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Architects: Architectuur MAKEN
- Area: 146 m²
- Year: 2016
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Manufacturers: AEG, Stonecycling, Arconic, Duravit Starck
De Gouverneur / Architectuur MAKEN
Urban Cabin / DUS Architects
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Architects: DUS Architects
- Area: 8 m²
- Year: 2016
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Manufacturers: Agorex Pro-line, Boomkwekerij Ebben, Borre, Ceresit, Heijmans, +3
Museum of Rock / MVRDV + Cobe
House Robert-Jan & Inge / Personal Architecture
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Architects: Personal Architecture
- Year: 2015
Penthouse Rotterdam / Personal Architecture
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Architects: Personal Architecture
- Area: 120 m²
- Year: 2016
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Professionals: Nelissen Ingenieursbureau
In Defense of Renders and Trees On Top of Skyscrapers
In a recent article on Vice (in Dutch) and on his research platform website Failed Architecture, architecture writer Mark Minkjan comments on the phenomenon of architectural renders, arguing that “digital visualizations and hollow sales pitches hide the ugly sides of architecture.” In the article, Minkjan takes MVRDV's proposal for Ravel Plaza in Amsterdam as a “case study” to discuss the misleading quality of the render. This criticism – of renders in general and MVRDV's renders specifically – is a returning point of critique: on ArchDaily in 2013, Tim De Chant begged in an opinion piece “Can We Please Stop Drawing Trees on Top of Skyscrapers?” Though that article did not mention MVRDV in the text, our Peruri88 project in Jakarta was given the dubious distinction of being the article's most prominent image.
We'd like to discuss this common critique. The point of the role of visualizations in our communication is relevant but, even though we fully understand where the criticism comes from, arguments such as these are in our opinion not correct.
Stayokay Hostel and Natuurpodium / Personal Architecture
- Area: 1800 m²
- Year: 2015
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Professionals: Bouwbedrijf Boot, Het Proces, Personal Architecture BNA, Van Vliet Installatie, Bergen op Zoom
Timmerhuis / OMA
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Architects: OMA
- Area: 45000 m²
- Year: 2015
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Professionals: Werner Sobek Engineering & Design, Heijmans, Keijsers Lundiform, PRC
MVRDV's Markthal PR Campaign; Or, How We Learned the Price of Chicken
Becoming "the Sistine Chapel of Food" required a lot of invisible hard work. As Rotterdam's Markthal turns one year old, MVRDV's Head of Public Relations and Business Development Jan Knikker reflects on how the PR and media hype around Markthal Rotterdam was organized. This article is also supplemented by an interview conducted by ArchDaily with Winy Maas and Jan Knikker, which connects the parallel lines of the building's design and its PR campaign.
If I say that this is a PR story will you believe a single word? Markthal Rotterdam is a PR story with astonishing results: since its opening by queen Maxima in October 2014, our office MVRDV has nearly doubled in size to 110 staff members and it’s still growing. We - and The Financial Times - call it the “Markthal Effect”. In the first year the building reached over 8 million visitors, more than the Eiffel Tower, Bilbao Guggenheim or Tate Modern. 800 articles were published worldwide. It was hailed as a Sistine Chapel for food, a symbol of urban renaissance, a cool place to go. With the roughly 4 million visitors that came from outside of Rotterdam, the city saw its tourism grow.
How did that happen? It would be an easy assumption to think that a great building naturally attracts this kind of attention. But it all started quietly. In 2004 developer Provast and MVRDV won the competition with a plan that resembles the current design, except with one big difference: the colorful art piece which brightens up the inside of Markthal was at that stage also all over the outside facade. In any other city that would have lead to an instant protest movement against the zeppelin hangar covered in a gigantic fruit wallpaper. But not in Rotterdam. Public awareness started only once the construction became noisy.
What Role Does Crowdfunding Have in Architecture?
In 1885, with only $3,000 in the bank, the "American Committee" in charge of building a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty ceased work, after both president Grover Cleveland and the US Congress declined to provide funds for the project. The project was saved by a certain Joseph Pulitzer, publisher of the New York World, who used his newspaper to spark a $100,000 fundraising campaign with the promise that everyone who donated would have their name printed the paper.
The base of the Statue of Liberty is perhaps the first ever example of crowdfunding in architecture as we might recognize it today, with a popular media campaign and some form of minor reward. But in recent years, crowdfunding has taken on a whole new complexion. Last week, we asked our readers to tell us their thoughts about a specific example of crowdfunding in architecture: BIG's attempt to raise funds for the prototyping of the steam ring generator on their waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen. But there are many more examples of fundraising in architecture, and each of them deserves attention.
Pop Up Luggage Space / TomDavid Architects
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Architects: TomDavid Architects
- Year: 2015
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Professionals: ABT, BBN Adviseurs, Heijmans
One Under Three Roof / BYTR architecten
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Architects: BYTR architecten
- Year: 2015
McDonald's Pavilion on Coolsingel / Mei architects and planners
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Architects: Mei architects and planners
- Year: 2015
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Manufacturers: Glasimpex, VPT Versteeg