MVRDV

Transforming a decaying monument into a cultural hub! The Pyramid of Tirana has been awarded with the BIG SEE Grand Prix, in the subcategory 'Public, commercial, cultural buildings and infrastructure buildings'! The Pyramid of Tirana, originally built as a museum dedicated to the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, has been dramatically transformed into a new kind of cultural hub, completed in 2023. Reusing the concrete structure, the Pyramid is now an open sculpture in a new park, home to an ensemble of colourful boxes. The boxes scattered in and around the original building house cafés, studios, workshops, start-up offices, incubators, festivals, and classrooms where Albanian youth will learn various technology subjects for free. Steps have been added to the building’s sloping façades, allowing the people of Albania to literally walk all over the showpiece of the former dictator. Read more on the project here! https://lnkd.in/eSUqdcXC Albanian - American Development Foundation (AADF) | Tumo Center for Creative Technologies | BIG SEE - opening perspectives

Evoking California’s dramatic geology in The Canyon! The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has given our project in San Francisco an Award of Excellence - for the Under 100 metres category!🏆 The Canyon is part of a masterplan that creates the wholly new neighbourhood of Mission Rock. Overlooking San Francisco Bay, the 23-storey mixed-use residential complex incorporates a sizeable volume of housing for middle-income residents, together with offices, shops, and restaurants. The development will keep the neighbourhood vibrant throughout the day and night. Positioned in the north-west corner of the neighbourhood, The Canyon is the first building to welcome visitors crossing the Lefty O’Doul Bridge. With its instantly recognisable red-brown façade, the complex references Californian rock formations, and features a landscaped public “canyon” that cuts diagonally through the building’s plinth, connecting to the offices and to shared amenities for residents. With this award, we go on to compete for the overall category winner. Read more on the project here! https://lnkd.in/em7VUjNX 📸 Jason O'Rear cc Tishman Speyer | San Francisco Giants | Perry Architects, Inc | GLS Landscape | Architecture | Magnusson Klemencic Associates

Venice is calling! Our associate Lorenzo Mattozzi and senior project leader Cosimo Scotucci are back with their annual workshop Venice Studio, hosted by the University of Melbourne School of Design.   This year’s studio aims to investigate the potential of Venice’s public spaces, envisioning them as hubs for gathering, play, and greenery. The objective is to enhance and modernize services and areas tailored specifically for children and families within the city’s historical centre.   In collaboration with the Municipality of Venice, the project aims to develop a coherent masterplan, a sequence of public spaces, promoting enhanced living quality and services for children and families. Students will devise structures, buildings, public areas, and green spaces that encourage play, education, and social interactions.    The Venice Studio workshop will take place from July 1 to July 12. Applications are now open - so don't be late to sign up! Find more info here: https://lnkd.in/emntaFji

How can we create inviting urban spaces that foster climate adaptation and build resilient environments?   As part of the Urban Future. Congress in Rotterdam, our Urban studio will host the workshop ''Yes! In My Backyard'' on June 7 to learn more about the impact of resilient and sustainable ideas on the city’s environment. Participants will discover the potential of innovative approaches to improve our immediate surroundings and social conditions. The workshop will be divided in 2 main groups. One group will focus on solutions for city squares and small parks, using the park facing our MVRDV office as a case study. The other group will think of proposals on communal backyards, with an on-site case study of our courtyards and rooftops. At the end of the workshop, ideas will be presented to stakeholders of the neighbourhood. The workshop is only accessible for participants of the Urban Future Congress. You can now sign up for the congress and enrol for our workshop here! https://urban-future.org/

From San Francisco to Boston, would you like to learn more on our projects in the Americas? On 15 May, our partner Frans de Witte will participate in Stanford University’s Spring Lecture Series. The freely open series brings together practitioners, community enthusiasts, students, and staff in different disciplines to hear about the latest innovations in building and design.  From the dramatic Californian geology-inspired, mixed-use residential development The Canyon in San Francisco, to a complex which contributes to the social and inclusive character of a new urban district in Boston, Frans will elaborate on a number of MVRDV’s current and realised projects in the Americas. He will also delve into how MVRDV considers composition in creating visually harmonious and functional spaces. Find out more on how to join the lecture here! https://lnkd.in/dbFvzTeh

How will the future of urban mobility shape the cities we live in? From September 2024, Winy Maas will be leading a design studio at the Archip - Architectural Institute in Prague. Set to be delivered on the topic ''city movements: the mobility master'', the focus is on the relationship between new mobilities and cityscapes. This is a further development of Winy’s current academic activities in the Czech Republic, which started in 2022 as a guest professor at the Czech Technical University in Prague. The project ''CZ2 - Visions for the future of the Czech Republic'' brought together students from five Czech and Dutch universities to present their thoughts on the country's future. Those results, incorporating hundreds of ideas across a variety of themes, are now featured in a travelling exhibition organised around a large-scale map of the country. Find out more information on the design studio here! https://lnkd.in/dGsA5iXN 📸''CZ2 - Visions for the future of the Czech Republic'' exhibition in Prague, which is currently on display at the GAMPA Gallery in Pardubice. https://lnkd.in/eUrScVUb

What would it be like to live in a… Tribune? We’re adding community living and new viewpoints to Eindhoven’s cultural heart! Presenting the Strijp-S Tribune, a mixed-use building next to the city’s Ketelhuisplein in the lively Strijp-S neighbourhood. Designed for housing association Trudo, the building adds 56 apartments, with a mixture of social housing and mid-sector rental units. On the bottom two floors, the building hosts commercial functions that can be used as retail spaces, a café or restaurant, or as offices. The design is arranged in a stepped, tribune-like shape that turns the building into a grandstand overlooking one of the city’s most energetic public squares. The Strijp-S Tribune forms a mediating element between the open space of the Ketelhuisplein and the surrounding high-rises. The large terraces created by the building’s steps are generously planted with greenery, trees, and long planters serving as balustrades. The terraces offer both private outdoor spaces for the adjacent apartments, as well as communal outdoor spaces for all the residents. They are connected together by staircases allowing residents to easily move between communal terraces on different levels. From the bottom terrace, a pier projects onto the adjacent Leidingstraat, with a staircase extending down to street level, creating a new, publicly accessible lookout point on the Ketelhuisplein. While the building’s shape fits in neatly with its surroundings, its grey-brown timber façade is designed to bring a softer, more natural aspect in a neighbourhood dominated by brick and concrete. Read more on the project here! https://lnkd.in/eVMDVbfC

Our project Seoullo 7017 Skygarden is mentioned in the Financial Times! It is cited as an example of abandoned infrastructure being increasingly transformed into green spaces.   With this project, we converted a former inner-city highway into a 983-metre-long park accommodating 50 families of Korean plants with trees, shrubs and flowers that total around 228 species and sub-species – a true plant village!⁠ ⁠ The pedestrianised viaduct is connected to the city by multiple stairs, lifts, bridges and escalators, taking a once-forgotten piece of the city and turning it into a functional element in the urban fabric of the area. ⁠ This project represents a great step towards making Seoul, and especially the central station district, greener, friendlier, and more attractive while connecting all patches of green in the wider area.⁠ ⁠ Seoullo 7017 Skygarden demonstrates that good placemaking does not erase past structures to build new ones but rather transforms them into unique amenities. You can read the article, featuring other examples of reimagined gardens as well, here! https://lnkd.in/efTj4RaS Written by Dr Jareh Das

Let’s discuss urban sprawl and the future of public spaces in our European cities!   Join Nathalie de Vries on May 9 at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) during the ''Life in Europe’s urban sprawl'' seminar, which is part of the Suburbia exhibition.   Europe has shifted towards sprawling urban landscapes that blur the lines between city, suburb, and countryside. Despite not looking like traditional cities, these sprawls still have urban characteristics, raising questions about Europe's urban future. Together with joan roig and Mette Skjold, Nathalie will participate in a panel discussion chaired by Hans Ibelings that explores issues related with the design of urban sprawl.    As the closing session of the seminar, Nathalie will have a conversation with Hans Ibelings on the public and social impact of the work of architects. They will discuss questions about public space and the future in European cities, facing significant challenges such as climate change and urban sprawl. Find out more on how to join these conversations here! https://lnkd.in/ew2sq-sg

From Berlin to Tirana, we are nominated for the Architizer A+Awards! And we need your votes!🗳   HAUS 1, the renovation of a dated office building into an eye-catcher at the Atelier Gardens in Berlin, was nominated in the Renovation and Colour categories! Now bright yellow, the building is completed with a new living roof, and a sustainable timber rooftop pavilion and terrace, accessible via a grand external staircase.   Voting can be done through the following links! - Renovation: https://lnkd.in/eyAknGsm - Colour: https://lnkd.in/eBh7-P_J   In the Adaptive Reuse category, we were nominated with our project The Pyramid of Tirana, the dramatic transformation of a former museum into a new kind of cultural hub. Reusing the concrete structure, the Pyramid is now an open sculpture in a new park and home to an ensemble of colourful boxes, scattered in and around the original building that house cafés, studios, workshops, start-up offices, incubators, festivals, and classrooms. You can vote here! - Adaptive reuse: https://lnkd.in/eRnJQm8x