MVRDV Launches New Exhibition at the Architektur Galerie Berlin, Celebrating 30 years of Work in Germany

Written by Christele Harrouk
Published on July 24, 2020

MVRDV is celebrating the upcoming opening of its Berlin office with an in-house exhibition, showcasing the firm’s 30 years’ worth of work in Germany. Launched at the Architektur Galerie Berlin, the event takes over the walls of MVRDV Haus Berlin, showcasing the company’s archive, some only on paper but much of it realized, with “both current and past German projects, including unseen projects from the past and newly-revealed future projects”.

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Ahead of the opening of the new office in September, MVRDV has launched a new exhibition highlighting their German projects, open through August 22^nd. Putting together display space and working space, the project aims to give visitors an insight into MVRDV’s working methods. Replicating “the spirit of the firm’s headquarters in Rotterdam”, MVRDV Haus Berlin puts in place the firm’s signature wall-to-wall orange monochrome.

Dating back to 1991, MVRDV’s relationship with Germany began ever since their very first project. In fact, the Europan 1991 winner Berlin Voids “encapsulates ideas that have come to define MVRDV’s work as a practice, and soon the bold designs of the newly founded MVRDV office were implemented in Germany: The equally radical and impressive proposal for the Dutch pavilion at Expo 2000 became an icon on the Expo site in Hannover”.

In addition, some of the firm’s completed projects in Germany include the Unterföhring Park Village and Werk12. Other projects are currently under construction such as Phase 2 of Hamburg Innovation Port and Zollhafen Mainz, and more designs are in progress, such as the KoolKiel development, Kreativquartier Potsdam, and the recently announced Expo Pavilion 2.0, including renovations and additions to the original Expo 2000 building.

When we competed in Europan, whether or not the project would be built was not our main priority – being radical was. Now that we’ve had a chance to work more in Germany and even built some of our designs, we look forward to bringing that radical streak to Berlin on a permanent basis. We hope that sharing our work and working methods in MVRDV Haus Berlin will form the start of a productive exchange of ideas between MVRDV and other German architects, clients, officials, and the public. -- Jacob Van Rijs, founding partner.