Organised like a small town: MVRDV House in Rotterdam
Foto: Ossip van Duivenbode
MVRDV's new home base has a rectangular ground plan and consists, as appropriate for a town, of several "houses" covering a total of 2,400 square metres. Five segments, each with a double-pitched roof and lined up in a row, combine to form a collective, unified whole, a home for 200 employees.
Programmatically the MVRDV House is divided into three lengthwise sections: one to the south, one to the north and one in the middle. The side sections have transparent glazed walls, opening them up to the central core, which links them and provides them access. Along with fulfilling an acoustic purpose, the glazed walls serve as gigantic sketch pads, bearing witness to creative processes in the individual departments.
Entering the unconventional office building from the south takes you immediately into the heart of the building, which the architects lovingly refer to as the Family Room. Here everything required in a real home is to be found – a plant-covered chandelier over the reception counter, and to its left and right a "living and dining room" complete with seating areas and a 30-metre-long table. The northern longitudinal section consists of a huge open-plan office; the southern section, on the other hand, is the only one divided into two storeys and features a gallery looking down onto open workspaces. The offices in this section are enclosed, each in a striking colour of its own and each fulfilling a different purpose. Bright green, yellow and orange as well as dark blue and a warm brown make the rooms easily recognisable and lend structure to the MVRDV House.
The colourful mix of open-plan and enclosed office spaces provides plenty of room for creativity to unfold. No matter whether for conversations in private or formal meetings, the varied spaces and their specific furnishings meet all requirements. MVRDV has designed their new home as a dynamic answer to forward-looking working methods, also implementing it in a way appropriate to the creative environment in the industrial building, which also houses start-ups, design firms and modern leisure offerings.
Programmatically the MVRDV House is divided into three lengthwise sections: one to the south, one to the north and one in the middle. The side sections have transparent glazed walls, opening them up to the central core, which links them and provides them access. Along with fulfilling an acoustic purpose, the glazed walls serve as gigantic sketch pads, bearing witness to creative processes in the individual departments.
Entering the unconventional office building from the south takes you immediately into the heart of the building, which the architects lovingly refer to as the Family Room. Here everything required in a real home is to be found – a plant-covered chandelier over the reception counter, and to its left and right a "living and dining room" complete with seating areas and a 30-metre-long table. The northern longitudinal section consists of a huge open-plan office; the southern section, on the other hand, is the only one divided into two storeys and features a gallery looking down onto open workspaces. The offices in this section are enclosed, each in a striking colour of its own and each fulfilling a different purpose. Bright green, yellow and orange as well as dark blue and a warm brown make the rooms easily recognisable and lend structure to the MVRDV House.
The colourful mix of open-plan and enclosed office spaces provides plenty of room for creativity to unfold. No matter whether for conversations in private or formal meetings, the varied spaces and their specific furnishings meet all requirements. MVRDV has designed their new home as a dynamic answer to forward-looking working methods, also implementing it in a way appropriate to the creative environment in the industrial building, which also houses start-ups, design firms and modern leisure offerings.
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