internationale werkomgeving. MVRDV hanteert de salariëring conform de CAO voor personeel in dienst van architectenbureaus.

MVRDV gelooft in tolerantie, gelijke rechten en kansen voor iedereen, en werkt actief aan een divers personeelsbestand. Wij beoordelen en selecteren kandidaten op kwaliteit, talent en ervaring en niet op zijn of haar culturele achtergrond.

We nodigen alle creatieve en innovatieve kandidaten uit om te solliciteren.

Sollicitatiebrieven voorzien van CV en portfolio kunnen verzonden worden naar jobs@mvrdv.nl.
]]> Thu, 07 May 2009 10:00:39 +0200 project: Lloyd Hotel

Built in the 1920s as a hotel for emigrants, then a long-time prison, and now in a third transition, the Lloyd Hotel is located in the recently redeveloped eastern harbor area of Amsterdam. Whilst the meaning of the word “guest” has changed several times, the aim is now to offer comfort for travelers and provide a public dining room for guests and the neighbors in the adjacent new housing area.

Within the protected exterior of this national monument a void was “carved” through the volume to open up the claustrophobic interior and to create a communal area for guests. It combines intimate spaces, used for meetings, reading, working, dining and drinking, with an open plan and a feeling of togetherness. This also houses the so-called Cultural Embassy, the specialty of the hotel for linking all guests to a network of art and artists in Amsterdam.

The Embassy is surrounded by 120 rooms. They are all different. Varying from one to five stars. From cheap to expensive. From neat to exuberant. From working space to romantic shelter. From Spartan to Biedermeier. From classic to modern. From singles to families with children. From sinlge rooms to triple rooms. With single beds to giant ten-person beds. With hang mats or normal beds. With separate bathrooms or with baths next to the beds. With separate showers or open showers in the middle of the rooms. With dark basement locations to attic rooms. And so on. It seeks to attract people too curious to resist returning. ]]> Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:08:17 +0200 project: Rotterdam Mountain

(Kralingse Berg)

Rotterdam is Europe’s main port, the port area stretches along the Rhine from the city centre towards the sea, its industries and cranes are the icons of the port city. The north east of Rotterdam is a sharp contrast to the general image of the city dominated by industrial activity and modern architecture: a green suburban area of great natural beauty. The historic neighbourhood of Kralingen, parklands, the river Rotte and a series of lakes with riparian leisure facilities such as yacht harbours mark this affluent part of the city. The area would be a real oasis in the dense urban fabric but it is brutally split by a motorway and train rail. The green area is cut through by the main artery of the Benelux, the motorway which connects the 3 main ports and generates constant traffic and pollution. Next to the motorway the main train lines are leading to the east. Crouched against the infrastructure a series of industries are located, in a strange paradox surrounded by the nicest parks of the city.

This offers the chance for a real change and development of the area by maintaining and enhancing the green character through a massive investment of covering the motorway with a park, reconnecting the greenbelt and financing this through the construction of high quality housing on top of the new hill, the ‘Kralingen Mountain’. Covering the motorway with park will create one large park in the area and improve the quality of all adjacent communities. The hill which is created by covering the motorway provides as an effect of the flat Dutch landscape wide views over the countryside, the lakes and the city. An ideal location for a residential development which will be easy accessible by the near infrastructure but still be located in the midst of nature.

The construction of this large scale project combines a massive infrastructure effort which will be phased. The site is divided into 12 development zones of which seven need investment in infrastructure and five can be developed independently. Closure of either motorway or rail link for construction is not an option. The solution is the necessary anticipation on the future growth of both the motorway and train traffic. By doubling the capacity first the new infrastructure can be built and used before the existing lines are covered. A new underground railway station will make the area more attractive for residents. Invisible underground a large light industrial program is to be developed, on top a program of different residential typologies is developed fostering for different types of users all in a green environment, with views and connected to public transport. Two areas with office high rise are located near the tunnel entrances, providing the demanded sight-locations for the companies and keeping the middle part of the hill free for park landscape.

The Kralingen Mountain project has the potential to change 67 hectare of urban infrastructure desert into park landscape and quiet residential neighbourhoods.



]]> Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:33:50 +0200 project: Marin Kulas

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:38:03 +0200 project: Aser Gimenez Ortega

]]> Thu, 02 Apr 2009 10:37:48 +0200 project: New Manor

De Vecht area in the Netherlands, between Maarsen and Vreeland, consists of a succession of 17th-century country estates with country houses dating from the same period, strung along the banks of the river Vecht. It was an out-of-town residence for rich merchants from Amsterdam during the Dutch Golden Age. One of those country estates was rebuilt in the 19th century out of three former 17th century houses. That estate was split up in the first half of the 20th century: the owner lived in the house with a small garden at the riverside. The bigger part was sold and abandoned for more than 50 years. This property has been acquired by a family wishing to create a new house here. But how can one build a house worthy of this location?

Combining all the functional spaces of the house into a single, compact volume creates room for the development of the landscape. The result is a plump volume that harmonizes with the scale of the landscape. Placing the house at one end of the main garden gives it a position at the center of the estate where it is in contact with all the surrounding gardens. It also preserves a dignified distance form the River Vecht.

The requirement was for a house that bore the hallmarks of the Vecht region, with the classic volume and silhouette of 17th-century country houses. This condition implies a ‘cage’ within which the design options are contained. Within the cage, each of the programmed components is hung as individual blocks. The programmed components are arranged in clusters that are stacked one on one, each having its own internal organization and height. They are organized as blocks that are placed or suspended within the given volume.

The stacking of these blocks creates an intriguing, meandering and variously intervening space. This is the social space of the house and it both connects and separates all the rooms (formal and informal alike). It also functions as an acoustic buffer between separate components. The ground floor contains the service cluster, the living cluster and the library. The formal cluster is on the first floor and the library as the hall connect the different volumes from ground floor to top floor..

Staircases are ‘carved’ out of the blocks so that they are visible and occupy as little space as posible. Wooden footbridges communicate between the blocks. The blocks have varying façade finishes that make them individually identifiable: stone, stucco, brickwork and slate, a combination of materials that echoes other houses in the region.

Inward-opening doors give each block a clear ‘address’ in the house. This suggests a specific relation to the intervening space. Outward-opening doors create a strong relationship with the estate park. The house can accordingly be read as a tiny village, one that respects the demands, the use and the composition of its inhabitants.

The interior space is terminated by a trellis-like arrangement of wooden bars with glass between them. The trellis supports the blocks, screens the interior from intrusive views and filters excessive solar radiation. Climbing roses and ivy can be allowed to grow over the trellis helping the house to blend even better with the surrounding park.

The landscape of the property may be interpreted as a collection of different gardens, each with its own plants and shrubs, character and use. There is a classic main garden with lawns and rhododendron, a vegetable garden, a wet wood, a dry wood, a reed bed and meadow – different “rooms” of the garden.]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:30:56 +0100 project: Hangzhou East Railway Station Plaza

Hangzhou East Station, connecting everybody
New Hangzhou East Station will become the iconic centre of the new East City neighbourhood, connecting the city to the fast speed train system of the Yangzi River Delta region. This means that the businesses and inhabitants of the new neighbourhood will be working and living with 1 hour from Shanghai and 2 hours from Nanjing.

Being well connected to the region and country has enormous benefits for the value of the surroundings of the station; it will become a unique feature. This very good connectivity can be made effective by also making the station a connection point in the area itself. All different modes of transport (taxi, bus, cars, bicycles pedestrians) should reach the station in a smooth way; exchange from one system of transport to the other should be easy and effective.

The station is not only a successful destination or departure point, but also plays a vital role in connecting one part of the city with the other. The station becomes the place were the” river of tracks” can be crossed and the turning point in the neighbourhood.

Station Plaza
The modern architectonic quality of the station can be reflected in the contemporary plaza designs. We propose to combine this modern attitude with traces of the original destination of the area, agriculture. A pattern of vegetation and fields guides the travellers across the square offering an array of different atmospheres and functions like space to wait, shadow, playgrounds, refreshing water areas, flowerbeds etc.
The two sides of the station are designed with two different accents; the west side, leading to the marina and the old town, and the east part, leading to the new business district and the culture museum.

Station Boulevard
Two axes, together forming the Station Boulevard, lead to and from the station. From the Square, we have added smart bridges into the main departure floor, as well as gentle slopes to the minus one levels both in the station and beside, at the bus stations and parking.
The Boulevard also is leading through the station, offering a smart connection from one side to the other, under the tracks. This axis connects the old town and the marina with the new town and other attractions. It is purely pedestrian, and brings travellers into the neighbouring areas, aligned with streets and lovely street furniture.

The buildings along the axes offer entertaining program of shops, restaurants and leisure in the ground floor. In this way the public and commercial program surrounding the station can also be used for travellers. After the Square has been left behind, on the east side a nice canal accompanies the pedestrian. On the west side, the Marina and river takes up travellers.

Aligning the square are prominent buildings of high standards. Already right beside the station buildings are proposed, that are partly integrating with bus stations and parking. The design of the Square offers many different features, and it is a place intended to stay and relax while waiting or meeting friends.

The Station as the heart of the area
We accentuate all routes crossing the areas as main streets. Prominent buildings with a higher building height than the surroundings can also recognize by their FAR. Cars can easily use these streets that can have commercially successful plinths.
The station and Station Boulevard form the centre in a circle of green, the green ring road. This tree-aligned road connects all different neighbourhoods and along it all major public buildings are positioned. The station boulevard is the shortcut between two ends of the ring, as well as its main access roads. City, green and leisure are all within close range of the station.

Connectivity
This ordering of infrastructure, green and functions allows for a clear system of connections, with the station at its heart. All areas can develop in a clear way, with an even distribution of possibilities everywhere. All main streets have a clear character, with distinction between car dominated business roads, the pedestrian station boulevard, and the Green ring road that combines both. Water and green are recurrent themes throughout the area, making this district very attractive to live work and shop.
]]> Fri, 06 Mar 2009 15:48:15 +0100 project: Stefan de Koning

Architect - Interiors]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:05:49 +0100 project: Henk Grootoonk

Finances]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:04:35 +0100 project: Jeroen Zuidgeest

Team Leader]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:04:23 +0100 project: Frans de Witte

Team Leader]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:04:20 +0100 project: Fokke Moerel

Team Leader]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:04:13 +0100 project: Winy Maas

Architect, Co-Founder, Director]]> Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:04:02 +0100 project: Shenzhen CBD Trees

CBD TREES

Design of four office towers in the Shenzhen CBD district.

MVRDV
111108

RECENT CBD’S...

Many recent Central Business’ Districts (CBD) consist of series of more or less straightforward office towers without much coherence, each of them celebrating individuality over the collective. These developments are leading to very similar CBD’s. Is this desirable? Or can we find a way to combine individuality with more collective urban qualities? Can there be a more distinguishing character, with a stronger appearance, attracting people from far, to become outstanding over other competitors? Can the momentum of the coincidental simultaneous development of four new towers in the CBD district of Shenzhen help to develop a more coherent and specific high quality environment?

THE SHELTERED PLAZAS

The Shenzhen CBD will undeniably be strongly dominated by the new stock exchange building with its remarkable character. The building is conceived as a tower with a lifted block for the collective programs. This causes not only a remarkable figure; it also creates a nice sheltered plaza. It is an object with an urban meaning.

Can and should this direction not set the tone for the further development of the district? Can this suggestion be extended in the urban approach of the surrounding four new towers, so that a partly covered district appears instead of a single main building surrounded by bland characters? By doing this, besides the great central open area a series of more sheltered plazas and pavements emerge, protecting Shenzhen’s citizens from the strong sun and rain, encouraging street life and street usage. A vivid district can be imagined.



THE DIFFERENTIATED OFFICE

Many of the current office buildings are conceived as simple extrusions of a simple floor plan. This leads to a high efficiency and also to generic repetition and monotony.

By changing per floor its size and direction, differentiated and singular office environments are created, adaptable to the client’s specific demands. The floors become recognizable. A more individualized sequence of plateaus can be created.

As a side effect, due to the different floor sizes a series of balconies emerge, which can be used for smokers, for social gatherings, for gardens in the sky, panoramically overlooking the district and the city. The overhangs create shadow over these terraces.



CATALOGUE

A ’catalogue’ of floor plans has been developed: from normal floors that surround the core evenly, via floors with a bigger floor plan on one side, via complete single oriented deeper floor plans, via U and L shaped floor plans, to floors with private wings for executive staff or meeting rooms.



DIFFERENTIATION AND ADAPTATION

The selection of the floor types can lead to different highly customized towers. Every tower is different in its composition. In this way the towers become different but related. it leads to a ‘family’ of towers.



THE GREEN TOWER

The balconies can be used to position plantations, with water basins, interconnected with stairs, Vertical parks emerge. Truly green buildings become possible. With the plants the entire buildings obtain a tree like appearance. A welcoming compensation in an area that is so dominated by straight forward elements of mirrors and glass...



VIEWS ON THE SCREEN

By leaving away most of the floor plans at the lower level, the views towards the screen that surrounds the lifted block of the new Stock Exchange building become more visible and apparent. It becomes the heart of the district, visible from everywhere.



THE PLAZAS

This leads to more open areas on ground floor: plazas and wide pavements that give sufficient attractive space for the workers to meet and to exchange. These spaces are sheltered by the overhangs, protecting the spaces from the heat or rain. Additional trees create a comfortable climate. It becomes a usable public outdoor space all year round.



THE TREES

This leads to characteristic towers that can stand out from the surrounding. It gives the somehow blunt appearance of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange tower a more nuanced, refined, and elegant environment. The towers act as a series of trees covering the CBD plazas and pavements.



THE ROOTS

On ground floor the buildings cores are surrounded with program such as access lobbies, ground floor shops and restaurants that will enliven the plazas. They form literally the roots at the bottom of the ‘trunk’ of the structures.



THE CORES

The cores are designed as central halls that are surrounded with lifts, allowing the lifts to be overseen. A void in the middle of these halls makes it possible to connect the complete tower spatially.

On the back of the lifts all other shafts and stairs are positioned. Openings at all sides provide maximum flexibility.



THE FLEXIBLE GRID

The office landscapes are conceived as efficient grid system allowing for great flexibility and adaptation over time.



STRUCTURE

The structure is conceived as a grid of steel columns with steel-concrete floors surrounding a simple concrete core whose dimensions can handle all powers.

In the steel structures, diagonals are placed where necessary to compensate the horizontal powers, caused by the cantilevers. It creates an intriguing tree like structure of diagonals.

By guiding these diagonals over 2 storeys their spatial impact on the office floors is minimized.



FACADE

The facades are as transparent as possible allowing for wide views over the surroundings and for maximal light penetration in the offices. Louvers are integrated to keep the sunlight out. Advertisements can be integrated in the facade system; the windows can be opened from inside facilitating cleaning and individual ventilation.



THE CBD CONCOURSE

By connecting the minus one level of the plots with the metro system with its shopping centre a great concourse emerges. Directly connected with the metro it has direct access into the lobbies.

By surrounding these lobbies with retail and shops, a vivid underground street system emerges.

By creating glass roofs natural light penetrates into these spaces. Escalators and lifts connect the lobby level with the street level.





]]> Thu, 26 Feb 2009 15:52:38 +0100 project: credits

Thonik
Thomas Widdershoven, Jeroen Bruijn

Furthermore
Danny Wilson, Bernard Visser, Christiaan Ottow, the Brothers van Oostveen and David van den Brand

MVRDV
Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs en Nathalie de Vries met
Anton Wubben, Paula van Baak, Jan Knikker, Isabel Pagel and Di Miao, Froukje Akkerman]]> Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:46:46 +0100 project: Borneo

In Borneo-Sporenburg Amsterdam - the most compact new housing district in The Netherlands - two dwellings have been designed that aim for the greatest possible spaciousness and versatility within a limited envelope.

The Borneo Sporenburg area is in the east of Amsterdam City. It's a former harbour area. The harbour moved to the west, in the direction of the sea. Adriaan Geuze of West 8 Landscape Architects tried to develop the Borneo Sporenburg area into a kind of old fashioned neighbourhood like 'De Jordaan' in the west part of the Amsterdam inner-city. The 60 terraced houses on Borneo refer of course to the Amsterdam Canal houses.

Most of the Borneo Sporenburg area is build by project developers and housing corporations. The 60 terraced houses are not build speculative but by their owners. The party walls are all solved at the individual plots. Each house has to stand on it's own 'feet'. The gap (6 cm width) between two houses had to be closed in co-operation between the adjacent architect. MVRDV designed tqwo of the homes for two different clients, plot 12 and plot 18.

The design of the 60 terraced houses was strictly supervised by Adriaan Geuze. He determined some materials and the exact height of the houses. In case of Borneo plot 18, the owners were obligated to make a 4-meter deep garden on the waterfront to create a varied backside. Some exceptions are allowed.]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:52:08 +0100 project: Silodam

In the western part of the Amsterdam harbor an expensive urban operation has been undertaken in order to densify the city and to meet the demands of the market, even on one of the more vulnerable areas. A former dam with a silo building has been transformed into a new neighborhood that consists of a series of relative expensive components: a dam with a sunken parking machine, renovation of old silo buildings, the required mix of less expensive social houses, the underwater protection dike against the oil ships, the needed deep piling foundation and the expensive temporary “polder” constructions.

To help pay for parts of this operation, a new housing block at the end of the dam was proposed. Timing helped. The Dutch real estate boom in the nineties allowed for higher profits. By “waiting” some years, additional income could be generated. How to build “waiting”?

The changing market was approached with a series of different housing types. The demand for a big variety of living spaces on the one hand led to different types but on the other hand, as a counterbalance to the increasing individuality.

A mixed program of 157 houses (to buy or for rent), offices, work spaces, commercial spaces and public spaces had to be arranged in a 20 meter deep and ten-story-high urban envelope. The apartments differ in size, cost and organization. In order to accommodate this process in time, a series of neighborhoods of 8 to 12 apartments were created. Blocks of apartments which surround a corridor, a garden, a gallery, and a hall. As a counter-form these organizations lead to specific apartments: apartments with a panoramic view, with views to tow sides, double-high apartments, apartments with a patio, apartments with a view to the harbor. The daylight requirements caused different amounts of windows for these types. The economical requirements added a differentiation in facade material and outside spaces.

In time these blocks were offered for discussion. It leaded to both political and economical negotiations, that could span the given time. Based on a four tower organization, these blocks could be shifted. In the political discussions, mixage had to be achieved over separations, stratifications or apartheid constellations. In the economic discussions, “Gauss curves” accompanied the changes in demand. Up until that moment the discussions had to be frozen. The existing situation was maintained in place.

As a result, an unexpected sequence of semi-public routes appeared: from galleries on one side one can walk via slits and corridors to galleries on the other side and higher up. Connecting all the houses with the hall, the public balcony, the harbor, the barbeque, and garden, a three-dimensional neighborhood materializes. It became a container of houses, literally interpreting the surrounding harbor. Adding a 21st-century silo of houses to the adjacent 19th- and 20th-century silos.

One of the blocks contains a restaurant. It’s pushed outside of the volume. The dam has been bent through the volume. It creates a public plaza with a panoramic view over the river. It compensates for the loss of the view at the former dam. Below the balcony there is an office with almost the same magnificent view.
]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:50:36 +0100 project: Eco City Montecorvo

Masterplan for a sustainable city

The beautiful site is located just north of Logroño on the two small hills of Montecorvo and la Fonsalalda. The south facing hills not only provide beautiful views of the city, but also provide optimal conditions for solar energy collection using PV-cells. The windmills stand at the top of the hills, catching the wind; a landmark for the area. Combined, the solar and wind energy collected are capable of fulfilling the energy need for the 3.000 units of social housing.

Only 10% of the site is occupied by buildings. This minimizes the impact on the landscape and simultaneously minimizes building costs. Like a snake, the linear urban development meanders through the landscape both horizontally and vertically. By making use of the height differences, every apartment takes maximum advantage of the views. The roofs of the lower situated slabs are accessible and offer possibilities to create a magnificent public space overlooking the landscape of La Rioja; a Mirador!

In 2007 MVRDV worked with the Spanish office GRAS to enter a competition for a sustainable urban extension of the city of Logroño. Logroño is a medium size city of approximately 130.000 inhabitants, in the wine region of La Rioja in the north of Spain. The program consists of approximately 3.000 units of social housing and its complementary program: schools, social buildings, and sports facilities. The goal was to create a sustainable development. By producing all the energy needed on the 56 hectare site, the new neighborhood achieves a CO2 neutral footprint. The space made available by building compactly becomes a magnificent eco-park, a mix of landscape and energy production. ]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:44:00 +0100 project: Philharmonie de Paris/ Les Tribunes

Music Center

The Paris’ Villette location for the new Philharmonic is inspiring: it will place High Art within a popular environment. It will enliven and invest in the Periphery. How can architecture pursue that intention? Can the design enlarge the public role of this possibly elitist institution?

CENTRALITY
No doubt one can say that the Hall is the central figure within the program. It is served by secondary functions like rehearsal, backstage, expo, school, admin, and a restaurant. By positioning these functions around the hall, they form liaisons – intermediaries – between the Hall and the city.

THE HALL
The peripheral functions have a presence in the Hall: big ‘windows’ allow visual and physical entry from any department into the hall. The demands for the Hall lead to a highly compact volume with many balconies to accommodate the required number of visitors. The balconies are connected with walks leading to the ‘windows’ with the foyers. This characterizes the Hall. They are accentuated by the garde corps that can be illuminated with texts and messages, matching atmosphere to music.

TOWARDS THE SURROUNDING
The intermediaries point at and connect with the surrounding. The rehearsal looks towards the park so that park-concerts can be organized. The admin is located on the periphery as an address to the city. The expo is placed by the southern plaza and the access zone. The loading is on the northern side of the periphery, and the restaurant is positioned to overlook the city.

OPENING ACT
These programmatic elements function as ‘sticks’ to push the skin away from the central Hall. The skin is moved up and away to form a public ‘hill’ as park extension. On the inside the foyer is shaped by the same. By partitioning the skin with horizontal elements, the skin becomes accessible both inside and outside.

FOYER
Inside the foyer a majestic valley is created with steps that act as tribunes overlooking people below. Here one can go up, to the tops of the ‘sticks’ were the foyers repartees are situated. They form ‘bridges’ between the skin and the Hall. This creates a festive introduction to the Hall, as well as a seductive place to linger after a performance. Could it beat the ambiance of Palais Garnier?

The steps, floors, ceilings and walls are made of steel. This creates a reflective environment. In this atmosphere, the presence of the other visitors creates a somewhat narcissistic momentum. Glass between the steps let in ribbons of sunlight during the day. In the evening the Concert Hall becomes a ‘lantern’ in the park. The steps act as a brisoleil for climatic reasons. The skin opens at certain moments with moveable elements to access outside terraces.

HILL AND UFO
The steps of the Concert Hall become tribunes that overlook the grass field with the plaza, gardens, and fields. Although always accessible to the public, it can take on special functions for outside events, performances, or concerts. It creates a hill in the park, echoing and connecting with Buttes Chaumont and Montmartre. It creates a public contribution of a possibly elitist enterprise – it enlarges the public space instead of reducing it. ‘Mont Villette’ is for everyone! Paths bring people from the park to the top, where the restaurant is situated. Outside terraces with benches and trees contribute to the appeal. The expo, rehearsal and admin have their own private terraces. The three entrance zones act like sheltered grottos: the main entrance at the southern side, a VIP/taxi entrance at the periphery, and an artists’ entry to the north. The light, the material and the accessibility on the skin of the project make it a UFO-like hill.

PARK IN A PARK
By treating the complete site as one reflective plaza, the somehow hidden position is liberated. It enlarges itself. By choosing the same materials for the plaza as for the building, it continues the building that thus becomes a piece of landscape itself. A contemporary Dubuffet. The totality becomes a park in a park: adding to the collection of gardens of Villette. This avoids any similarities with the collection of elements in the surrounding. It doesn’t choose for one of them thus it respects all of them.]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:37:42 +0100 project: Boijmans Collections Building

Depot Museum

The need and ambition for a new Collections Building for the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum arose from the need to protect important art pieces from an unsafe environment. The current depot is located under the museum, below groundwater level. Extremely valuable pieces are kept under far from appropriate circumstances. It is a moist environment and with the rising ground water level the risk of underground storage is unacceptable.

The new Collections Building will function as a depot for both Boijmans van Beuningen as well as for private collectors, a radical new approach in the art-business. It will be open to the public. The collection that will be accommodated is of great value. In the Collections Building, the museum can manage and preserve its collection at the highest level. It will also offer the opportunity to house private collections and exhibit them at museum level. Private collectors will be able to rent exhibition space in the Collections Building to display their collections according to their own particular wishes.

This building offers the chance of creating a destination within the city: a public treasury.

The new depot is lifted 35 meters above ground level, so it is positioned far from the danger of ground water. By lifting the volume, the existing public square is preserved and will still be able to act as a city podium for all kinds of public events. The building functions as a roof which covers the city plaza. By adding lighting and projectors to the roof the plaza will turn into a true event space; a city dance floor.

In the legs of the table shaped building, elevators and offices are located. The 10 meter high ‘table top’ contains two levels of storage space, workshops, and other related facilities. The presentation rooms and guided tours will be open to everyone, as will the restaurant and sculpture garden on top of the building.]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:37:22 +0100 project: Rotterdam Airport

Rotterdam Airport is a local airport which serves mainly business flights between European cities. An important asset of the airport is its vicinity to the centre of Rotterdam, it is only 4 kilometres from the centre, which reminds more of the prime locations that in the 19th century was reserved for the train station than it refers to the international airport many metropolitan area’s have constructed half an hour or even one hour from their centres. Development around the airport was stagnant for decades and its growth plans offer realising a gesture that differentiates this location and the the airport from other office hubs.

Rotterdam bases its identity largely on the port and its skyline. From Rotterdam Airport’s runways the skyline is visible. This reveals the vicinity of the business centre and makes a great branding for the airport. Also from the motorway from the north and the near bypass the skyline is visible as backdrop to the airport. As to the north of the airport starts the protected countryside of Holland, the southern edge of the airport offers the opportunity to make a clear break between city and countryside.

These considerations have lead to the concept in which Rotterdam Airport is turned into a 21st century business estate which combines metropolitan density with wide countryside.

The southern edge of the airport will be enveloped by the program. The height of the new development follows the security rules of the aviation, buildings can be 45 meters tall, the airport tower determines for a part lower buildings to preserve visibility of the entire area. Further cuts in the envelop follow view lines from the motorway and bypass and from the flight platform, offering views towards the skyline and the Rotterdam icons such as the Erasmus bridge and the Euromast. The buildings surrounding the Airport benefit from the vicinity of the terminal building and the view the airport provides, a dynamic and ever changing vista. The envelope can be developed in phases and the terminal building is the only cut in the flowing line of the envelop.

The current terminal building is excellent; between the taxi and the runway are only a few meters, providing maximum efficiency for travellers. This however does not leave much space for commercial services the airport needs. In front of the terminal building a covered plaza is proposed, its roof is a service centre containing all the commercial services the airport needs including business lounges and conference centre. On top a viewing platform for tourists. The zone next to the terminal is the prime location and needs to be developed most densely.

An extensive infrastructural plan deals with the extension of the airport both on the land as on the air side. Among others thousands of parking spaces have to be added.

]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:23:49 +0100 project: Haus am Hang

The new family house is located very close to the vineyards on the Württemberg, on a steep plot where a small house was already located. The massing of the new house makes maximum use of the plot. The top floor is at street level, and the entrance is on the street side. One enters into a workspace; walking through this space, one spies the big window on the side wall, before entering into the kitchen/dining room. The middle floor houses the main bedroom, a guest room and the living room with an open fireplace set in the hillside. On the ground floor are the children’s rooms and play area, and the big family bathroom. The way the house is tucked into the hill, every room has access to the outside. In that way every floor becomes a ‘ground floor’.]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:58:17 +0100 project: Container City

3500 containers, that are substracted temporarily from the world wide flow of trade, are gathered in Rotterdam to form a megacontainer on the scale of the city: the City Container.

These containers are used as the floor, walls and the ceiling of an immense space with unusual dimensions. Cables connect the containers and put them under tension, turning them into hollow 'beams' of 6 containers long that span the hall. This tension allows as well to stack 15 units on top of each other.

In this hall the visitor is surrounded by all the units, each directly connecting the intimate with the grand scale of the hall.

It creates a giant 'bee-hive' with 3500 niches for sleeping, eating, exhibiting, performing. It creates sppace for hotels, bars, galleries, a spa, conference spaces, shops, bussiness units, ateliers, schools, creches.

The containers can be accessed by galleries, 'construction- lifts' and stairs. A container city.

By putting parts of the containers on rails, they can be easily removed. This can create giant 'windows' to the surrounding.

This bee-hive staged the central activities of the first Biennale of Architecture in the Netherlands in 2002. ]]> Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:42:16 +0100 project: Oslo Opera

URBAN PLATEAUS

ELITE?
Operas and ballets used to be made for a relatively small and select group of users. Does that distinct elite behavior still justify an excellent but dominant location for the new Norwegian opera house in Oslo?
The main activities of the opera house can be characterized as introverted. The core of the house (the auditorium and the stage tower) demands for specific and classical acoustical, technical and theatrical treatments. It secludes the building from the outside.
Can this introverted character be changed into a more public and extraverted character that can attract a larger audience? By turning its qualities inside-out a profound type of egalitarianism can be proposed that possibly justifies the existing situation and that can become a more relevant icon for a larger population.

NEW WILDERNESS
Maybe the demand for a more iconic role for the opera can be found in the specific urban situation of Oslo and Norway. Should this building play on Norway’s strength in providing abundant natural resources to Europe?
Can its exterior symbolize the celebration of nature or better wilderness, emptiness and public space (the main subject for the opera anyway) more then its interior?

PINE PENINSULA
By minimizing the footprint of the building the Opera strengthens the natural qualities of Oslo Bay. Due to this concentration act the peninsula can become as open and public as possible. It opens the pier totally that then can be developed as a recreation ground.
Its situation next to the central station and its dense, immediate surroundings can turn it into a vivid space.

THE VERTICAL OPERA
This concentration of program results in a vertical opera house that, owing to the desire for incorporating iconic qualities dependent on height and appearance, can be seen from the bay and the hills.
This gesture combines development with identity: more nature and more city.

SCENOGRAPHY
By stacking the given program a sequence can be designed as a trajectory for the visitor and the users from Earth into heaven: from the technology via the services, the entrance foyer, the offices, the workshops into the rehearsal zone and ultimately leading to the final destination of the performance floor and, as the epilogue, the aftermath, the ephemeral chill-out: the sky foyer overlooking Oslo. A sequence that enables the user to leave the city behind and to become “open” to a new experience, slightly away from everyday life.

PROGRAMMATICAL ROCKS
The opera house is organized as a series of departments that are considered as inter-dependent territories with specific demands. They are stacked on top of each other in a linear sequential manner as a series of platforms or plateaus. Each plateau has its own dimension allowing for the perfect internal organization of different departments. Each of them has its specific appearance that allows for external visibility and identification.

The height positions refer to other Oslo buildings: the Town Hall, Parliament Building, Ski-station, Restaurant, and Castle. One could say that this building “gathers” or “summarizes” Oslo’s major public elements.

VERTICAL URBANITY
The overlap between the plateaus creates a series of outside spaces. The overhangs allow for sun shading possibilities.
Every platform obtains its own appearance from stone, glass, ice, wood, rocks, or pebbles, combining that with public use decks: these interlinked boardwalks, rock gardens, ice rinks, gravel pits for children, romantic forests, and water basins turn the opera into a vertical public park. The platforms surround the interior of the opera with public-ness.
It connects every part of the program with the outer world, allowing for a maximum identification and “addressing” of different compartments, a differentiated package of urban programs and usages and an appealing travel from the bottom to the top.
These “plateaus” extend the public space of the city vertically to accommodate a huge mob for the celebrations in the Oslo Bay.

TRANSPORT
The public travels by shuttle escalators that connect the park with the lower foyer, from the lower foyer to the main auditorium and to the small auditorium and the concourse, from the main auditorium and the concourse to the sky bar.
Elevators connect these spaces internally. A possible “cable car” connects the auditorium with the Central Station.
The outside spaces, the urban platforms, are connected by small escalators, stairs and ramps, turning this outside sequence into an urban promenade.
The loading bay has a separate connection with the surrounding. From the loading bay all service elevators and freight elevators start.
The staff enters the building through the lower foyer.
The escape routes are mainly organized through four cores. The extra escape routes from the main auditorium are positioned in and on top of the escalator tubes and on the roofs of the public decks. The possible “cable car” can act in cases of emergency as an extra safety measurement.

FIGURE
The shifted platforms turn the building into a possible icon for Oslo, a “balancing figure” that “echoes” the activities inside. The geological “formation” of the plateaus reflects the wider context.
The figure counterbalances the heaviness and solidity of Oslo’s major public monument: the Town Hall.
]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:48:29 +0100 project: Singapore Westwood

Existing Tower
The Westwood Tower is located on a prime location on the Orchard Road, Singapore’s Champs-Elysées. Built in the seventies, the tower lacks the architectural expression and amenities that the location would ask for. Deriving its identity from the exposed concrete construction, it presents itself as a ‘building without characteristics’,being neither inspiring nor appealing. Nevertheless, the building quality and layout of the apartments are good. Therefore an intense refurbishment of the tower is considered instead of complete demolition. But a mere renovation won’t be enough to revamp the tower to nowadays standards, something special is needed to give it a new iconic expression.

Several observations should be taken into account.
- Only 330 square meters can be added to the
existing amount of 15800m2.
- The maximum height of the building can be in
creased to 100 meters, 16 meters higher than
the present height of 84 meter.
- The existing layout of the apartments is good,
and it is not easy to make big changes to the lay
out due to the structural slab-like principle.

A new Sky village
How to remodel the tower? How to find the balance between giving it a new expression and maintaining the present modest qualities of the existing layout? Adding a few square meters per floor or one new penthouse of 300 m2 will not do the trick. Something more radical is needed.

By removing the existing 6 top levels that are slightly different from the typical tower floor plan, and removing the first floor from the bottom of the tower, a new penthouse addition can return on top of the basic tower (the extra 300 square meters can also be added here). In total 4500m2 new square meters can be added on top. A new sky village is created by stacking 13 penthouses on top of each other.

The sky village is lifted towards the maximum height of 100 m, allowing a new sky deck to be realized on top of the remaining tower. Sky deck The sky deck has a free height of 15m. It contains two small swimming pools and a sundeck with trees surrounded by a transparent windscreen. A small fitness area is positioned inside the core that is supporting the 13 new penthouses.
Sky Villas
What type of penthouses would be most desirable in Singapore? A villa in the sky with a private sky terrace would combine the exclusive intimacy of a villa with the grand views of a penthouse. The new sky village is organized around a central core area with 3 spiraling stairlike cantilevering rooms with terraces above. Each penthouse has access to a large terrace. To achieve maximum privacy most penthouses are duplexes. The new structure is positioned on top of the existing tower via a structural transfer layer in which several elements of the collective sky deck are integrated (the pools, the tree pots, etc).

Existing tower
The existing typical floor plan can be modified in such a way that 4 smaller apartments are created instead of 2 larger ones. This can be an attractive alternative for the lower levels, enriching the choice of typologies. A small pied-à-terre like studio close to Orchard Road can be an attractive new typology, next to the renovated existing apartments and the new top-level sky villas. A new facade material of light natural stone and new plant and flower planting zones along the windows will give the existing tower the expression of a vertical garden.

Lobby and garden area
The existing entrance level is buried and used for parking, so that the new entrance level can be at the same level with the street. A new higher entrance lobby is created by removing the lowest level of apartments. The new lobby is accessed via a pond in which the existing tower is standing. A small waterfall filters the water and creates an idyllic background]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 17:19:00 +0100 project: Taipei Performing Arts Centre


The Cultural Peak

GLOBAL AND LOCAL CULTURE
The demand for a new cultural theatrical center in Taipei coincides with the moment to discuss Taipei’s appearance in the world and Taiwan’s specialization, due to the globalization.
What will be the appearance of the complex? Something fashionable? Something that already exists elsewhere? Or something more focused? Something that wants to discuss the specific situation?

THE AREA
The situation for the new theatre complex is specific: in between the YangMing mountain and the city. Where the hills are undeniably specific, spectacular and overwhelming, the city has a much more generic appearance. Can the theatre respond to this?

THE WORLD OF ICONS
Cities compete with icons. What should Taipei add to the discussion? Can we develop an iconic complex that distances itself from the known more or less icons? Can we create a building that creates a sincere contextual representation? That is therefore irreplaceable? That therefore is able to attract people from the city as from abroad due to its contextual notion? How to construct an approach that allows making the building comprehensible? That develops a proud way to explain its concept clearly? A clear narrative is proposed.

FUNCTION AND FESTIVENESS
The organization of a theatre complex has a strong combination of functional and festive components. The theatres with all their strong demands are like ’machines’, which are based on view lines, acoustics and tradition. They behave like fixed ’instruments’. These instruments are positioned in such a way that a true functional organization of the logistics can be combined with a festive approach of the visitor and the actors.

EXCELLENCE IN PERFORMANCE
The Taipei Performing Arts Center has the great ambition to unify three different theatre types in one building, a grand theatre, a proscenium playhouse and a multiform theatre, all with their very own specifics and logistics. The design is developed around the idea that the theatres are developed through the demands of their specific performances and unified by the surrounding program such as the lobby. This theatre design based on logic and theatre technology achieves excellence for the visitors and the actors, it facilitates efficiency behind the stage, all to turn the visit to any one of the three theatres into a festive and memorable event. The theatres achieve maximum visibility from each chair and the stage technology allows for swift changeovers.

Meanwhile acoustics, scènography, lighting and storage are designed to serve the very needs of the varying performances that are to be held in the Performing Arts Center, from Chinese opera to modern dance, from classical theatre to concerts, all within this flexible and adapting building. Whatever performance the public visits they can be certain of the best support and care by their Performing Arts Center.

THE PERFECT COMPOSITION
As the three theatres have their own logics and logistics it leads to independent demands and plans. In total nothing ’fits’. By accepting this, an extremely rich lobby comes alive.
The three instruments are placed in such a way that they form a welcoming lobby to the Wenlin road and the city. They are placed as well in such a way that they surround on one hand the loading dock, which is directly accessible from Chengde road, with the deliveries to all the three theatres.
On the first floor the back stage artist’s zone is situated as a ’village’. Higher up the offices are positioned as a ‚beam’ with its own domain. On top the restaurant’s volume with a view over the city. Each of them is separately accessible.

THE 3D LOBBY
By covering this program and its optimized position with a beautiful blanket, a rich spacious lobby comes to live underneath.
The in between space becomes the communicative lobby space, in which all program functions are connected through stairs and bridges. A sincere three dimensional lobby appears. Can it be the answer to Garnier’s Opera in Paris?

THE BEAUTIFUL BLANKET
The blanket is proposed to be made of sprayed insulated concrete (with substantial sustainable potential) and covered with PU polished painting, giving a subtle glance…. The inside of the blanket is covered with mirrors, creating a reflective environment for the audience.
The blanket is punctured with glass windows that form a line pattern that derived from a traditional Taiwanese piece of textile. This pattern illuminates the foyer during the day. It becomes a shining message towards the sky and the surrounding during the nights.

THE NEW URBAN HILL
The blanket forms a hill with accessible outside terraces for the offices halfway to the top as a terrace for the restaurant on the top: dining on a peak with a view over the city. Parts of the slopes are used for an outdoor cinema or theatre. The lower part of the hill is shaped in such a way that more public functions come alive. A skateboard connection with the surrounding plazas makes the building a truly public amenity.

HIGH AND LOW
The intention to position the new performing arts centre at this location is inspiring: it wants to combine high art within a popular area. It wants to enliven and invest in the popular night market area. The architecture intends to develop this, the design strengthens the public role of this possibly elitist institution, the hill becomes multi functional. It becomes public: The creation of a public amenity, a new hill between the existing Taipei hills. It adds to the specialness of the city. It emphasizes the natural beauty of Taiwan, one of its major attractions. It strengthens the value of it as the need to protect it and to develop it.

Our proposal creates a true public building for all citizens, enhancing culture, referring to local tradition and nature. A new international icon for Taipei embedded in the city.

]]> Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:16:38 +0100 project: Parkrand building

Buurt 9 (neighborhood number nine) is a characteristic piece of the Amsterdam Western Garden Cities, a big housing development of the 1950s and 1960s built with the aim to house as many people as quickly as possible.

But the design of the Garden Cities has enormous spatial qualities: sequences of spacious parks surround the neighborhoods and give the development its name.

Recently the area needed to be upgraded. The smaller houses have to be replaced by bigger apartments and villas in order to attract middle class residents. The technical standards of the buildings have to be improved to meet new requirements. Many lawns are filled-up contradicting one of the best qualities of the Cities: the spacious lawns and parks.

How can the Buurt 9 renovation comment on this development? How can it densify while adding to the parks? Can it create an icon out of this operation?

Buurt 9 consists of 174 standard small housing units that are located in three L-shaped buildings positioned next to a small park.

By replacing them in a compact but impressive volume, the park can be enlarged. It leads to an impressive volume that obtains attention, for itself but maybe (and that is more important) for the new neigborhood.

The proportions of the outline for the block, 135 m long by 34 m high and 34 m deep, could be considered as mansion-like in relation to the even more spacious park. A new “landhouse” arises that produces more character for the park.

By splitting the program into five towers that are sandwiched between a deck with the amenities and roof of penthouses, an open and airy block is formed, offering variations of views from all directions. It creates a lifted semi-public park, a semi-public balcony that overlooks the park. This garden can be seen as a supplement to the park and ‘enlarges’ it, even when it is built...

The garden offers better protection to rain and wind, secured access, and more intimate spaces and playgrounds. It will be used more frequently and by different people than the park. This space becomes the central space for the inhabitants, the “living room,” that’s been stressed by soft furniture, decorative walls, ceiling and floor finishes, plants, and “chandeliers.”

The towers are positioned in such a way that on the one hand they do not block views from the neighborhood to the park and on the other all apartments located in the towers combine a view to the park with good sun orientation. This is achieved by perforating the roof plate with three holes. In the bottom plate this principle is repeated, so by making two courtyards that give light, view and access to the apartments on the first level.

In that way the new Buurt Ne9en park building is adding more “garden” and more “city” to the changing Western Garden Cities of Amsterdam. It is continuing the optimistic tradition that characterizes the history of these neighborhoods.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 18:26:46 +0100 project: Leisure Center Nanjing

In the new CBD-area of Nanjing a cultural area is being planned, (describe the 4 quarters). Located next to the metro station, one of the quarters will be thematized around art. Next the proposed Yi Lan zhai museum, an art center, commercial area linked to design, a bookshop, art school and galleries, studios and soho’s are planned. The most prominent building on the plot will be the museum. In order not to reduce this prominence, the added buildings are positioned towards the road at other end of the plot. In that way 2 atmospheres are created, an open and green museum area and a more dense art- and commercial cluster, which is subdivided into 3 different zones. 3 remarkable volumes are facing the main street located in such a way that a clear vista is given from the main street to the museum

1. Commercial building

Facing the metro station a rectangular block of 4 layers could contain a number of shops, bars, clubs and offices. A number of terracing cutouts provide access on a several levels and connecting towards the middle block, the art incubation center.

2. Art Incubation center

The art center is an open block, offering a number of possible addresses situated around a series of courtyards that are all connected in a meandering way. The meandering double layer stripe are positioned over each other, creating a diverse and lively courtyard village, in which a series a different institutes and functions can be located. The functions can be positioned on various ways f.i. in such a way that each courtyard has a theme.

3. the SOHO block

The soho block is located next to the green zone. It contains 24 large apartments that are all oriented towards the green. The apartments consist out of 3 or 4 plateaus, combining privacy with view. Several interiors are imaginable, depending on the position of the patios. Located below the apartments, a private parking garage and a luxury food shop are provided.
In front of the museum, a water plaza is made on which several pavilions can be placed. The plaza links the metro station with the museum and the 3 blocks are each facing the plaza as well. Under the plaza extra commercial space is provided. Special feature could be a spider shaped under water restaurant, which could connect the museum, the parking, the commercial zone and the pavilions together.

Parking

Several solutions can be imagined for the parking. F.I.
- a continuous 1 layer parking under the dense half of the plot
- a double layer parking under the art center next to the underground commercial zone, combined with a separate parking for the Soho-units.

Carpet

The 2 areas on the overall plot could each have their own pavement. For the green zone: a more park like tapestry with ponds and water gardens. For the more urban zone a brick like street pavement could connect the 3 buildings, making it easy to move around between the buildings.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:41:06 +0100 project: New Orleans Lower 9th - concept BENT

Flood Proof Homes

The attempt to rebuild the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, exactly at the point where the levies broke, is highly courageous. Since the height and quality of the levies is not sufficient to reduce the risk of flooding, living there means living in permanent danger. The primary task is to repair the levies to such a level that they guarantee residents’ safety. But how long can they wait for that? While they are waiting they are losing the use of their plot and have to invest in other living accommodations.
So: why don’t we start?
With that message every building activity becomes political. Why not stress this? Why not show this contradiction explicitly?

In the first phase 150 houses will be built by thirteen different architects. Our design direction was to interpret a classic shotgun house. We propose 5 types of water protected shotgun houses. Each house has its’ own quality. The variety adds to the diversity of the 150 built houses, showing the inhabitants and the world some of the possibilities.

In each case one element transforms the classic shotgun, a classical primary structure, into a water free house. The five escape houses are lifted in different ways. The spaces below the elevated living space benefit from shade in this hot and humid environment. This area can be used as a shadow garden and a carport. The houses are located at the extreme south side of the lot so that the garden wraps around 3 sides; from West to East. The circulation space hugs the south wall so that the living spaces are positioned along the garden on the north side.

THE BENT HOUSE
Bending the shot gun house up in two directions creates a carport at front and a shadow garden at the rear. The centre of the house contains the kitchen & bath- it is the lowest level. Stairs lead to a living room on the one side, and bedrooms on the other. The bedrooms and living room are above floodwater level. This means that escape would be possible to both the front porch and the rear porch.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:40:21 +0100 project: Pyjama Garden Medical Center Extention

The demands for hygiene, control and budget typically turn hospitals into enclosed boxes, separated from the environment, disconnected from “nature.” Hospitals can be regarded as perfectly balanced “installations.” The building for the public program, such as the restaurant, the conference center and the library for the MMC in Veldhoven, has been designed as a covered garden with natural sunlight, a glass house acclimatized by flora that compensates for the introverted orientation of the rest of the hospital. It gives the patient some freedom from the endless corridors and sterile medical environments. It’s a pyjamas garden amid the Lysol disinfectant of the hospital ward. The regular and relatively cheap construction of the glasshouse could be extended into a large atrium, planted with trees, that could be available to all visitors and patients as a psychological retreat from the reality of the hospital. It is positioned in the middle of the existing hospital in order to turn it into a casual meeting point and an obliged “natural” momentum in everyone’s trajectory. The functions are housed in mini-houses within the garden. The atrium will be the first step in re-fashioning the hospital as a “sea” of glass with lush gardens year-round, a green salve for an otherwise white wound.
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:38:15 +0100 project: Cancer Centre Amsterdam

The Cancer Centre Amsterdam, part of the Antony van Leeuwenhoek Hospital in Amsterdam, needs to be rebuilt and enlarged on its existing site. A temporary institute is to be erected during the construction activities. This is conceived as a series of containers on a small site next to the A19 motorway, within the Zuid-as Development Zone in Amsterdam. The tight location demands a vertical institute. The location next to one of the busiest highways of the Netherlands provides the opportunity to attract more attention for the institute. Each container has been painted in a way that together they advertise the existence of the institute.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:37:19 +0100 project: RVU

The RVU is one of the buildings that together make up the “campus” of the cooperating television companies VPRO, VARA, NPS and RVU that form Net3, the third channel of the Dutch Public Television Broadcasting System. In the first instance the location was intended to remain unbuilt to ensure a continuing “ecological link” with the so called Hilversum Media Park.

Although a four-storey building could be erected according to the building regulations, in general it was felt that this would destroy the ecological connection and visibility of the city towards the Media Park. The perceived threat of a future building disturbing this ecological zone is neutralized precisely by the design of the RVU building.

By proposing a single-story office building and digging it like a shaft into the top of the steepest flank of Hilversum Hill it becomes invisible from the city. The landscape carries over the roof. By twisting the building a bit and hovering it at the east side over a covered lava garden, it becomes very apparent from the Media Park, thus giving the RVU a visibility within the Broadcasting Landscape. The roof functions as a public balcony with a view over the campus and the Media Park.

A public path connects the city with the park. It runs over, through and under the building, creating the main entrance in the heart of the building, halfway up the staircase.

The elevations and the external ceiling of the projecting portion are clad with Corten steel. This entrance divides the interior in three zones, each with its own office typology: one zone with randomly placed office units around a communal area, a double corridor zone flanked by individual offices around the entrance patio and an open space with a large glass window that provides a panoramic view over the campus and Media Park.

The building overhanging the slope at ground level forms a porch that includes a drop-off point for visitors and a bicycle shed. The ground level is strewn with pieces of lava between which spotlights aimed at the ceiling light up like glowing embers. Together, the field of lava and the Corten steel ceiling form a compact undulating space to serve as an entrance to the building.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:35:09 +0100 project: Berlin Voids

With The Wall torn down and East and West Berlin recently reunited, the central government proposed a left over site in the nineteenth-century Prenzlauerberg district (a former Russian checkpoint next to the old Wall zone) as an infill location as part of the 2nd European housing competition.

284 houses and 30.000 m2 of commercial space were to be placed in a way to give the area a shot of ‘progress’. Main questions was to satisfy these aspirations. Should the original building envelope be respected, so that East Berlin continues to withdraw into the world of inhuman tenement blocks (Mietskasernen)? Or should the building stand proudly, encouraging literal connections between these Mietskasernen and other ‘Grosshaüser’ on the horizon, so that Berlin can enjoy the large-scale cohesion worthy of a capital city. A ‘titled’ Mietskaserne could be erected to satisfy these aspirations, while at the same time performing public functions. It could then display its contents to the outer world as a vertical neighbourhood packed with ‘ideals’.

Since modernist times every architect seems to feel obliged to design the ideal house. But is there such a thing as the ideal place? The demand for greater variety and even more extreme forms of dwelling is gaining momentum. The ideal home no longer exists: there are thousands of ideal homes. The one permanent ideal has been supplanted by many temporary ones. It seems as though people buy homes instead of houses, rather than turning a house into a home for themselves. The familiar ideals can be extended through a series of extended or extrapolated ‘permutations’ on the average house: so from the straightforward front-to-back type to the stair type, the house with the super window, the house with no roof, the house with no walls, to the pit house, the catholic house, the house with towers, the disconnected house, etc. All specific and characteristic spaces waiting to be inhabited, to be urbanised, to be appropriated, time and time again.

Out of these ideals, a housing block can be constructed like a Chinese puzzle. But the placing of these ideals within the building envelope gives rise to in-between houses with even more unexpected spaces and qualities. Is the unexpected not the sublime goal of one’s ‘dwelling career’? Modern technology has enabled the concrete walls and floors to absorb almost every possible contact between the neighbours. Anonymity is stimulated. This leaves a new role for the visual. Through this Chinese puzzle of houses, the neighbour is not hidden from view but present. Might this stimulate a certain social awareness and security? The puzzle arouses curiosity as to what your neighbour’s house might be like, and your neighbour’s neighbour’s neighbour’s house...

284 ‘ideals’ are shown to the east and west (of Berlin ) in a frozen composition of well-known and newly discovered dwelling types.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:35:01 +0100 project: Porters’ Lodges, Hoge Veluwe National Park

The three lodges are situated by the entrance to the national park “De Hoge Veluwe”, in the villages of Rijzenburg, Hoenderloo and Otterlo. The park is famous for its natural beauty and for the Kröller-Müller Museum situated in the middle of it. It is also known for its high quality architecture: for example the museum by Henry van de Velde with an extension by Wim Quist and Hunting Lodge for Kröller-Müller designed by Hendrik Berlage.

The shape of the archetypical lodge - the little house - has been deformed by site-specific conditions, such as the movement of passing traffic, the positions of car parks and bicycle parks, and is enlarged (stretched) in the direction of the visiting public.

Each entrance lodge was given a different material expression. Wood (Western Red Cedar), steel (Corten steel) and bricks represent the three elements of the park: nature, art and architecture. At the Rijzenburg entrance, wood was utilised, recalling nature and hunting - the origins of the park. The Hoenderloo lodge - constructed of Corten steel - refers to the art of the Kröller-Müller Museum with its collection of modern art and its extensive sculpture garden. The architecture of the park is evoked in the Otterlo lodge with its brick and concrete finish.

All materials were used in their natural state and are gradually weathering over time. To further emphasise the object-like and artificial quality of the lodges, the same materials were used all over the buildings, including roofs, shutters and doors, with a detailing that corresponds to the physical capacity of the materials.

The lodges were designed to be completely closed during closure time thus turning into mysterious sculptural objects. ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:34:22 +0100 project: Tokyo Fashion Design HQ

An ultra hip Japanese fashion company indicated that it would be highly attractive having a headquarter on the Sendagaya site which is taller than the neighbouring towers so it can be seen from most of the city and the Olympic Stadium. A building that is 64 meters tall with no more than 2100m2 of floor space. A combination of height and airiness.

The program is logically stacked, starting with the parking in the basement, entrance and cafe on the ground floor, on top a canteen, followed by showrooms, studio’s and offices, endsing with a residence on top.

Two cores are linked on the top and the bottom, defining a frame in which the five programmatic volumes are positioned. By shifting them each volume has an outdoor terrace. A stair in the overlap of the volumes internally links the higher volumes. ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:29:05 +0100 project: Wembley Hotel & Casino

The design for the new casino, conference and hotel complex at Wembley quests the classical casino typology that is mainly based in the US. How can a European translation of these suburban and heavily thematized casino-complexes that are surrounded by parking lots be imagined? How can it fit in the urban context while ‘stand out’ in order to create this specific casino atmosphere that attract customers? How to combine recognition with a blending with the environment, the outstanding with the contextual?

The new surroundings of the new Wembley Stadium are designed as a new urban tissue, composed of streets and blocks. A maximum height allows seeing the stadium from anywhere and from far. By turning the new casino complex into a relatively low and clear rectangular block, the new complex fits in the surrounding urban typology: the complex will this create facades that continue the intended urban spaces.

The surrounding urban mix is ‚echoed’ in the complex program. The combination of hotel, casino, conference halls and parking allow for a mutual synergy. The program is read as a three-layered sandwich of parking, public functions (casino/lobbies and conference centre) and hotel rooms that can maximize the in-between relationships.

By ‘pushing up’ the hotel program locally, a series of cupola spaces, the classical casino space pur sang, can be created that allow to characterize the programmatic differences of the public layer. By giving every space of the public space its distinct size and height, they all obtain their unique qualities and appearances. It leads to a sequence of interrelated cupolas. When the cupolas meet the surrounding streets, bigger openings are foreseen, thus ‘showing’ the internal activities and attracting possible visitors. Every cupola obtains its own cluster of program.

As a counter effect these domes create a hilly roof landscape. It gives the complex a remarkable iconic appearance that ‘echoes’ the spirit of the stadium. The slopes are used for the rooms. Private terraces allow direct access from the majority of the rooms to the gardens. The lowest parts of the roof, the valleys, can due to its visual and climatic intimacy, be used for the outside pool. The peaks can be used for viewing areas, special programs, and suites, meeting rooms.

Grass vegetation can buffer the water and thus help to cool the building in summer and it can help to keep the complex warm in winter. The water can be buffered and cleaned in the valleys, thus allowing to be reused for internal (toilet flushing) and external (garden maintenance) usage. The complex gets a more ecological, sustainable character, that ‘Europeanizes’ the hyper economical connotations of the casino complex.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:28:46 +0100 project: Toptani Shopping Center

The Toptani Shopping Centre is part of the recent developments in the Albanian capital Tirana, a city which has emerged with innovative creative force from the post socialist chaos.

The combination of retail and offices allows for an iconic building following the requirements of both programmatic parts. The retail is located easily accessible on the lower floors and arranged around an atrium which follows the natural access routes from the city. The shopping centre can be used as shortcut to generate more pedestrian traffic. The interior of the atrium is clad with mirrors which will create a magical scenery in which the shapes of the reclining floors mirror themselves.

The office floors on top are arranged around the same core which is slimmer here which is more efficient for the office program. The office floors provide views over the city and outside spaces, in the Albanian climate a real asset.

The façade has two main functions: it engages the city by being accessible through a series of stairs and balconies – extending the city life and providing a façade animated with life. Parts of the façade are devoted to advertising, mostly around the entrances to the arcade the façade is clad with a giant LCD screen which can engage the city and is in this new positive tradition of Tirana. The façade can be programmed according to the events in the centre and it can even serve as screen for important events such as elections or football matches. ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:28:40 +0100 project: Flight Forum

The design of a 60 hectare business park with small offices and distribution halls in Eindhoven can be seen as a “test zone” of the process described above. We all know these types of areas. One can see them from highways. One enters them from special entrances. The first buildings command good prices because of their visibility from the highway. But when one needs to find the buildings behind it, one enters a zone of considerable danger and chaos. Can we create a park without these “qualities”? Can we create an environment where all buildings occupy the “first” position?

By redesigning the proposed four-lane urban highway and by “pulling” the roads apart, the in-between zones could be used for occupation. More buildings can thus be directly accessed from the highway. Why not all?

We tried to detail this ambition by adding highly comfortable traffic parameters: no head lights, no roundabouts, and no traffic lights.

We could realize these ambitions by “changing” the law. This law does not allow for a comfortable ”highway”-like attitude within cities. All crossing points need to be oblique. One has to stop before one can drive further. How can we avoid these types of time-consuming crossings? Can we create a pattern that is more fluid and more relaxing? By designing merging zones, with a length depending on speed, comfort could be combined with safety. A new article in Dutch law now allows for this option. By applying these lengths on the given terrain it led to the currently realized pattern in which loops surround “islands” of buildings. All buildings are without backsides; they are “clad” against each other. Fronts only appear where representation is combined with loading and docking. This creates a high level of social control in these otherwise remote areas.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:27:36 +0100 project: Pampus Harbor Almere

Floating Settlement

Pampus Harbor is a little used ‘port of refuge’. It used to be a rough spot – an escape area. Civil technique and new nature set the scene. It is a strategic location between Almere and Amsterdam, which will transform into a waterfront colony in keeping with the visionary plans of the development of the Amsterdam-Almere area. This context and the character of the location are the basis for developing a specific living typology for people who are drawn to an environment with more freedom, a certain roughness and independence. All the right ingredients for a water colony as a settlement with self constructed- and Casco dwellings are present.

This study proposes 500 floating houses, which allow for maximum individuality and freedom. Because the settlement is entirely floating it is also movable. This way it is possible to adapt to future changes in planning. Based on several floating techniques and organization principles, five typologies that relate best to the water have been developed. The diversity of the environment can be increased by adding floating gardens. ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:23:31 +0100 project: Pig City

In 2000, pork was the most consumed form of meat at 80 billion kg per year. Recent animal diseases such as Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth disease are raising serious questions about pork production and consumption. It is evident that the current pork industry cannot proceed in the same way without causing many casualties.

Two opposing reactions can be imagined. Either we change our consumption pattern and become instant vegetarians or we change the production methods and demand biological farming.

Let us assume that we remain pork-eaters. Do we then have enough space for biological pig farming?

With a production of 16,5 million tons of pork, The Netherlands is the chief exporter of pork within the European Union. In 1999, 15.2 million pigs and 15.5 million humans officially inhabited The Netherlands. One pig needs an area of 664 m2, including current food processing: composed of 50% intensive grain production and 50% industrial by-products.

In the case of organic farming, pigs would be fed with 100% grain, leading to a required 130% more field surface due to the reduced grain production. This would cause a demand of 1726 m2 per pig, including the organic food processing. This would mean that there would be only 774 m2 per person left for other activities. In other words, 75 % of the Netherlands would be dedicated to pigs.

Can we combine organic farming with a further concentration of the production-activities so that there will be enough space for other activities? Is it possible to compact all the pig production within concentrated farms, therefore avoiding unnecessary transportation and distribution, and thereby reducing the spread of diseases? Can we through concentrated farming, create the economical critical mass to allow for a communal slaughterhouse, a self-sufficient fertiliser recycler and a central food core, so as to solve the various problems found in the pig-industry?
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:22:36 +0100 project: NL28 Olympic Fire

The Olympic Games constitute a mega-event on an unimaginable scale. Sport, the economy, city marketing, urban development, and even regional and national development are fundamentally affected. Organizing the event can strengthen the identity of a country and put major spatial planning problems on the agenda - or even solve them.

Based on studies from The Netherlands foremost centers of urban studies as well as the imaginative power of the world famous Rotterdam based architectural firm MVRDV, Olympic Fire offers a parade of spectacular visions on how the Olympic Games can transform the Netherlands a country known for its tradition of designing its environment.

The book focuses on the spatial agenda of the Netherlands by linking themes as climate change, water management and energy production in surprising and startlingly new ways with solutions for stadiums, infrastructure and accommodation for athletes. The studies result in different scenarios for the organization of the Olympic Games in the Netherlands in 2028. These are preceded by a historical timeline which gives a vivid impression of the impact that the Games have had on previous host cities such as Montreal, Los Angeles, Sydney and Beijing.

This publication is the result of studies on the feasibility, visualization and realization of the spatial program of the Olympic Games in the Netherlands in 2028, by the Academy of Architecture Rotterdam and the Berlage Institute, in collaboration with MVRDV.

Design: Sander Boor, Paperback, 336 pages, Size: 16 x 23 cm
English edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-628-0, € 35,00
Dutch edition, ISBN 978-90-5662-622-8]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:47 +0100 project: The Regionmaker / RheinRuhrCity

The Hidden Metropolis

The REGIONMAKER / RheinRuhrCity book accompanies the exhibition with the same name in the NRW-Forum Kultur und Wirtschaft in Dusseldorf 2002/2003. The exhibition as well as this book wants to generate a discussion on the possible future of the RhineRuhr region in Germany - at the moment that large-scale items again become part of the architectural domain. The REGIONMAKER has been developed as an innovative planning device and has been applied to the agglomeration at Rhine and Ruhr. This most radical and far-sighted analysis of RheinRuhrCity as well as the development of the REGIONMAKER have been made possible through a collaboration between the Dutch planning office MVRDV, various academic institutions and highly recommended international professionals. The book can be seen as a "manual" for The REGIONMAKER and describes the targets and the structure of the software.

Paperback
352 pages
ISBN 3.7757.1200.3
Text in German and English
Published in 2002
Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern DE
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:30 +0100 project: SpaceFighter

The Evolutionary City
MVRDV, Delft School of Design

Space Fighter presents the Evolutionary City by the Action Space! studio. An ambitious project to create a new ‘simulator’ tool for both urban planners and project managers alike. The journey begins with evolution, Darwin’s phenotypes and the realms of biology, sociology, and economics. Pumped by evolution's magic, the studio delves into game theory, synthesizing a set of games modeled on diverse aspects of the city - from the practicality of a building developer’s tasks to the intangible social aspects of a city.

MVRDV/DSD project in collaboration with the Berlage Institute, MIT and cThrough.

Paperback

300 pages

ISBN 978-84-96540-73-6
Text in English

Published in 2007
Actar, Barcelona ES
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:24 +0100 project: Sky Car City

A pre-emptive history

From the 2006 Marcus Prize Studio at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Winy Maas of MVDRV and Grace La of UWM present the work of twelve students who explored the relationship between infrastructure, architecture, and urban form. This highly investigative studio pushed the physical and conceptual limits of given definitions of city, circulation, and program. Tested in two scenarios (one real in Tianjin, China and the other purely hypothetical), the studio severed vehicular traffic flow from its traditional two-dimensional plane and then forecast the potentials of a new, hyper-volumetric city where given urban activity inflate to fully occupy all three-dimensions. Populated by 5 million inhabitants and rising 800 meters high, this new 'sky car city' is buzzing with the flows of goods and people, as they navigate the airways in several models of newly designed air-born vehicles.

Paperback
240 pages
ISBN 8496540588
Text in English
2007
Actar Barcelona]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:18 +0100 project: Reading MVRDV

This book examines the context of MVRDV's research-based thinking and radical design strategies. Texts by a number of international critics, philosophers and architects probe into the whys and wherefores of MVRDV's architecture, the potentials of the data-scapes and the secret of the firm's success. The contributors compare MVRDV with other generations and describe how new concepts are born. The pros and cons surrounding MVRDV converge in this book, which is published on the occasion of the exhibition on the work of MVRDV held at the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the first in a series entitled 'NL Export'. It will then travel to various institutes in Europe and the United States.

Paperback

160 pages

ISBN 90.5662.287.0

Text in English

Published in june 2003

NAi Publishers ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:12 +0100 project: Villa VPRO

]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:18:00 +0100 project: Metacity Datatown

Can we understand the contemporary city at a moment when globalization has exploded its scale beyond our grasp? Have we lost control of its quantities or can we analyse its components and manipulate them? Imagine a city that is described only by data. A city that wants to be explored only as information. A city that knows no given topography, no prescribed ideology, no representation, no context. Only huge, pure data: Metacity/Datatown. What are the implications of this city? To what conclusions can it lead? What agenda for architecture and urbanism could this numerical approach provoke? This book wants to examine that agenda. Metacity/Datatown was conceived by Winy Maas. It has been researched and produced by MVRDV, the authors of FARMAX. De fictieve, slechts door gegevens beschreven stad Metacity/Datatown kent geen vaste topografie, geen voorgeschreven ideologie, geen representatie en geen context. De implicaties van een dergelijke stad worden onderzocht en ontwikkeld door MVRDV.

Paperback

224 pages

ISBN 90.6450.371.0
Text in English
Published in 1999

010 Publishers ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:17:44 +0100 project: KM3

Excursions on capacity

KM3 is a story about a world that is densifying. Very dense. KM3 is a city that is continuously under construction, with space for limitless populations and possibilities. A city that continues to serve all desires, that enlarges our capacities. Beyond scarcity. Beyond separation. Beyond pessimism and protectionism. A city that will lead to a new programmatic "skin" around the globe, swelling beyond the horizontal, surging vertically. The 3D City. A free fall in endless space. Pure depth. Without escape. Yet. KM3 is a hypothesis, a theoretical city, and a possible urban theory. 
Three dimensionality can be seen as architecture’s fundamental existence, the profession’s acclaimed domain. In times of globalization and scale enlargement, an update of this definition seems needed: meters turn into kilometers, M3 becomes KM3.

Hardcover
1408 pages

ISBN 84.95951.85.1

Text in English

Published in december 2005

Actar]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:17:26 +0100 project: Five Minutes City

Architecture of [im]mobility

FiveMinutesCity was an international forum and workshop for young architects organized by the Berlage Institute in collaboration with the Mies van der Rohe Foundation (Barcelona) and the Institut Français d'Architecture (Paris). The organizers invited Winy Maas, architect and partner in MVRDV from Rotterdam, as the workshop master.



Winy Maas proposed a provocative and inspiring brief; he asked participants to redesign the cities of Rotterdam and New York in a way that everything is reachable within five minutes. A series of serious questions arise from the challenging brief: 'What will such a city look like? What happens to such an hypothesis if cars are the only mode of transport? What will such a city look like when it is only accessed by public transport? Or by walking?' How one can extend the knowledge of compact or dense cities? How fast cities can be? Is increased speed an ideal concept for future cities? Is development of new infrastructure sustainable for cities in future? Can Rotterdam become such a city? Is it possible to upscale Manhattan? How does mobility affects the working and living qualities of the cities and how is mobility shaping cities?

Paperback

304 pages

ISBN 90.597.300.38

Text in English

Published in 2006

Episode Publishers, Rotterdam NL ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:17:19 +0100 project: Costa Iberica


Upbeat to the leisure city

The Spanish and Portuguese coastal area has become a tremendous economic success. In 50 years it has turned into the densest 'city' in Europe due to a series of attractions that are lacking elsewhere: sun, sea, food, freedom, cheapness. But despite these huge advantages and its endless expansion, it is condemned for its monocultural behaviour, for its lack of history, taste and culture, its overwhelming hegemony over natural resources, its total ignorance of ecological responsibility. This controversy freezes its potential rather than activates it. What should be done with this paradoxical phenomenon that balances between disgust and charm, between attraction and repulsion? Could this controversy not be transformed into a more productive approach by capitalising on its massive values, enabling the area to be turned into a more sustainable and elaborate example of the Leisure City?

Paperback 

312 pages

ISBN 84.95273.19.5

Text in English

Published in 2000 
Actar ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:17:09 +0100 project: Climax

Climax Exhibition, Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie at La Villette, April-August, Paris, France, 2004

In 2003 MVRDV developed CLIMAX: a simulation exhibition on climate change. CLIMAX projects the visitor into the future and shows the possible consequences of political decisions on the climate. CLIMAX focuses on two extremes: reduction of the CO2 output, or doing nothing.

Whatever the scenario will be, life in 2100 will be very different from the current conditions. Changing climate will certainly transform our way of life. On the other hand, no one knows yet the speed and thus the exact impacts of these climatic evolutions. The exhibition shows several scenarios, all depending on the measures, that will be adopted the coming years. ]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:17:03 +0100 project: Cite Clime/ Climate World

When we were asked in the summer of 2002 to imagine an exhibition about the heating of the world’s climate we proposed to the museum to refrain from the seduction of showing only the existing knowledge. To refrain from explaining only the working of the climate, but to concentrate on creating possible solution (we are architects) and (say) ‘using’ the budget to develop knowledge. So instead of representing science, creating it. Production instead of reproduction, construction after analysis. It combines education with development, storage of knowledge with the production of knowledge.

It pleads for the Museum to take this risky, uncertain trajectory and to enter a domain that extends beyond safety. To explore the unknown. It generates an active position within a classically retrospective, museum-like environment. We suggested to create a flimsy, ephemeral ‘ultra-thin’ environment composed out of textiles, that can only come to live and start to appear through light, through projections, that makes the invisible visible.

Changes in the world’s climate are hard to conceive: it is mainly ‘visible’ through statistics. One hot summer does not say much. And it is even more speculative and ‘thin’ to imagine its future. Scientists can not say much due to the numerous variables and uncertainties that surround the subject. Any speculation can therefore be dramatically and easily criticized.

Within this ‘lightness’, suggesting that appearing heaviness reveals drama. The suggestive answers can create a heroism that overcomes pessimism. It creates a path for optimistic survivalism. Isn’t that the ultimate educational position?

The exhibition is composed out of an accumulating series that consist of three chapters, three rooms, filled with three mediums that unravel and explore simultaneously possible approaches towards this content: an introductory panoramic filmroom, a room dedicated to projected opinions that surround the subject and an interactive ‘WarRoom’ of projected simulations of possible worlds. These three rooms are blocked together, forming a mini-city of knowledge: we even called it Cité Clime in the office for a long time.]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:14:41 +0100 project: De Nieuwe Kuip

In 2004 MVRDV and Bouwhaven started an initiative for a new stadium for Feyenoord to be located at an iconic location at the Maas. In this plan the stadium is wrapped in a dense mix-use program. In december 2008 the Rotterdam city council decided moving the stadium to the proposed location at the Maas.

Click here for the first publication in 2005 (Dutch)
Click here for the debate in Rotterdam, September 2009 (Dutch)

De Kuip (the bowl), the home of Rotterdam’s famous Feyenoord football club is a 70 year old stadium, a fantastic monument that has honoured many heroes. Since a recent renovation this heroic atmosphere is left only inside the stadium. Its surroundings are mind-killing, the monument sits in a desert of parking spaces, a comparison with an Atlanta shopping Mall is apparent: the stadium is not integrated in the city whilst it should be part of animated city life, an icon of the people. Currently plans for renovation or demolition and new construction are on their way. The easy option is to build a new stadium right next to the old one.

But should these plans not be used for a more comprehensive gesture for Rotterdam? A new stadium should mean progress for the neighbourhood, the city and the football club. A new temple for Feyenoord needs to be visible from many places in the city. The proposed site next to the old Kuip is the contrary: hidden and anonymous.

Rotterdam accompanies the river Rhine which is locally called the ‘Maas’ on its last kilometres to the sea. From the mouth of the Maas to the city centre the city has constructed one beacon after the other, the Europoort, the Maasland Barrier, the container and petro port, the city centre with its bridges and the skyscrapers along the water. But in the east of the city between Willemsbridge and van Brienenoord bridge there is a nondescript area, mostly built up with anonymous housing. This is the area the new Kuip could occupy. In the bend of the river, widely visible from many sides and accessible through the already massively present infrastructure. The embankment is still in the neighbourhood Feijenoord which lent its name to the football club so the club can stay at ‘home’ and still be omnipresent in Rotterdam.
]]> Fri, 09 Jan 2009 17:14:09 +0100 project: Marta Pozo Gil

]]> Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:28:31 +0100 project: Tirana Lakeside Masterplan

THE TIRANA LAKEDISTRICT
The Tirana Lake can be seen as one of the more highly valuable areas of the town. It is a mini version of the city’s surrounding hills and mountains. It is one of the bigger green areas of the town that is lively but as well somehow dusty. It has an important role in the cleaning of the air in the city and it forms a highly appreciated escape from the town. With the development on the northern plots around the lake, the area can be improved. But how to do that? How to use the design of these plots to strengthen the qualities of the area?
This opportunity gives it actually the chance to enhance a unique combination of sport, park, water, and urban live, to preserve and even enlarge the openness, to complete the Lake Park. A relief of the city that must be protected, strengthened en enjoyed. A rare combination of ultimate leisure and an intense urban condition. How to use this contradiction and turn it into something unique?

EXTEND THE PARK
If the demanded program is housed in regular Tirana 6-8 floor high (or low) buildings, the com-plete site would be filled. It would lead to a generic and anonymous district that does not reflect the value of the area. And only a selected group of buildings would be provided with a view to the lake and the surrounding landscape.
By housing the program in higher volumes, more space can be created to realize a park, that completes the park belt around the lake, that enlarges and strengthens its role as an ecological and leisure entity.

THE LIGHT BLUE CLOUD...
By plating the new park with Jacaranda trees a new characteristic green element can be added to the chain of parks around the lake. The tree has beautiful long-lasting blue flowers that will create a remarkable appearance: a light blue cloud of flowers that will function as a cool shadow roof on hot days. In the evening when it is dark, hanging chains of little lights in the trees create a highly poetic 'cloud of light’, a safe and beautiful area, attracting people also at night.

LAKE SHORE DRIVE
By pushing the buildings towards the dike, the lake shore can be intensified. This helps to realize the desired bustling Copa Tirana. It gives views to the lake for the apartments, the offices and the hotel. It activates the dike area. It creates ’addresses’ at the lake side. It creates a sincere urban Lake Shore Drive...

THE DIKE STRIP
A zone between the dike and the buildings is kept open to provide a green connection between the botanic gardens and the hill park. It is part of the new park on the site and provides place for pavil¬ions, terraces, outside public pools, play areas...

THE BRIDGES
Narrow wooden bridges on wooden columns are constructed between the dike and the new build-ings, to make them directly accessible from the dike. It creates a series of ’addresses’ at the lake shore dike: Copa Tirana 1-180! The bridges span over the ring road on the site and make it pos-sible to create lobbies on the 3rd level of the new buildings, maximizing the base of the buildings for shops and retail.
On the bridges one can walk over the blue flow¬ering tree tops during the day and the cloud of sparkling light during the night...

THE DIKE
The idea to cover the southern part of the dike with wooden stairs, seats and tribunes is ’echoed’ on the northern side. This creates not only a trib¬une to the lake but also to the new park. Along double orientated bench is proposed to enlarge the usage of the dike. In this way the dike can turn into an active social zone that contributes to the idea of the suggested 'Copa Tirana'.

THE PATHS
In the park a series of paths are made. They serve different functions: Some are for joggers. Some are for bikers. Some are for horses. Some connect the surrounding parks, others connect with the surrounding neighborhoods, others form a sportive loop.

SPORTS AMENITIES
Open spaces between the trees provide pockets for different sports fields (e.g. soccer, tennis, volley), a fitness forest and children areas. Thus this new park becomes the sportive part of the whole Lake Park.

THE POOLS
The existing pools are kept on their place. The underground parking garage is to be dug around them. The pools with their surrounding fields thus form ’blocks’ in the garage. A gap between the pool areas and the surrounding park creates sufficient protection, while keeping a certain openness. The slits bring light into the garage.

THE PARKING GARAGE(S)
Under the buildings a one layer parking amenity has been provided.
This shallow depth avoids deep construction (due to the water level) and makes the parking garage easy accessible and phaseable.
Underground roads on the south and north side connect the parking directly to the streets that surround the plot.
By introducing gaps between the buildings and the garage, natural light penetrates into the garage and it marks the entrances of the buildings.
Pots are positioned in the garage to provide more earth for the bigger trees.

ACCESS
The site can be accessed from all sides by the ring road; any internal access can be arranged without scrutinizing the park.
The park can be completely pedestrianized.
A park scenic road zig-zags through the park to provide direct access for services, drop offs and fire men.

THE TIRANA TOWER TYPOLOGY
The buildings are conceived on a plan of 30 by 30 meters that allow for sufficient usage for apartments, shops and offices.
This ‘echoes’ the known and therefore feasible Tirana typology.
By surrounding the internal spaces with a ring of different sized loggias, a park like variant is created to celebrate and enhance the uniqueness of the area within the city.

MUTATIONS
A series of mutations are developed to create a more diverse package of housing types i.e. houses with big balconies, terrace housing, patio housing, maisonettes, park houses and others that suit more with the park-like area. And it creates diversity: different types of housing will attract different types of people who want to live here.
It is also proposed as a development strategy that allows for flexibility during the planning process.
Together they make the area more remarkable, feasible and thus attractive.

TIRANA ROCKS
By cladding the facades with different regional stones a characteristic ensemble arises.
Pockets in different sizes provide sheltered niches for outside terraces and plantations. Porous, nature like buildings appear that strengthen the natural characteristics of the park.
Together these buildings turn into series of ’rocks’. A rock formation that becomes a sparkling icon in the park at the lake. Tirana really rocks!]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:16:29 +0100 project: contact

Contact

t: +31 (0)10 477 28 60
f: +31 (0)10 477 36 27

Dunantstraat 10
3024 BC Rotterdam NL
Postbus 63136
3002 JC Rotterdam NL

mail
public relations]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:54:17 +0100 project: directions

Public Transport
From Rotterdam Central Station take the Erasmus line (metro South) and change at Station Beurs onto the West line, direction Spijkenisse/Schiedam. Get out at Station Coolhaven. Cross the Pieter de Hoochweg bridge, then take the first street on the right, which is the Dunantstraat.

By Car
From motorway A16 or A20 follow Rotterdam-centre. Go to the west on Westzeedijk. After the locks, take the second street to the right, Pieter de Hoochweg. After the roundabout first street to the left, is the MVRDV-office.]]> Fri, 19 Dec 2008 15:00:47 +0100 project: Madrid Urban Games

It seems incredible, but Madrid does not appear to have a strong enough urban image necessary to create a context for sports.The situation and the climate do not elicit a sharp identity. It has no sea, it has no strong political message, and it does not have a strong commercial identity. If there is an identity, we can describe Madrid as a “Fata Morgana” in a desert, a highly artificial town, dependent on outside sources in order to survive. Madrid is the European equivalent of Vegas or Phoenix. But because of its isolated position it can freely exploit its artificiality without seeming to possess boundaries. It can build its own idealisms.

Maybe this can suggest a new kind of Games not situated in a suburb and separated from urban life, but games that encourage and benefit the city. The Urban Games. Totally in the city surrounded by urban life.

Isn’t it better to concentrate the Games’ program in the city instead of spreading it? Can’t we mix these programs to imagine a fertile environment during the Games and a prosperous one in the aftermath?

Can’t we create an almost utopian environment for the Games, the ultimate mixed sports city: A Fata Morgana on the Mesa?

Let us position the Games in one urban “rock,” strategically situated in the city, on and around the Castellana, the city’s most dramatic boulevard.

Let us examine the possibilities to construct this mini-city, as a giant act of concentration and mixage. It turns the Games into a visible spectacle that in itself gives a good reason to go, as well as a diverse environment after the Games conclude.

The relationship between sport and other programs like offices, education and housing have been studied. How close can these programs get? How can we combine the demands of visibility for spectators with the infill of programs like offices? How can we combine the demands for security with the demands for openness?

Can we design a city and a neighborhood where the two programs, the sport as hollow voids, the other programs as enclosed mass, cohabitate so that a lively mix of the two components will arise?

Can we then make a city that will, independently of the decision of the Committee, be realized and will make sense?

]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:06:25 +0100 project: Eyebeam Institute, Media Galaxy

The introduction of the computer turns modern office spaces into relatively shady, gloomy, flickering zones. This undermines the typical plan of the traditional Manhattan tower: the reverse becomes more appropriate, creating work spaces that are surrounded by stairs, lifts, and shafts.
It will lead to an open shady plan surrounded by a “communication wrap”: an accessible “skin,” in which all communication, all servicing, and all structure is positioned and therefore externalized.

The new art and media realms are so connected with every day life, with positions anywhere on the globe and with the rapidly changing state of the art of technology, institutionalizing is the last thing to happen, unless of course it can be an Institution of Change.

The very combination of education, research, development, communication and exhibiting of the Eyebeam Institute seems a phenomenal answer to this.
Media and architecture form a contrasting combination: quicksilver versus inertia, melting pot versus traditionalism.
However, both deal with “space”; imitating or mimicking new media does not seem the direction for architecture: no project ages faster than an “ultra-modern” media-based architectural image. A practical approach seems more rewarding over the long haul.

By using the ultimate limits of given urban zoning, the volume permits for an oversizing that allows for interior voids, that can become a collective zone throughout the building, accentuating an endless interior, in which all functions, both Eyebeam’s and the tenants, can be addressed.

This envelop turns the Institute into a landmark within its surroundings. Its directness, its pragmatism, its “informalness” and its “boldness” connects with the direct, pragmatic, informal and relatively ”bold” characteristics of the neighborhood.
The skin is perforated to give light into the hollow tower. Computerized shutters allow for any composition of light: from super dark to heavenly light, from holistic to individual. By adding acoustical material to the shutters any acoustical treatment of the hollow tower can be made: from a personalized and intimate sound level to a dramatic collective cathedral-like sound.
By positioning the lifts in two locations, it becomes possible to direct the two separate streams: one for the Eyebeam Institute, one for the other tenants.
By hanging hollow “beams” with office spaces within this hollow tower, closed, separable spaces can be combined with more open communicative environments on top. They act as structurally inhabitable “props” in which the skin opens to the environment: eye-beams with views to the surrounding. Their different positions, both in height as in direction, allow for different perspectives of the city, rebalancing the introverted nature of the new media. By rounding any corner it will be able to continue any projection easily from wall to ceiling to floor and vice versa.
This operation can realize a catalogue of rentable spaces, while having them part of the overall Eyebeam enterprise.
Singular straight beams. Double or triple height beams with interior mezzanines. Crossing beams that realize meeting points. Stair rooms with terraces that combine intimacy with collective views of the surrounding streets. High narrow rooms allow for intimate encounters. And so on.

This differentiation gives a collection of spaces for different sizes and usages and “addresses” the different users and programs within the seemingly “endless” interior world. The beams are situated on different levels and are directed towards specified viewpoints in the surrounding, connecting the workspaces in the beams with the environment. This division combines intimacy with an omnipresent working, an overwhelming universe, like on the net. A giant ‘bee-hive’.
The chosen fire engineering strategy makes it possible to interpret the atrium as a workable space. The cathedral like effect follows the logic of eternity: it avoids a fashionable and rapidly outdating architecture.

Any composition becomes possible, from concentrated to clustered to splintered.
It combines the intimate with grandeur. It turns the hollow tower into a “galaxy” for changing media.]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:06:10 +0100 project: Rødovre Skyvillage

The demand for a new tower in Rødovre, the near periphery of Copenhagen, raises the issue as to what kind of tower should be added to the skyline of the capital. Should it be a sphere, a spire, a cube? And is it only form that counts? Can one imagine a tower that is more than merely form-driven? What content can be given to the new tower? Can it criticize and improve the somewhat commercial and hollow iconic architectural developments of the last years?

After several booming years, the recent Danish real estate economy is relatively unstable and unclear. Right now, the housing market is slowing down, and developments focus more towards office-space. That demands, particularly in places like Rødovre, situated between Copenhagen and the eastern countryside, for a new concept for the upcoming buildings. One that shows flexibility. Where offices can easily be transformed into housing - and vice versa. Where smaller units can be transformed into bigger ones - and vice versa. How to realise this flexibility?

By creating a tower that is a grid structure with a minimal pixel size, any configuration can be imagined and filled in. The grid-size of 7.8 x 7.8 m combines a good parking grid, a proper housing unit and office type (a unit of 7.8 x 7,8 x 4 m, approx. 60 m2 or 240 m3), that can easily accommodate a large variety of tenants, e.g. young people that want to live close to the city and starters in the office market. Small offices and home offices… a vertical SOHO! The units, or pixels, can also be joined together to form larger spaces to accommodate larger apartments, hotel rooms or offices. A sustainable structure arises. As well as a mixed use building!

The grid has been organized around a central core with lifts, stairs and shafts.The central core is divided in three individual cores that individually serve the apartments, the offices and the hotel and restaurant. A corridor surrounds these cores so any access-composition in the plan is possible. Around the core a two-bay (or -pixel) band has been positioned, 15,6 meters wide. It allows for deeper offices with cells and meeting rooms, and for deeper houses, or public functions like for example a library or a conference space.

The result is a cube of 46.8 x 46.8 x 48 meters. By varying the infill, less deep offices and houses can be created. This leads to more facades, and thus more light and views. When doing that on every floor in a different way, a specific composition of terraces and balconies can be made. This process has been organized by ‘pulling away’ pixels out of the cube, and repositioning them on top.

By pulling away many pixels on the ground and lower floors, a more open plaza is created, while keeping some program on ground floor for lobbies and shops. By stacking the units more towards the northern side on top of the cube a taller building emerges with sunnier terraces with views to Copehagen city centre, Skåne, and the rest of the region. By opening the cube in the middle, a series of covered terraces is created to allow for communal outdoor areas for offices or public functions. With the repositioning act a variety of interiors and exteriors is created.

This leads to a vertical, pixelated ‘rock’ of unit types; a character-full element that goes beyond the form-driven iconic exercises of the last years. It relates to the spires of the old city centre, and it relates to nature or a cloud. But more so to the direct environment: it combines the character of the surrounding low-rise housing estates with the strong appearance of the blocks next to the main street. The shape of the volume minimizes impact of shadows to the surrounding houses and without blocking the views on ground level. A vertical village thus comes alive. A sky village.

The columns are clad with cast-aluminium panels. In between the columns, an infill of glass doors is proposed. It serves both domestic and office purposes: individualized usages, natural ventilation, and maximum visibility from the sky towards the grounds. Each element can be opened in two ways, rotating vertically and horizontally, which allows for maximum flexibility in floor plan. Where needed stability elements are diagonally positioned behind the façade.

The tower continues underground with some small shops, the plant rooms and a parking garage. By using the identical pixel-unit sizes, the plaza obtains the same qualities and character as the rest of the tower. As if the tower is ‘emerging’ from the ground.

This mixed use concept also demands for a mixed environment. It has lead both to a formal plaza with shopping for the inhabitants and lunch-hour-restaurants for the office workers on the one hand and on the other to a play jungle with the longest bench on earth to mix children and parents with people at work or the elderly. The bench surrounds a protected play area, an outdoor fitness area for elderly citizens and picnic zones. The green zone contradicts in a comfortable way with its urban surroundings and revives the pedestrian environment.]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:13:30 +0100 project: Wenhua Deng

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:42:20 +0100 project: Silke Volkert

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:40:02 +0100 project: Sabina Favaro

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:39:49 +0100 project: Oana Rades

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:35:37 +0100 project: Maria Luiza Da Conceicao

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:30:32 +0100 project: Klaas Hofman

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:54:26 +0100 project: Johannes Schele

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:52:19 +0100 project: Ivo Hoppers

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:49:11 +0100 project: Hui-Hsin Liao

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:45:45 +0100 project: Emilie Koch

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:38:51 +0100 project: Doris Strauch

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:38:01 +0100 project: Delphine Borg

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:36:46 +0100 project: Bertrand Schippan

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:34:30 +0100 project: Bart Milon

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:34:01 +0100 project: Attilio Ranieri

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:33:36 +0100 project: Arjen Ketting

]]> Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:33:08 +0100 project: MVRDVH2O

]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:31:24 +0100 project: MVRDV works and projects

]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:31:08 +0100 project: MVRDV en VPRO

Since 1998, an unusual building designed by the team of architects MVRDV are the premises of VPRO, one of the main broadcasting companies in the Netherlands. The design process and the present VPRO building, plus an extension project inside the Hilversum Mediapark, are shown in the book. But architecture can also be reviewed in other ways, and in this book the everyday life of the VPRO building is also narrated as short stories written by a selection of authors. These stories are like sitcoms that recount events in the villa, melting together media and architecture. Big Brother already existed in this book before it later became a TV hit.

Hardcover

360 pages

ISBN 84.89698.60.0

Text in English

Published in 1999

Actar ]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:30:56 +0100 project: KM3 catalogue

]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:30:15 +0100 project: Farmax

The Netherlands is reputed to have the highest average population density in the world though it is increasingly becoming distributed in low density suburban areas threatening to transform the country into a sort of city state. The architects' bureau MVRDV and students at Delft University have sought to remedy this situation by proposing areas of ultra-density inserted into pastoral landscapes. This book sets out to discover the prospects and limitations, the world of the extreme Floor Area Ratio, or FARMAX

Paperback

736 pages

ISBN 90.64502.66.8 

Text in English 

Published in 1999, reprint 2006

010 Publishers
]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:29:38 +0100 project: El Croquis # 86+111

MVRDV 
Redefining the Tools of Radicalism

40 buildings and designs from the MVRDV offices and conversations with the founders Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries form a seminal monograph of MVRDV. Projects featured range from a definition of radicalism to, one of their first assignments, the church in Barendrecht, to the WOZOCO's apartments for elderly in Amsterdam-Osdorp, and their latest designs such as Barcode House intended for Munich and the Patio Houses for Ypenburg (NL).

Hardcover

440 pages

Text in English and Spanish

El Croquis ]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:29:05 +0100 project: El Croquis # 86

]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:28:37 +0100 project: A plus U 2007

A+U Special Issue: MVRDV Files II
Projects 069-349
This issue is a sequel to the first a+u “MVRDV FILES Projects 002–209” published in 2002 (November 2002 Special Issue). It shows the amazing evolution of one of today’s most stimulating and intriguing offices, which focuses simultaneously on the design of buildings and prototypes, on architectural research, and on urban problems. These files counterbalance the book KM3: Excursions on Capacities (Actar, 2005). While KM3 embodies reflection and a theoretical framework at the forefront of a new urbanism, this publication presents the chronology of projects in their environment without hiding or concealing the plain reality.

Paperback
168 pages
ISBN-13: 978-4910019734
ASIN: 4910019731
Text in English and Japanese
Published in january 2007 ]]> Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:27:37 +0100 project: The New York Times Magazine

Crowded House by Darcy Frey, June 8, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/magazine/08mvrdv-t.html?pagewanted=1]]> Sun, 14 Dec 2008 19:48:34 +0100 project: A plus U 2002

A+U Special Issue: MVRDV Files
Projects 002-209
A fabulous MVRDV monograph with an equally striking mission statement: What have they really conceived up to this point? What will they bring forth in the future? Can they be understood through the sequence of their projects that unfolds chronologically? This issue includes 59 projects comleted or designed in the last 11 years

Paperback
232 pages
ISBN 4.900211.56.7
Text in English and Japanese
Published in november 2002 ]]> Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:01:37 +0100 project: Jacob van Rijs

Jacob van Rijs (Amsterdam, 1965) founded in 1993 together with Winy Maas and Nathalie de Vries MVRDV. Early work such as the television centre Villa VPRO and the housing estate for elderly WoZoCo, both in the Netherlands, have lead to international acclaim and established MVRDV’s leading role in the international architecture.

Projects of MVRDV are among others the design for the Netherlands Pavilion at the Hannover World Expo 2000, the innovative business park Flight Forum in Eindhoven, the Matsudai cultural centre and the Gyre shopping centre in Japan, the iconic Mirador building in Madrid and the Silodam building and Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam.

Current projects in development are among others the new television centre in Zürich, the new Market Hall for Rotterdam, a number of housing and office projects in the Netherlands, Spain, Austria, France, England, Albania, the USA and China. Masterplans in construction are the office campus near Unterföhring, Munich, the Xinjin Water City near Chengdu, China, the New Leyden masterplan in Leiden, Netherlands. MVRDV also works on the masterplan for Greater Paris.

The work of MVRDV/Jacob van Rijs is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards. The monographic publications FARMAX (1998) and KM3 (2005) illustrate the work of the Rotterdam based office.

Jacob van Rijs regularly lectures and teaches at schools and institutions all over the world (e.g. TU Delft, Architecture Academy Amsterdam, Architecture Academy Rotterdam and, AA London, Cooper Union New York, Rice University in Texas, TN Probe in Tokyo and Universities of Madrid and Barcelona).

]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:42:49 +0100 project: WoZoCo

This building was the first large complex that we realized.

The client, a large housing corporation, had made general studies of the arrangement of 100 units for elderly people, as part of intensification of a 60's neighborhood. They wanted to have a gallery-type circulation but were not able to fit in the units in acceptable way. So we were invited to solve the problem.

At our first meeting, one model drew attention. It was a half jokingly attempt, where we glued the houses that would not fit inside the gallery block to the other side of the volume.

They immediately understood the potential, and we got 3 weeks to 'make it work', in terms of budget. Together with an creative quantity surveyor and a structural engineer, we could produce a budget analysis that did not exceed their limit, and were able to continue with the project.

The official explanation is as follows:
"To still provide adequate sunlight into the surrounding buildings only 87 of the 100 units could be realized within the slab. Where could the remaining 13 dwellings be positioned? If they were put elsewhere on the site, the open space would be further reduced. A deeper slab with narrower units did not seem possible. The North-South orientation of the block meant that the generator had to be a 7.20 meter module. By ‘cantilevering’ the remaining 13 units from the north façade, they are literally suspended in the air. The hanging East-West orientated types complete the North-South dwellings in the block with a view over the adjacent polder. An economic layout for the main slab could lead to savings of 7 to 8% of the cost, enough to compensate for the 50% more expensive ‘hanging units’. The Spartan gallery flat becomes acceptable. Each gallery is given a different perspective. By changing window positions, balcony sizes and varying balcony materials, the different flats acquire their own character. With the party walls constructed 8 cm thicker than structurally necessary (for sound insulation) it became possible to use this extra thickness for the connection of the cantilever trusses without having to increase the weight of the load-bearing walls."

When the project was finished we were told, that we just realized the social houses with the lowest building-costs in Amsterdam. (applause). That was the price of inexperience. Nowadays we would have told the client that he should increase his budget, but as an young architect we jut did in for the budget they gave us.

Almost 10 years later, averagely 2-3 touring-cars and numerous taxi's and rentabikes filled with architectural tourist now visit the outskirts of the western garden cities to see the hanging houses of Amsterdam.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:13:39 +0100 project: Gemini Residences- Frosilo

Everywhere in Europe old harbor areas are being reconverted into high-quality living areas. Excellent views, waterfronts, proximity to the center and an “original” character make most of these developments instant successes. The most wanted apartments in these projects are usually the converted warehouses that combine a modern lifestyle with a touch of “character.”

The conversion of the Frøsilos in Copenhagen fits into this picture, but can also be considered as a more radical next step. Whereas a warehouse can be seen as a more or less complete building, which should be modestly treated not to lose its original charm, the silos are incomplete, a bare structure. In this incompleteness lies the challenge of the project.

In the structural limitations of the silo lies the solution of the intervention. Making big openings in the concrete rings of the silo is difficult and limited. Making door-high openings is possible but complicated and can only be made in limited amounts. If there were apartments to be situated in the silos this would mean that in an area where views count, the apartments are inwardly directed. For a warehouse this might be acceptable, due its monumental status, but in this case it is a missed opportunity. And if you would fill up the silo houses and floors, it would destroy the most exciting aspect of its present state, its emptiness.

By flipping the projected floor inside out, this potential problem is eliminated, and turned to its advantage. Maximum views are possible and maximum flexibility can be achieved.

Both cores can be covered with a glazed roof, creating a futuristic lobby where people move up and down. In this way the silo will form a new core for the project and all the useable space, every room, profits from the unique location of the project.
]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:00:56 +0100 project: Barcode House

Located in one of the outermost bourgeois suburban neighborhoods of Germany’s secret capital – Munich – the bountiful villa stretches itself across two rectangular building plots on the site forming a barcode collage. The programmatic arrangement, determined by the daily routine of the owners themselves, manifests itself in the addition of individual elements – stripes – designed to fulfill the spatial demands of the interior program.

The capacious, heavyset volume is divided into ten parts of which nine are incorporated in the proposed building envelope. A curtain effectively crosses over the six-meter-wide gap between the two envelopes and unifies the elements to form a single entity. The identity of each individual stripe is reflected in its material representation in the façade and the interior atmosphere. The interior spatial configuration is based upon the classical notion of the “enfilade” nonetheless its resulting form is a consequence of the addition of the individual parts. The interaction of clear, full-size spaces, which use the entire width of one barcode strip and very small side rooms, alcoves, that serve these spaces, creates a vivid domestic environment – a balance between spatial openness and privacy. A noticeable middle axis spatially and visually connects the sequence of elements and enriches the villa with a voyeuristic moment.
]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 14:56:54 +0100 project: Ypenburg Masterplan

The centrally planned developments of the Netherlands have lead in the 1990s to the construction of a giant compromise: millions of suburban houses are under construction, combining a low rise house with a relatively dense setting. It leads to environments that are neither urban or rural or even suburban, but rather to houses with very small gardens and claustrophobic environments. How can we escape from this claustrophobia while working within the difficult constraints of the site?

Within the 7,000 new houses being built in the Ypenburg housing suburb near The Hague, Waterwijk commands a special position. Compared to other strategies in this plan Waterwijk strives to create the most intense water-focused environment as a way to increase the attraction of the neighborhood and position it to compete better with others. This approach has been carried out by turning the housing area into an archipelago of islands with houses on them.

How can we realize or strengthen an archipelago like this within the market-driven technical possibilities of today?

A diversity of development approaches spreads risk. This is most evident by the choice for as many different living environments as possible for each group of islands: patio houses, garden houses, houses around a court, apartments and reed houses. The differences are increased by the choice for different green facilities, different ecological measures, different lighting, different pavement and different materials for the houses for each island.

The size, 900 houses in total, enables experimentation. Is it true that always 10 percent can be dedicated to experimentation? As in the philosophy of economics, experimentation can exist as long as the remaining homes will carry less risk.

By saving costs in one island, by making islands with fewer quays, with less infrastructure, and fewer details, we can invest in another island that allows for new experimental environments.
Different architects have worked within this concept to increase the diversity.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:59:47 +0100 project: Philips Lighting Container

To make a space with light, beyond a fixed armature we searched for fusion of contrasts: light and shadow, high-tech fibers and homey knitting work, bearing a heavyweight and flowing on light, the interior of a sea container and the endless reflection, straight light beams and curved illuminating cables, a static armature and a swimming hammock, a fixture to look and an object of use.

The atmosphere changes on demand from crispy white to ambient blue. On the knitted hammock one flows on light in the endless space. ]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:31:38 +0100 project: EPO offices

The existing European Patent Office complex in Rijswijk concentrates office cells for patent specialists around a communal core building. This central space, a wedge form, acts as a reception, leisure and meeting space; it constitutes an escape from the surrounding cells. The office wings are composed of a series of different typologies from different eras: the slab and mini, structuralist patios.

Does it make sense to interfere with the current composition? Is it important to increasingly differentiate the programming of the complex so that the office typologies and work venues on the campus continue to innovate? Is it possible to add an element that is so completely novel that it can be ‘patented’ as an architectural concept, and provides, for users, the necessary environment to concentrate and communicate, to work and relax, for privacy as well as accessibility? The brief clearly gives preference in this office to areas for concentration as apposed to communication: 83 per cent versus 17 per cent. This relationship is expressed spatially in the new Park Tower through the location of the zones for communication and those that allow concentration.

Park Tower
The site suffers from a lack of usable office space and the building services are outdated. However, given the present-day demands to reduce costs and be sustainable, public and semi-public institutions must be responsible and monitor the nature of their investments.
The in situ approach proposed, which uses an innovative method to service the façade (and to deal with the low floor to ceiling height), offers a solution that is significantly more expensive than demolishing the existing building and erecting a new one.
But can the existing spaces really not be reused? It would save portions of the budget that could better be used to maintain and to address other issues on the campus: leisure, communal spaces, and meeting spaces. It would lead to extra ‘free’ space. Stripping the current façade and opening up portions of the existing floors would lead to a vertical ‘park’ and to extending the existing horizontal one. The design creates a ‘green’ park tower that sends out a message about the sustainable philosophy of the institution.

The Breathing Building
The façades of the tower are constructed of nets that act as wind and sun buffers. The landscaped foliage and the eave function as sun protection, so that a light glass infill can be used for the offices and other programmed elements. Plants are used to filter the air and provide a heat buffer for the installation. The vegetation helps to increase the natural ventilation of the complex.

Mikado
The portions of the complex allocated to concentration (the cellular offices) are designed within ‘bars’ with an efficient floor plan and floor size. Each bar houses a specific department. The excellent lighting of and views from the offices increase the potential for the occupant to concentrate.

Cores
The cores are carefully positioned: the main core is next to the Hinge for easy access, while the secondary core is 15 m away from the façade of the existing tower. This makes phasing possible without interfering in the activities in the existing building.

Bars
The four bars reach from the primary entry core out to the park tower. The corridors empty out onto the open areas of the park tower, where spaces are used internally for communication.
Each of the bars connects to another spot in the tower, both on the floor plan and along the height of the building. This creates differentiation in how the spaces are used and experienced.
The diverse positioning of the bars creates sun protection for the spaces below. This shield reduces the heat load and the cooling needs.
The roofs are used for communal spaces and as extensions to the park tower.

Embrace
This ‘Mikado’ of bars allows the user to escape from the office areas to the vertical park. The design ‘embraces’ the existing structure; it increases the structural integrity of the space. Symbolically, it creates a spatial pairing of concentration and communication, of work and leisure, of existing and new, of solid and transparent, and of stone and green.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:18:25 +0100 project: TEDA Urban Fabric

An urban plan for housing and retail in Tianjin, China. The plan foresees a development of towers and low-rise typologies following the old street pattern following be it densified the traditional urban setting. The re-introduction of Chinese residential typologies and creation of public space are further characteristics of the plan that is about to be completed.

Recently, in China, many old neighborhoods are being replaced by new ones. The existing urban patterns are being erased and a new town is built without any specific links to what was previously there. In case of TEDA town, re-using most of the existing tree lined street, gives a series of plots on which the program can be positioned. To combine the street feeling with the total requested amount of square meters, a mix of towers and low-rise typologies was proposed.

Each tower is combined with an open space, opening up the dense pattern of the existing streets. The towers are positioned to combine light and views and leave enough space for low-rise developments. The low-rise housing is organized in pure patio houses and in townhouses of 3-4 layers. On the main streets the ground floor can be used as shops and studios. Parking is organized in several underground garages.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:59:16 +0100 project: Didden Village

The first realization in MVRDV’s hometown will be a rooftop house extension.

On top of an existing monumental house and atelier, the bedrooms are positioned as separate houses, optimizing the privacy of every member of the family. The houses are distributed in such a way that a series of plazas, streets and alleys appear as a mini-village on top of the building.

Parapet walls with windows surround the new village. Trees, tables, open-air showers and benches are added, optimizing the rooftop life. By finishing all elements with a blue poly-urethane coating a new “heaven” appears.

It creates a crown on top of the monument.

This addition can be seen as a prototype for a further densification of the old and existing city. It adds a roof life to the city. It explores the costs for the beams, infrastructure, and extra finishes, and it ultimately aims to be lower than the equivalent ground price.
]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:01:08 +0100 project: Buitenplaats Ypenburg Hageneiland

The Hagen Island creates within the archipelago relatively cheaper housing categories. The economic constraints for this social housing development are very tight. It typically results in rows of 12 to 20 prefab units. Four long boring “bars” would fit on the island. By cutting and splitting these bars, a more open, garden-esque environment will appear. It increases social diversification and mixage. Both single units as well as blocks with two, three, four, or eight units are positioned at various locations on the existing plots: in the front, the middle or at the end, thus creating an enormous series of cross-views that increase communication, open areas and social opportunities, and reduce the claustrophobia existent in such a compact area.

In order to meet the budget for doing this, two methods have been used.

By creating a ring road with all the parking lots around the four rows of plots, the infrastructure has been minimized and a pedestrianized; a child-friendly environment has been created. This leads to bigger plots, thus creating an ”escape” from the overwhelming density of the existing development. Hedges surrounding the plots give the island its character and name.

Building houses that avoid detail (one material, one type of doors, no gutters) reduces the costs. At the same time this leads to houses with a strong almost archetypical appearance. It’s an ironic gesture to the omnipresent demand for the same type of houses in the Netherlands. The formal and material strength allows for any kind of occupation: dwarfs, animals, cages, extra windows, and light figures, among other things, can be easily placed without the strong appearance of the houses.

The lack of gutters leads to “crying” houses. Rain simply runs over the façade. Small details (eyebrows) protect the rain from entering the windows and the electric door bells. But water can create toxic algae on the walls, depending on the materials used. As a result, a series of materials have been tested and selected. These tests lead to an awareness of “healthy materials.” All of these materials have been combined with the unit types, thus creating recognition.

The developed blocks have been selected and composed by the outcome of market research. The composition then embodies the year’s market conditions, in this case, 2000.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:55:56 +0100 project: Villa VPRO

The VPRO has recently moved from its old premises, a group of 13 villas, to the new ‘Villa VPRO’. Over the years the old villas played a vital role in establishing the VPRO’s identity. The staff, who previously worked in rooms en suite, attics, sun lounges and on first floors now have to find a spot for themselves in a ‘real’ office environment.

The question that came up in connection with the design of a new head office was whether the informal way the old villas were used, which regularly influenced the programmes that were made in them, would still be able to find a place in a modern office designed for maximum efficiency. In other words, would ‘informality’ be able to survive the increase in scale, would there be any point in retaining the villa as a metaphor?

The Villa can be described using terms such as compactness (the absence of long corridors) and spatial differentiation (a large number of different rooms) and in terms of its relationship to the landscape around it.

Compactness, given the present town-planning restrictions on the site - zoning plan boundaries and maximum building heights - led to ‘the deepest office building in the Netherlands’. ‘Precision bombing’ produced serpentine-like patios in the building which allow the access of natural light to be combined with views over the surroundings. The result is an open-plan office where the difference between inside and outside is vague.

The greenery that stood where the building now stands is replaced by a raised grass covered roof under which lies a ‘geological formation’ made up of the different floors. These floors are connected to one another by a variety of spatial devices such as ramps, stepped floors, monumental steps and small rises, so providing a route to the roof.

The differences in height in the resulting continuous interior, combined with the wings created by the gaps, make possible a wide range of work contexts in different office typologies to meet the ever-changing demands imposed by VPRO’s business. Lounge, attic, hall, patio and terrace types all serve to echo the old premises.

The floors are supported by a grid of columns and stabilising props which in combination with the completely open elevation ensure the rooms retain the greatest possible transparency.

The technical facilities are hidden in the hollow Roman-like floor, whose Spartan character serves as a commentary on the addictive aspects of present-day air-conditioning installations. They are fed with air, data and electricity through semi-transparent shafts.

Even the way the building has been materialized suggests the old villas; no lowered ceilings but a ‘real’ ceiling, no prefabricated walls but stone, steel, wood and plastic, no project carpet but Persian and sisal rugs, no small windows but elevations containing storey-high sliding elements giving practically every office access to a garden, balcony, terrace or patio.

In the studios the standard fibre-cement panels are replaced by an arrangement of absorption and reflection using a wide variety of different materials such as wood, coconut fibre, fabric, steel and stone.

The frontage is the outcome of a ‘datascape’ of requirements. To provide the most generous outlook possible over the attractive surroundings, the original proposal was for a frontage made up of a system of hot-air blowers. But since such an arrangement was not legally permissible, the idea was replaced by one using 35 different sorts of glass, whose colour, reflectivity, and degree of transparency reflect the different ways they are positioned relative to the rooms lying behind them, the height of the facade and their orientation towards a particular point of the compass. In this way the spacious quality of the interior is reflected in a ‘rose window’ of different types of glass.]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:51:27 +0100 project: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

In designing the summer pavilion for the Serpentine Gallery, we asked ourselves what we could add to the series of beautiful objects created by other architects in the Serpentine's grounds, which have concentrated on independence rather than on connection. Aim was to devise a pavilion that would serve not only the Gallery but also the park by extending them both.

All the former Serpentine pavilions were located on the lawn in front of the Gallery's building, but what would happen if we absorbed the Gallery into the pavilion. Would it be possible to create a marriage between the two, challenging the art inside the Gallery and forcing new interpretations? The concept intends to forge a stronger relationship between the pavilion and the Gallery, so that it becomes, not a separate structure but, an extension of the Gallery. By subsuming the current building inside the pavilion, it is transformed into a mysterious hidden space.

The Serpentine Gallery is located in a fenced-off area that constitutes an island in a wider public domain. By literally extending the existing lawns over the Gallery, it is linked it to its surroundings. The proposal adds a recreational hill to the park, which becomes a public highpoint, visible from afar and enabling far-reaching views.

Where the park's paths meet the hill, new routes and stairways are created along the flanks of the mount, over alpine meadows to the top and down to the other side. They also provide access through slits into the interior, which includes a café that has an opening enabling users to sit outside on the front lawn.

The interior can be seen as a giant three-dimensional 'lobby' in which visitors can also sit. Illumination is provided by an opening in the mountain's surface above the Gallery's existing cupola, which also serves to ventilate the space. The public will be able to experience both the pavilion and the Serpentine's exhibition and education programmes, which will continue to take place. Depending on the requirements of these programmes, the lighting can be altered: by use of additional artificial beams of light, which can be directed up at the reflective, galvanised-steel structure creating an artificial sky; or can be turned downwards, presenting the Gallery beneath like hidden treasure. At night, this illumination pierces through the slits in the exterior, creating a surprising and intriguing image.
]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:45:14 +0100 project: Xinjin Water City

Water is one of the most vital elements to create lively cities. But water is also one of our most precious and vulnerable elements. Like everywhere in the world, the quality and quantity of water in Xinjin, a fast developing city near Chengdu, is under pressure.

The master plan consists of 3 new urban areas for Xinjin that create space for water while at the same time being attractive to live and work in. It offers possibilities for commercial development and leisure activities. The design has to deal with extremes in amounts of water, will stimulate self cleaning methods in the area and integrate the water into existing water systems. Water offers great views and usable waterfronts. People enjoy being near water. These inherent qualities are taken advantage of by creating islands along the river Nan. By doing so, we give space to the river. The group of new islands will connect the city currently divided by the river. The islands become a new urban heart of sorts. The dry land has a series of soft boundaries that allow part of the land to be submerged at times. For this reason the landscape changes seasonally.

Each island has its own unique identity, supporting the diverse public and commercial programme, mixed with housing. Some smaller islands will be devoted to special functions like a hotel or conference centre. In some cases, the building might BE the island. The buildings on the islands are outspoken, as solitary objects, but also collectively.
]]> Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:36:21 +0100 project: Next Gene

The Observers
The family (of) green wraps

The landscape at Audi in the northern part of Taiwan is simply fantastic. How to keep that beauty while building houses in it?

By cutting the landscape and lifting a part, the demanded program can be poisoned underneath. It creates accessible hills in the hilly terrain…

The newly desired houses have an enormous amount of differentiated rooms. By wrapping this program with a flexible green skin any composition can be created.
The rooms can be ‘shuffled’ or ‘shaken’ up to the desire of the clients and the site so that the ultimate composition can be made at any spot.

A village like environment comes alive that gives differentiation between the rooms, allowing for their own identity, while keeping a great collectivity. It leads to an enormous spatial richness with surprising revealing hidden spaces; this attracts people to stay longer in the house….

By shuffling the rooms around the living space they create a great collective gesture. By directing this shuffling act, they can leave space for a gigantic window with a view on the majestic surrounding. Depending on the situation different views can be created: towards the valley, towards the mountain, towards the forests. It is as if everyone one of them points at the importance of the wonderful nature of Audi.

It thus advocates one of Taiwan’s major attractions, aiming for more understanding and development of it.

Thus they form a ‘family’ of found objects in the landscape….]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:39:00 +0100 project: Anyang Peak

The Anyang Resort is a park which was booming during the 70-80’s, but has been redundant during the past decade because it couldn’t follow up the changes in society. The outdoor swimming pool which was the most important attraction did not attract people anymore because it was outdated. And as the traffic improved, people could travel further away for nicer scenery. Even though Anyang Peak has a spectacular landscape, it just functions as a mountain entrance with scattered restaurants and bars.

One way to revitalize this area is emphasizing on the natural wonders around, intensifying nature. The viewing tower supercharges the hill into Anyang peak. The path leading up the hill, an essential element of the park, is used as a tool to generate this idea. The spiral path transforms into the tower, extending the hill seamlessly. Reshaping the peak.

The internal void acts as a pavilion. It can hold a small exhibition or installation. The space can also be used as a performance space, allowing visitors to look down on the stage on top of the hill. The path encircles the peak turning it into a destination.]]> Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:19:45 +0100 project: Chengdu Floating Carpet

The new Chengdu Centre for the Arts is planned at the crossing point of the South Axis and the Ring Road. How can it contribute to the development of this rapidly growing area? How can it justify its remarkable position as one of the unique buildings in the green ring around the city? How can it contribute to the Ring Park? How can it, together with the Ocean World on the other side of the Axis, form a recognizable “green” cultural node? Can these specific constraints lead to an internationally remarkable building that can compete with other art centres in the world? Combining a local flavor with an international appearance?

BROTHER AND SISTER
The Chengdu Centre for the Arts is composed of a music and cinema complex, a conference centre and the new Museum for the Arts. By combining all given program in one building the resulting critical size will complement the adjacent Ocean World building. The buildings become related: they obtain a sort of brother and sister relationship. By selecting differences in form and material, a complementing ‘yin-yang’ balance is created. For example, glass façades are contrasted with solid façades, and the symmetrical is challenged by the A-symmetrical.

HALL
The grouping of the museum program with theatres and conference space generates a great “hall for the arts”. In this hall the theatres appear as solid “stones” or jewels. The theaters are carefully positioned. The opera is located next to the main road opposite Ocean World so that people can spill out towards the main face of the building, the concert hall has a view towards the river allowing for a beautiful backdrop of the concerts, the cinemas connect with the surrounding neighborhoods towards the north, and the medium theatre gives a face to the Ring Road. The back stages can be opened so that the context can become part of the stage-set. These openings create urban windows.

ARCADES
By pushing the lowest floor of the hall up, public open passages give access to the heart of the building. They ‘open’ the complex so that it connects different parts of the Ring Park. The resulting arcades with terraces, kiosks, information booths, ticket counters, and advertisement areas are the places for buying tickets, having a drink, for waiting, queuing. These large spaces can also host sheltered events: performances, concerts, outside art shows. The morphology is acoustically conducive to such performances.

MUSEUM
The undulating floor that forms the base for the museum hall is a new topography that allows for unique situations. Every location offers a different exhibiting quality in the museum. There are terraces with an overview of the art inside or out, valleys and pockets offer shelter for more intimate pats of the collection, grottos create private viewing spaces, and so on. Specificity is combined with flexibility. The Ring Park is expanded with this new Art Landscape.

HILL
The roof of the museum is ‘draped’ over the solid ‘stones’ like a carpet. For this reason, the roof undulates just as the lower level does. The roof experience is that of a sequence of valleys and hill-tops: an inhabitable landscape that can act as outside sculpture gardens and theatre pockets. The valleys are acoustically sheltered spaces and therefore suffer no ill effects from the nearby noisy highway. By slanting this elevated garden to ground level at opposite ends, a public traverse is created. It turns the building into a public hill, extending and elevating the park. The hill offers panoramic views of the surroundings.

THE GARDENS
The Ring Park can be seen as a ‘pearl-chain’ of green beauties. The opera and museum grounds are designed as a series of water gardens as part of this chain. Papyrus and water-lily filled basins connect the park with the river and create an ecological leisure connection. The goal is to attract dragonflies and birds to turn the grounds into a musical nightingale garden. The pool water can be used for partial cooling of the buildings. They also function as a filter for grey water originating from the roof and interior of the building. Paths rise up to meet the arcade level. They can become wider to form plazas for gatherings or kiosks. The water and slanted paths form an intriguing pattern that can become a symbol for the site. Its’ meaning may be rooted in art, music, or poetry. The pattern is a fluid concept. The building appears as a strange stone floating above the flowers….]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:16:48 +0100 project: Almere Hout

text available soon...]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:16:39 +0100 project: Cleveland Institute of Art

Museum hype

Lately many cities are commissioning and building eye-catching Museums of Arts. Each museum aims to pull attention, even leading to some competition between museums! Architecture plays a significant role in this development. It is one of the outspoken visual ways to show the museum to the world, and advertises its’ function as a public place. Its interiors act as the ultimate stage set for the art, balancing between modesty that serves the art and exuberance that complements the art. Many building styles have been explored: anywhere from modest white buildings to sculptural buildings to ‘animistic’ buildings. And what is next? How to construct the next episode?

Maybe the key of the architectural content of the museum can be found not in the linguistic performance of architecture, but in the ‘instrumental’: how can the museum ‘do’ something? Perform internally and externally? How can it contribute to the city? Can it create an urban stage set? Can it make an urban place? And can it create an environment where art is not just secluded within a beautiful box? Maybe it can expose its content and connect with the environment through traffic, public space, or other program, thus enlarging the possible usage and frequency of interaction.....

Cleveland is fortunate to include many unique buildings. This makes it even more important for the new museum to assert itself by exuding a clear and direct appearance that stresses its ambitions, desires, and intentions. The site on the University Circle and the building’s small footprint while allowing a somewhat tall structure will increase its visibility. The building can be a communicator.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:15:02 +0100 project: Logrono Cubes

What can be done on the outskirts of the city of Logrono, in a no-man’s land between former farmhouses and retail structures? What effect can a relatively small housing development truly have in such an area? Can its relative isolation lead to a ‘freshness’ that garners attention and changes how the area is developed? Maybe accepting a certain level of ‘anarchy’ can both help to attract people and to resist the formal challenges of the surrounding site.

The proposal is the creation of a series of attractive, small ‘houses’ with different typologies. Corridors are avoided in the houses, but they contain halls like those in apartment buildings. All units are corner units and therefore have two facades and two views. Their compactness in size and height is an economic advantage. Various developments will ensure a level of diversity in the neighbourhood.

By scattering the blocks of houses over the existing terrain, a coincidental differentiation is the result. Denser areas are located towards the streets but more proximate to the landscape, this density dissipates. Individual positioning is combined with a collective spirit. It will ultimately lead to a village with unique, intriguing streetscapes with a variety of spaces in between the housing blocks.

STRUCTURE
The houses are constructed of prefab concrete elements with load-bearing walls. They can act as beams that span over the streets where needed. The overlays cause interesting higher ceilings within the lower houses.

FACADE
Every room has a ‘“French balcony’ that combines openness with protection.
Stone cladding gives it a distinct appearance. It is treated in the same way as the park, thus blending the buildings with the landscape. Glass railings create wind-free niches on the terraces.

LANDSCAPE
The in between landscape is conceived as an urban ‘steppe’ that continues the surrounding landscape: La Tierra Rioja.
It is made of slightly reddish ‘gravi d’or’ on top of a stabilizing plastic grill. One can walk everywhere. Tracks for cars and fire trucks are indicated. They have a higher stabilization layer. A layer of purple flourishing Cercis Siliquastrums and yellow coloring Robinia’s provide shadow. Benches with tables are positioned under the trees to allow for pick-nicks.
Sports fields and playing areas are positioned in between the trees.

GROUND FLOOR
At ground floor level lobbies and communal program is situated. They enliven the public spaces. The shops are concentrated around a central plaza.
The houses on ground floor are positioned one meter above ground level to allow for sufficient privacy. It creates higher space in the garage.

PARKING
The underground parking is two layers and is accessed by way of entry-exit points at both ends of the street. These entry points are oblique in relation to the street in order to minimize the obstruction to the neighborhood. Direct access to the houses is provided. The housing blocks’ random non-orthogonal positions contrast with the parking and allow for clear and iconic identification.

TILTED BLOCK
The more communal elements are situated in the only tilted block: the library, the sports hall, the kindergarten, the café, and a bar. The tilted floors can be used as a sports hall tribune, or as library terraces that have a view of the bar, or dining platforms that allow all guests to have a view of the landscape. It could also function as a climbing slope for the playground. The roofs offer similar potential – platforms overlooking the landscape for example. ...]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:14:06 +0100 project: Torino Floating Tower

Headquarters of the Sanpaolo IMI Bank

For more than four centuries, the Sanpaolo IMI bank has been deeply rooted in Italian society. Planning a new headquarters coincides with the aspiration of the bank to exhibit a mixture of reliability and greater openness. The concept is to portray Sanpaolo in a more contemporary light.

The site located in the new heart of Turin does not necessarily require a high-rise building, but would also allow for a more horizontal and or mixed massing. The design lifts the horizontal volume up to its maximum height; employees and users get a view over the city. The building creates an inspirational working environment for all. The classical tower becomes a floating ‘tower’ hovering between heaven and earth.

SKY GALLERIA

The raised office block is organized around an interior common courtyard which is shared and used as a meeting point. The space is like a ‘galleria’ – with the proportions of a cathedral – coupling identity and character with desired flexibility. All office functions are located around this central space, looking both into the galleria and out over Turin.

SUPER PORTICO

This concept leads to a natural division between the more secluded parts upstairs (general offices, director’s suite, restaurants and customer areas) and the more public areas on the lower levels (lobby, spaces for electronic banking, customer service, the public restaurant, the conference centre). This separation and lifting creates an opening to the urban landscape. It creates an additional portico in a city of porticos, locations where so much of the city’s life is happening. The project sets the scale of this portico at cosmopolitan proportions: a vertical Piazza San Carlo, echoing the key position of the bank.

When standing in the Portico plaza, one looks up into the floating office spaces, and down into the lobby. The building reflects the idea of an ‘open’ bank where dialogue takes place; a central cafe welcomes the customers, visitors, tourists, locals and employees. The easily accessible congress centre has a public deck on top that overlooks the park. The project creates a place for discussion, events; mixing culture and banking. ]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:13:55 +0100 project: Kampen Floodplains

The city of Kampen is situated along the river IJssel just before it comes together with the IJsselmeer, a former part of the North Sea. Due to the urbanization of Middle Europe, the melting of snow in the Alps owing to related climate changes causes more peak water flows in rivers than have historically been expected. Without extra measurements more regular floods can be expected.

How to solve this issue? And how to benefit from this solution when simultaneously 6,000 houses have to be built in or around the city?

The weir variant is the cheapest solution by far, including the raising of the houses and the additional insurance. This requires an inlet 615m wide and 3km south of Kampen. An outlet should be created at the northeast side of the city. It means that the area can be flooded once per 100 years. Flood insurance can cover the uncertainty for the inhabitants. Or a simple “lifting” act of the existing houses and monuments can be arranged. It leads to a spectacular surrealistic landscape of lifted inhabitation.

The 6,000 homes programmed for the area need to have a special character, as a counterweight to the uniformity of recently developed residential areas. The new nature reserves form an attractive living environment. Who wouldn’t like to live in a house with a view of a spectacular, varied nature park or even in it?

The area will have a marsh-like character with high value as a natural habitat. Meanwhile, agriculture in the area (mainly meadows for summer grazing) can continue as before. The flood plain reinforces the spatial characteristics and charming isolation of the city. A mix of pile dwellings, dyke dwellings and floating houses encircles and inhabits this plain. A small station neighborhood will serve commuters and the flood plain will become a central park.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:13:21 +0100 project: Floriade 2012

By setting up the exhibition as compact as possible, a overwhelming, dense plant cathedral is created: a modern Ark of Noah. In a time so much characterised by images and impressions, this provides an intense experience, but also creates a base for research into densification. It underlines the need for innovation in the field of agriculture in a world with a growing world population, where the role of food production needs to be increased.

Recent studies show that in an autarkic community 80% of the available space needs to be reserved for food- and oxygen production. Food production, plants refinement, ecology, forestry, maintenance of nature are more and more developing into typical ‘city activities’. The concept for a vertical Floriade shows how one can deal in an intelligent way with plants and horticulture in a world that becomes more densifiied.

For the Floriade 2012 3 different concepts were developed, each showing a different way to built up the exhibition, but all living up to the need of densification.

HORTICULATURAL EXHIBITIONS IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

What contemporary interpretation can we make of a classical garden like the Dutch Floriade that is organized once every ten years, especially in an era when people travel insatiably, visit exotic landscapes and become acquainted with new products; in an era when books, magazines, newspapers and other media make knowledge of gardening products continually accessible, when garden centers are growing into permanent horticultural shows, when more and more amusement parks plant abundant vegetation, in which national parks are transforming into educational visitor centers? Perhaps one can respond to this by designing an “ultimate” garden show, practically a Grand Finale as a starting sign and a challenge for generations to come?

LIBRARY

Developing, designing and realizing a comprehensive collection of plants, cultivation methods, gardens and botanical associations results in a contemporary “library”. Systematically exhibiting this collection would allow it to function as a reference source of potentially long-term value. It would be an all-embracing library of knowledge about plants and horticulture.

COMPACT FLORIADE

Displaying this collection in a compact form reduces the walking distances for visitors and could be a prodigiously dense cathedral of vegetation, a veritable Noah’s Ark of plants. It forms a basis for research of higher density for plant life. It underlines the necessity for innovation in this area in a future dominated by a growing world population, in which the role of food production and vegetation has to be expanded. Recent studies have shown, in this light, that 80 percent of the space of an autonomous community is necessary for food production and oxygen generation.

It shows that food production, plant breeding, ecology, forestry, and nature management have become more and more an urban activity: activities for the benefit of the human population. It creates space for other developments. A contemporary vegetal construction results, a vertical Floriade, which underlines the necessity of consolidation, and demonstrates how plants and horticulture can be treated intelligently in consolidating circumstances.

MATRIX

This Noah’s Ark can be organized as a multilayered system – classified according to climate requirements, alphabet ordering and the Linnaean system; according to its applications and its production methods. It embodies today’s data culture. It challenges the new generation. It interprets the present requirements of Floriade as a contemporary, timeless variant.

CLIMATES

We can imagine not just showing a Dutch collection but a world collection. It underlines its international character and accords with the tradition of cultivating exotic plant species in the Netherlands. A series of climates results, ranging from cold (top) to hot (bottom) and from dry (top) to wet (bottom).

LINNAEUS

Organizing the necessary collection within each climate zone on a Linnaean basis produces a number of classical “layers” analogous to the structure of a rain forest: trees, shrubs and ground-covering plants.

A-Z

If the plants are then arranged within this structure in an alphabetic order, the result is a surprising but easily consulted series of presentations and gardens: the heather (in the H section) would be surrounded by chambers of Hemerocallus and hyacinth beds. Marram grass would be under M. Rose valleys would be in the R section and hyacinth beds in the H section. Theme gardens would appear in the T section, new cultivars in the N section, children’s gardens in the C section, the East Indies Garden in the E section and so on. The outcome would be a linear walk from A to Z offering fascinating variation, each area having a different size and height, along with concomitant grandeur. The oak forest chamber would have a height of 25 meters, the mushroom chamber a height of 1.5 meters, and so on.

AUTHORS

If this series of gardens were to be designed by a variety of architects, landscape designers, exhibition makers and artists, ranging from Peter Greenaway to Peter Struycken or from Richard Serra to Joep van Lieshout, the outcome would be not only an exciting, museum-like collection of gardens such as that in Chaumont-sur-Loire, which would stress the poetry of the plant world and the sex-appeal of gardens like those in Elle Decoration. It would also yield a study of how the concept of an “exhibition” can be explored in multiple interpretations. The outcome would be an exhibition of exhibitions. Arranging the authors alphabetically would produce unexpected combinations and challenges. It would enhance its value as a library.

APPLICATIONS

Plants are used for so many different products. In this layer, all the applications will be exhibited. The medical applications will be located in a “pharmacy” and personal care options in a “spa”. Organizing the water purifying potential in a vertical purification plant with sand, lava, hydrophytes, reed and other species, produces a vertical park with cascades, marshes, and sand plains.

PLANT FACTORY

The manipulability of the plant world takes center stage in this layer. Plants are produced in many ways, in many different circumstances and on varying economic scales: aerial roots, natural soil, hydroponics, and cultivation on granulates, in series or in isolation. Exhibiting various growing systems systematically produces a “plant factory.”

PROGRAMMATIC LINKS

This layer displays the possibilities of planting in relation to human activities. The various functional components of Floriade are located here. Each “adopts” a part of the collection: eating in the greenhouse, dancing in the mushroom cave, swimming in the coral reef habitat, bathing under the waterfall, working in the garden office, and conferring behind the foliage.

CONNECTING ROBOT

A series of movable rollways can create various connections between the layers and shortcuts. These are thematic routes that establish connections between a number of plant varieties. It makes a climatic coherence or an aesthetic coherence clear. It creates a water route, an Indian summer route, a medicinal route, or a route to taste.

They are activated by a series of cranes on the roof. The result is a “robot” of connections, an intelligent hanging network. This facilitates changes in the exhibitions.

MINI-ECOLOGY

A vertical Floriade of this kind creates a mini-ecology. External daylighting, for example, is regulated by means of various layers, ranging from glass and shading textiles to open façades. Supplementary artificial lighting is powered by solar cells. Fertilization takes place by the recycling of old plants, feces and other forms of biomass. These are delivered and discharged on conveyor belts and are sorted in a plant on the ground floor. They are redistributed by other conveyor belts. The water is collected on the roof and conducted through the whole building in cascades, canals, rivers and storage basins. It is purified in sand beds and hydrophyte filters. It is collected on the ground floor and pumped back up to higher floors where the sequel takes place. A literal cycle can be exhibited. Drought, mist, rain and snow deposits alternate according to the height.

LABORATORY

An intensified Floriade such as this may be considered as a technological and artistic laboratory for the future of horticulture; a test center where knowledge can be cultivated. This points to a valid justification for the exhibition. It arouses curiosity and hence heightens the attractiveness and scope – a good counterpart for the oil refineries of Pernis on the other side of Waterweg.

RESPONSIBILITY

A concept of this kind illustrates the possibility of finding a good answer to the problems of the increasingly densely populated world of the future. A narrative for generations to come.

ARRIVAL LOBBY

Placing this structure at a crossroads of connections gives the building a clear address. The main pedestrian boulevard runs north-south through the building and – at six meters high – links the external collection and the parking grounds with the hall and then with the dyke, the railway platforms and the mooring quay for water taxis and boats. Cars can drive through the building and deposit children and elderly passengers, after which a member of the family or of the staff can park the vehicle in the car park; buses can drop their passengers here and then park elsewhere, while taxis will have a rank and a drop-off point. The effect is a gigantic reception lobby where visitors will immediately be taken up into this new world.

CHECKOUT

The vertical Floriade may be seen as a modern warehouse, the ultimate garden center, as is appropriate to the behavior of the new generations. Visitors can buy anything they see, all purchases being stored in a chip on the entrance ticket. Payment takes place at the end of the trip.

CANAL GRANDE

The vertical Floriade looms proudly over its surroundings, as a shop window of all knowledge. It offers a phenomenal vista of the surrounding landscape. It dominates its region with its superior, proud attitude. This contributes to the transformation of the new Waterweg from a forgotten space into a new Main Street, along which corporations and institutes set up office to display and exhibit themselves. The Nieuwe Waterweg becomes the Canal Grande of the Netherlands.

RACK

Building this intensified Floriade in the form of a rack allows different functions to be slotted in at different levels, providing flexibility both during and after the Floriade exhibition. It is an exhibition on palettes. This also emphasizes the logistical, commercial character of Greenport and Mainport.

FOLLOW-UP: GREEN TRADE CENTER

This structure can be used after conclusion of the exhibition as a new Green Trade Center, a commercial center for horticulture, a kind of permanent Floriade as the most prominent structure of the region.

It consists of exhibition sections, conference rooms, R&D companies, offices and homes. The various sectors of the Floriade building will be taken over or adopted by one of the future sections of the GTC. The library continues to exist as an exhibition center, the Green Club. Parts of the upper floors will be used as a convention center or will be filled at greater density with R&D functions or with offices and dwellings. Parts of the production sections can remain in uses as production greenhouses. This makes it a prototype for the intensification and expansion of Westland, which would avoid the sprawl of agro-businesses invading the rest of the Netherlands. A multi-story greenhouse of this kind could be a worthy successor to the Dutch Pavilion at the Expo 2000 World Exhibition in Hannover, Germany. It forms the heart of an urban district oriented towards the development of green products: the Green Trade City, centrally located between Greenport and Mainport. The CTC is linked up to the surrounding buildings by connecting bridges. It becomes the vertical park for the urban district.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:13:07 +0100 project: Torre Huerta/ Sociopolis

Valencia Huerta is slowly disappearing. What used to be an oasis of green and agriculture in the middle of urban activities is condemned to extinction; Huerta is being swallowed by the unstoppable growth of Valencia metropolis.

The present urban plan of sector La Torre combines the existing Huerta and the unavoidable real-estate interests with success: a new more human and ecological neighborhood appears: Sociopolis. Huerta melts with new developments, creating large green areas and agriculture plots to be used by the neighbours. Nevertheless a lot of Huerta is lost. Why not “transplant and transport” these “condemned” Huerta plots to the future building, thus creating a vertical Huerta where every single house has it’s own outside space, like “minifundios”, small farmhouses, like the authentic Huerta plots. In the Huerta-tower, the apartments have a balcony-Huerta. Every house has a big balcony with a garden, an exterior extension of the interior living room. Valencia’s Mediterranean climate allows staying outdoors 9 months per year. Building climate and sun control is done in the most natural way; through green vegetation (orange trees, lemon trees, olive, almonds, lavender….). One could even grow its own fruit, which is common in Valencia. Contact between society and nature is maximised at Torre Huerta – not only in the public areas, but also in every house at a smaller and private scale.

The Huerta tower is a 21-storey building with different combinations of apartments and typologies, ranging from 1 bedroom to 4 bedrooms. On each floor 5 apartments are arranged around a central core. Every apartment has its own terrace with a tree, creating different views. The entrance to the building is situated on the ground floor, as well as 7 different commercial areas. A vertical core with 3 elevators and 2 stairs give access to all floors. The roof is a shared space for the neighbours. Solar cells and the water tank are located here.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:12:36 +0100 project: Lyon Confluences

The development of the new inner city quarter close to the central station of Lyon can be described as a classical urban plan, with open split blocks occupied by apartment slabs. It leads to a sea of more or less the same buildings. However, to attract a possible differentiated clientele, spatial and urban alternatives are developed, aiming for mixing and synergy.
By ‘gluing’ the suggested five blocks together a possible recognisable element can be introduced: one big block. By penetrating this block with a lifted urban passage a new collective space is introduced: a pedestrian urban ‘piano nobile’ overlooking the adjacent marina, park and street. It creates a Grande Galerie, echoing the tradition of French urban designers. This figure is split in five parts. Each part is designed by a different architect. This creates five different interpretations of the Grand Gallery and each part has its own section. This gives the Gallery an intriguing sequence.
Each section has a differentiated program, infrastructure and facade. From a wooden entrance in the north, via a strict concrete interior, a mirrored interior (enlarging the park entrance), a modest dark section, finishing with a monumental stone southern section that accompanies the entrance from the Bassin.
Architecture becomes urbanism again. A pure collective enterprise.

THE MVRDV BUILDING:
The MVRDV building, at the southern head has transparency of all facades. The shape of the building is an arch inviting visitors into the gallery - even at night. The windows have shutters to protect the interiors from the heavy sun. When closed the needed holes in the shutters reveal the first article of the European Law. It aims to advocate a possible ‘Yes’ for Europe in days of protectionism, accompanying the collective EU spirit of the gathered architects.

ARCHITECTS:
The wooden north section is designed by (EEA) Erick van Egeraat associated architects, Rotterdam, Netherlands; the adjacent concrete element is designed by ECDM, Paris, France; the green middle section is a design by Manuelle Gautrand Architects, Paris France, the adjacent dark concrete section is by Pierre Gauthier Architects, Paris, France and the head is a design by MVRDV. ]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:12:32 +0100 project: Long Tan Park Liuzhou

STATUES IN THE PARK

Liuzhou is a city in the south of China located on the edge of an exceptionally beautiful Karst mountain range, protected as a World Heritage site. Near the city a lime stone mine is situated. In this mine five of these beautiful mountains are dramatically cut into half.

This situation so close to the city attracts developers anxious to create housing areas in and next to the city. The city seeks housing developments for its growing middle class. Can the creation of a new residential area in the mine be used for further restoration of the park? Can we turn this into an operation that restores the beauty of and creates a continuation with the surrounding landscape? And that stop the erosions of the already cut mountains?
Locating the 2,700 houses in the valley would harm the potential continuation of the park and avoid the protection of the eroded mountains, whilst also creating homes without views and ventilation.

By ‘cladding’ the escarpments with the houses the potential continuation of the park can be arranged. It can protect the eroded mountains from further erosion and create homes with view and ventilation. The buildings appear like statues in the park, like the four presidents on Mt. Rushmore.

The slopes have been carefully researched and mapped. It distinguishes different zones: non-steep zones with hard rocks that can be used with columns only; steep zones with hard rocks that can easily be used for construction and stability through dowels; zones with cracks that need to be avoided and lead to outside areas in the new city; and zones at the bottom that need to be cleaned from loose rocks from potential ‘hollow’ spaces with communal access grottos.

The houses are conceived as individual ‘boxes with a view’ that respect the desire for individuality and that avoid a ‘hotel’ feeling. Their positions follow the natural topography of the slopes. The irregularity leads to houses with differentiated terraces. A three-meter distance between the houses and the rocks is maintained to allow for natural ventilation.
The floors and walls of the houses are made of concrete, mixed with the local rocks in order to ‘blend’ the houses with the mountains. They are positioned on columns and stabilized by dowels where needed. The differentiation of the needed dowels and props leads to an intriguing spatial differentiation of the vertical village: it echoes clearly the structure of the mountains. Stairs follow the empty spaces in between the boxes. It leads to a web of ‘streets’ through these vertical villages.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:11:28 +0100 project: Leiria Pedestrian Bridges

PLAYGROUND BRIDGE
Close to the new-renovated bridge, a bridge is required. This position makes a playground bridge very suitable. The area is a sports facilities area. This concept is reinforced by the playground bridge. A bridge with playground facilities is placed over the river. The crossing to the sports neighborhood is done by this bridge.

T(H)REE BRIDGE
The t(h)ree bridge solves a complicated connection situation in this part of the city. From the west bank, connection is needed to three different locations at the east bank. Each of these destinations has a different height.
The centre of the bridge is the central crossing of the three destinations. Therefore the bridge is avoiding a group of houses that blocks the pedestrian way just at the riverside and the bridge connects to a promenade at the east bank that has already been designed. The bridge is 1 meter thick, so 'seating-dips' are there to enjoy the view over the river.

BAR BRIDGE
Bar, Why not making the most of the bridge position and place a bar at this attractive site? Drinks can be taken with a nice view over the river and the city.

BALCONY BRIDGE
In one of the most busy spots of the city, a “highway” bridge is designed. The bridge connects important areas in the city. A lot of pedestrian traffic circulation is expected. Therefore a balcony is designed to avoid blockings. It also allows people to stop and relax, in the same way as cars stop in highways at the rest areas.

PICNIC BRIDGE
A picnic atmosphere is recreated in this bridge. The bridge turns into a valley where picnic tables and benches are placed. The bridge is itself part of the surrounding public park. The bridge belongs to the park. It is situated where the park crosses the river. Why not a picnic area in this exceptional spot? A view over the river and its surroundings is taken from this position. Strong colors mark the position of the picnic areas. It is a way of noticing different uses in the park, landscape, valley context.

SOFA BRIDGE
The sofa bridge is a prototype for all the small bridges that may be built in the future. A small living room can be found in each of these bridges. It consists in a sofa, a street light and a trashcan.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:08:25 +0100 project: Buitenplaats Ypenburg Watervillas

The borders of Dutch lakes are more and more colonized with private properties. They reduce public accessibility of the lake shores. How can we combine privacy with public space under such circumstances? In the “Deelplan 10” area in Ypenburg, as part of MVRDV’s master plan, a series of villas will be positioned at the ends of the piers, peeking into a communal lake. By designing the four villas as single-story units, with a roof deck on top, they can be “glued” together. This wooden amalgam can be “lifted” up to 12 meters high, allowing a water space underneath with private water decks, a parking lot, a dock for private boats, and a communal bench overlooking the lake, all positioned on wooden decks within the reed. The owners can jump from the sky deck through the house and down to the private part of the lake. Two elevator and stair cores allow this lifting act. A balancing figure appears.

In the economic recession period after 9-11, the lifted houses turned out to be too excessive. Initially 75% has been lowered to grade level, with a public path in between the roofgardens leading to a bench. Those were still not possible to sell. Instead 2 storey high wooden houses with a public canal in between have been realized. The street ends with a public bench overlooking this canal. As a remembrance of the initial thoughts. The houses are designed as longhouses surrounded with wooden decks overlooking the water. They are completely clad with wood, creating a specific recognizable appearance.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:04:25 +0100 project: Buitenplaats Ypenburg Patioeiland

Patio Island 2, which has been built, may be considered an outcome of developments that took place in the Netherlands after the design of Patio Island 1. What could there be done to fix this situation? The client wanted “normal” houses. Could we reconcile their wish with the design for the patio houses we had already developed? There were moments when we seriously considered handing back the commission, and the feeling was mutual. There were insane telephone calls.

But couldn’t we find a compromise that would reflect and illustrate the change of mood in Holland? Is there a cheaper and less adventurous Patio Island? And if we did, could we still defend it? Could we proudly show it to the world? Patio Island 2 is made up of four rows of patio houses, with the middle houses of each row linked to the street by narrow passages (with the potential for hanging paintings or storing garden tools and bicycles). Each house consists of a kitchen /dining room and a living room, separated from one another by an entrance block with a box room and toilet. The two rooms communicate via a broad play area for children that also contains the staircase to the upper floor. Each house has a completely separate rooftop unit positioned to prevent visual intrusion to and from the neighbors. It’s aided by high garden walls. The shape of the rooftop unit is dictated by the angle of isolation of the living quarters. The roofs can be reached from the patio via swimming-pool type ladders and used as terraces. From here, they can peep discretely over the walls for a view of the neighborhood, while it is still not possible for neighbors to see into another’s house. The roof could become the meeting place of the neighborhood. The façades and roofs are clad with slate, accentuating the heaviness of the inward-turning, sculptural form. The doors are also clad with PVC plates with a slate motif so as to leave the wall visually intact and to ensure the privacy of the patio and house. Building the doors in a stable style could combine privacy with an outward view.]]> Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:04:19 +0100