Product Description

AV Monografias 189-190 MVRDV
Dream Works

MVRDV’s work takes us to the other side of the looking glass. As is known, much of recent Dutch architecture is effervescently experimental. Tirelessly inventive and imaginatively innovative, we like to think that its roots can be found in the manufactured landscapes of an artificial country that has created itself as a tabula rasa open to any experience, and as an urban lab available for any social or material experiment. However, the work of the Rotterdam trio goes beyond propositive pragmatism to cross the mirror on which daily life is reflected and venture into an oneiric world that confuses reality and narrative, where dreams mix figures and phantoms, and where fantasy fabricates true fictions. In this visionary verisimilitude lies the appeal of the architects, who have crossed the looking glass without falling for a mirage.
No project illustrates this intelligent illusionism better than their Glass Farm in Schijndel, a group of restaurants and shops housed in a facsimile of vernacular architecture configured by silkscreen-printing the brick walls, white frames and tile roofs of a traditional farm on the glass envelope of the volume; an operation both surreal and pop that gently inserts a new building in a historic environment, and at the same time provokes us with its hypnotic magic, removing blurred fragments of the printed image to show the interior. Glass thus becomes transparent to the gaze, and also permits stepping through, allowing to pass to the other side and offering a stage for the Alice who asks her white kitten: “How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty?” Just like Alice, the architects of MVRDV cross mirrors to build dreams.
Twenty years ago I visited in Rotterdam the then young studio of Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries – when they still had not completed the two works that would bring them instant popularity, Villa VPRO in Hilversum and the WoZoCo apartments in Amsterdam –, and they impressed me both with their imaginative resources and the practical talent with which they made their dreams come true – that would allow them to materialize the ‘free section’ even before their mentor Rem Koolhaas. Two decades have gone by, the small studio is now a big office, its leaders have matured, but the ambitious determination to turn imagination into reality is still intact, and Winy, Jacob and Nathalie continue travelling through the looking glass to offer us the story of their oneiric adventures and the fruits of their architectural discoveries.

Luis Fernández-Galiano
A través del espejo Through the Looking Glass

Laura Fernández Suárez
Tres voces, una visión Three Voices, One Vision

Puzles compactos Compact Puzzles

Apartamentos WoZoCo, 1994-1997, Amsterdam (Países Bajos)
WoZoCo Apartments, 1994-1997, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Viviendas Silodam, 1995-2003, Amsterdam (Países Bajos)
Silodam Housing, 1995-2003, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Edificio Mirador, 2001-2005, Madrid (España)
Mirador Building, 2001-2005, Madrid (Spain)

Plan urbano TEDA, 2004-2009, Tianjin (China)
TEDA Urban Fabric, 2004-2009, Tianjin (China)

Edificio Le Monolithe, 2004-2010, Lyon (Francia)
Le Monolithe Building, 2004-2010, Lyon (France)

Muros ilusorios  Illusory Walls

Villa VPRO, 1994-1997, Hilversum (Países Bajos)
Villa VPRO, 1994-1997, Hilversum (Netherlands)

Biblioteca Book Mountain, 2003-2012, Spijkenisse (Países Bajos)
Book Mountain, 2003-2012, Spijkenisse (Netherlands)

Markthal Rotterdam, 2004-2014, Rotterdam (Países Bajos)
Rotterdam Market Hall, 2004-2014, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

Granja de Vidrio, 2008-2013, Schijndel (Países Bajos)
Glass Farm, 2008-2013, Schijndel (Netherlands)

Casas de cristal, 2012-2016, Amsterdam (Países Bajos)
Crystal Houses, 2012-2016, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Mundos cromáticos  Colorful Worlds

Viviendas Hageneiland, 2000-2003, La Haya (Países Bajos)
Hageneiland Housing, 2000-2003, The Hague (Netherlands)

Ático Didden Village, 2002-2006, Rotterdam (Países Bajos)
Didden Village Attic, 2002-2006, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

Centro de investigación del cáncer (CCA), 2005, Amsterdam (Países Bajos)
Cancer Center Amsterdam (CCA), 2005, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

Edificio Chungha, 2013, Seúl (Corea del Sur)
Chungha Building, 2013, Seoul (South Korea)

Masterplan Traumhaus Funari, 2015-, Mannheim (Alemania)
Traumhaus Funari Masterplan, 2015-, Mannheim (Germany)

Lugares lúdicos  Leisure Land

Edificio Gyre Tokyo, 2005-2007, Tokio (Japón)
Gyre Tokyo, 2005-2007, Tokyo (Japan)

Casa Balancing Barn, 2007-2010, Suffolk (Reino Unido)
Balancing Barn, 2007-2010, Suffolk (United Kingdom)

Museo del Cómic y la Animación, 2011-, Hangzhou (China)
Comic & Animation Museum, 2011-, Hangzhou (China)

Rockmagneten, 2011-2016, Roskilde (Dinamarca)
Rockmagneten, 2011-2016, Roskilde (Denmark)

Centro cultural, 2015-, Zaanstad (Países Bajos)
Cultural Cluster, 2015-, Zaanstad (Netherlands)

Fantasías verdes  Green Fantasies

Sede de NTR, 1994-1997, Hilversum (Países Bajos)
NTR Headquarters, 1994-1997, Hilversum (Netherlands)

Pabellón de Países Bajos en Expo 2000, 1997-2000, Hannover (Alemania)
Expo 2000 Netherlands Pavilion, 1997-2000, Hannover (Germany)

Mirador Anyang Peak, 2005-2006, Anyang (Corea del Sur)
Anyang Peak Viewing Tower, 2005-2006, Anyang (South Korea)

Almere Floriade 2022, 2012-, Almere (Países Bajos)
Almere Floriade 2022, 2012-, Almere (Netherlands)

Vía verde Seoul Skygarden, 2015-, Seúl (Corea del Sur)
Seoul Skygarden, 2015-, Seoul (South Korea)

Ciudades visionarias  Visionary Cities

Pig City, 2000-2001, Países Bajos
Pig City, 2000-2001, Netherlands

Container City, 2001-2002, Rotterdam (Países Bajos)
Container City, 2001-2002, Rotterdam (Netherlands)

China Hills, 2009, China
China Hills, 2009, China

Plan urbano Almere Oosterwold, 2011-, Almere (Países Bajos)
Almere Oosterwold Masterplan, 2011-, Almere (Netherlands)

El hutong del futuro, 2014, Pekín (China)
The Next Hutong, 2014, Beijing (China)