MVRDV: Reads

In an old printing shop in Rotterdam, MVRDV produces designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism, and landscape design. Founded in Rotterdam in 1991 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries, MVRDV has become a household name in the Netherlands and beyond. With experimental research projects and mind-bending architecture, MVRDV has carved itself a niche in the international scene over the past 10 years. Classic projects include the gravity-defying WoZoCo old age home in Amsterdam, the headquarters for public broadcasting company VPRO in Hilversum, the Dutch pavilion for World Expo 2000 in Hanover, and the recently completed Housing Silo in Amsterdam. The firm's experimental research projects on density, using a method of shaping space through complex amounts of data, have resulted in the publication FARMAX, the traveling exhibition Metacity/Datatown, and Pig City and Costa Iberica. This publication 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 potential of the data-scapes, and the secret of the firm's success. Contributors compare MVRDV with other generations of architects and describe how new concepts are born.