MVRDV

MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The company, which is spread over three office locations Rotterdam, Shanghai and Paris, develops modern/groundbreaking/innovative projects in the fields of architecture, urban planning and landscape architecture worldwide.

MVRDV's research-oriented, interdisciplinary approach involves specialist planners and experts from a wide range of fields, building owners and project participants in the creative planning process at a very early stage. The result is exemplary buildings and master plans that aim to create a better future for our cities and landscapes.

MVRDV's work is published and exhibited worldwide and has received numerous international awards. 250 architects, designers and urban planners develop these projects as part of a multidisciplinary, collaborative design process that incorporates rigorous technical and creative research. MVRDV works with BIM and has certified in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors.

The projects that emerge from this unique approach to architecture showcase MVRDV's design diversity and result in a remarkable variety of buildings of all types and sizes, urban master plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions.

The projects that have been completed include the Dutch pavilion at the EXPO World Exhibition in Hanover 2000, the market hall with apartments and retail in Rotterdam, the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in the first eco-district of Paris, the Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven, the Silodam residential complex in Amsterdam, the Matsudai cultural centre in Japan, the Unterföhring Park Village office campus near Munich, the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, the Ypenburg residential and urban plan in The Hague, the Didden Village attic apartment development in Rotterdam, the De Effenaar music centre in Eindhoven, the Gyre boutique shopping centre in Tokyo, the Bücherberg in Spijkenisse, the DNB headquarters in Oslo and the Mirador and Celosia residential projects in Madrid.

Current projects include a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed-use building in Paris, mixed-use high-rises in New York and Shenzhen, and a number of residential projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India and other countries. MVRDV is also working on extensive urban master plans in the French cities of Bordeaux and Caen, as well as the master plan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain. In addition, visions are being developed on a large scale for the future development of the Greater Paris Area, the Greater Oslo Area and the doubling of the urban space of the young Dutch city of Almere.

The research-oriented approach is evident in the form of The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute run jointly with the Delft University of Technology. The Why Factory deals intensively with visions of the future of the city and thus creates a catalogue of topics for architecture and urban research. The research work there in the context of the topic of global sustainability is in turn incorporated into the office projects: for example, in the large-scale study Pig City, through to small pragmatic architectural solutions for the regions of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

The first publication, FARMAX (1998), is a manifesto in which MVRDV presents projects and ideas, followed by MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007), The Vertical Village (with the Why Factory, 2012) and MVRDV Buildings (2013), the company's first monograph of all the buildings completed to date (with an updated edition from 2015).