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MVRDV Architects Studio News for 2023

23 December 2022

What’s next? A look at MVRDV’s upcoming project completions in 2023

MVRDV News

With the end of 2022 in sight, it’s natural to look back on the past year. For MVRDV, they look back on 15 completed projects, including six openings and three temporary installations in countries around the world.

The work by this Dutch architecture studio was recognised with 15 awards and 13 nominations in the past year. Yet – as they always try to do – they also want to use this opportunity to look ahead. The coming year promises to be just as busy as the last, with deliveries in Europe, the United States, China, and their first in the United Arab Emirates. See below for an overview.

The Canyon (Mission Rock):

image © Pixelflakes

The Canyon (Mission Rock)

After the completion in New York of MVRDV’s first building in the USA, the Radio Hotel and Tower, their second will shift focus to the West Coast. The 23-storey mixed-use building is part a masterplan developed by the San Francisco Giants baseball team and Tishman Speyer – with MVRDV’s design one of four buildings designed simultaneously in a unique collaborative design process that also included internationally renowned architecture firms Studio Gang, Henning Larsen, and WORKac. Drawing on San Francisco’s combination of rigid grids with a daring natural topography, the design was inspired by Californian rock formations, with a narrow valley running between steep rocky walls that extend all the way up the tower.

The Pyramid of Tirana:

image © MVRDV

The Pyramid of Tirana

Originally a showpiece for Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, this brutalist monument is being dramatically renovated, and will soon be symbolically returned to the people. Hosting the Albanian outpost of the non-profit educational institution TUMO, the concrete structure will be reused, the atrium and its surroundings greened and opened, and a small village of cafes, studios, workshops, and classrooms will permeate the site. In the design’s most notable addition, steps rise up the buildings sloping concrete beams, making it safe for visitors to literally walk over this former museum to the country’s dictator – a confirmation of how the Albanian people have reclaimed the building, and with it, taken ownership of their own history.

Triplolis Park:

image © mir

Tripolis Park

Renovating and enlarging the Tripolis office complex, one of the last projects completed by celebrated Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, Tripolis Park creates a new park campus between the offices and Van Eyck’s nearby masterpiece, the Amsterdam Orphanage. With the key addition of a new 11-storey, 31,500-square-metre “groundscraper” office block, the park is sheltered from the adjacent A10 highway, while the original Tripolis buildings are playfully revealed to passing drivers by an eight-storey window in the groundscraper block.

Pixel:

image © MVRDV

Pixel

The first project under construction in the new Makers District on Abu Dhabi’s Reem Island, Pixel comprises seven compact mid-rise towers surrounding a central plaza. The design challenges the typical approach to housing in Abu Dhabi, where disconnected towers that are hermetically sealed and served by air-conditioning is the norm. Instead, the fractured ‘pixellation’ of the towers’ corners creates shaded balconies perfect for engaging with the lively plaza below and for embracing an outdoor lifestyle during the cooler months of the year.

La Vallée Verte:

image © Kreaction

La Vallée Verte

A residential project within the Bastide-Niel district of Bordeaux, La Vallée Verte combines the angled forms of MVRDV’s own Bastide-Niel masterplan with a verdant “crater” – a circular internal courtyard with an abundance of plants adorning its terraces. Plant pots take the place of the usual balcony balustrade, with a wide variety of pot sizes to allow different species to flourish. Inside, differently sized apartments provide homes suitable for a diverse mix of residents, ranging from first-time buyers looking for 2- or 3-room apartments to large families.

Matrix 1:

image © MVRDV

Matrix 1

The first project to be completed in the new year is Matrix 1, an office and laboratory complex that combines standard laboratories with playful and spacious social areas for a mixture of science and tech workers. A spacious, zig-zagging stairwell forms the social heart of the building, offering a balance between standardised laboratories and a playful, people-oriented architecture to enable scientific workers to feel pampered in the same way that has become normal in the tech sector.

Sustainability is a driver for the design: the building will meet Amsterdam’s Energy Performance Coefficient target of 0.15, signifying a “nearly energy neutral” building, while the steel structure and the concrete floors of the six-storey building can be dismantled so that components can easily be reused in the future.

Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre:

image © MVRDV

Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre

Transforming a 100-metre-tall tower that was first built in Shenzhen’s explosive growth of the 80s and 90s, the project hosts a wide range of facilities for the welfare of women and children. Moreover, the design sets an important precedent for repurposing buildings in a city that will soon see a huge number of similar buildings reach the end of a short lifespan.

For skyscrapers such as this, which were built quickly to serve the needs of the time with little thought for the future, intelligent renovation offers a much more sustainable option than the easy approach of demolishing and building anew. With its colourful façade and green rooftops, the building becomes more energy efficient, functions better, and provides a refreshing presence in Shenzhen’s Futian district.

MVRDV

Previously on e-architect:

MVRDV Architects News

MVRDV Architects Office News

21 Dec 2022
Project Gomila, El Terreno, Palma, Balearic Islands, Spain
Design: MVRDV with GRAS Reynés Arquitectos

photograph © Daria Scagliola
Project Gomila, Palma de Mallorca

Lyon Part-Dieu urban shopping centre

photo © Ossip van Duivenbode
La Part Dieu Shopping Center Lyon

Valley, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

image Courtesy architecture office
Valley Mixed-Use Development, Zuidas

Centraal Beheer Building Renewal and Additions, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands

photo courtesy of Certitudo Capital – An aerial view of the Centraal Beheer building and the Pakhoedtorens taken in 2015
Centraal Beheer Building Apeldoorn, NL

The Podium on Het Nieuwe Instituut roof, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

photo © Ossip van Duivenbode
The Podium on Het Nieuwe Instituut roof

Rotterdam Rooftop Walk, over the Coolsingel, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Design: Rotterdam Rooftop Days and MVRDV

photo © Ossip van Duivenbode
Rotterdam Rooftop Walk by MVRDV