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MVRDV begins Expo 2000 Pavilion adaptive reuse transformation

2023-05-16T13:19:00-04:00

MVRDV has shared details on their efforts to revitalize the firm’s former Dutch Expo 2000 Pavilion design into a new, mixed-use development in Hannover, Germany.

According to the firm, the project will transform the aging structure into a new anchor of a three-building development called iLive EXPO Campus after a successful 90 million Euro ($97.8 million USD) fundraising campaign led by iLive and Die Wohnkompanie Nord.

The structure had sat abandoned since its completion 23 years ago, often attracting illegal visits from architects eager for a peek at its three-level interior that has since become overgrown with the local flora while retaining its original structural integrity.

Image © MVRDV and © iLive Expo Campus

“The theme of the Dutch entry for Expo 2000 was ‘Holland Creates Space,’ and we did exactly that in 2000 by stacking typical Dutch landscapes up to 40 meters high, so that a large wild garden could be created around the pavilion,” MVRD...

MVRDV's Dutch Expo 2000 Pavilion may receive a second life after all

2020-07-10T14:18:00-04:00

Anyone remember MVRDV's Dutch Pavilion at the 2000 World Expo in Hanover, Germany? With its six layers of distinct Dutch landscapes stacked into one compact tower, the highly conceptual attraction was an instant audience favorite and a seminal early project in the studio's history.

Since then, nearly two decades have passed, and while MVRDV has grown into an established design force, the neglected, fenced-off structure has fallen into severe disrepair. There may be new hope on the horizon for the former pavilion though, as the Rotterdam-based architects just revealed designs for Expo Pavilion 2.0: a major conversion into a co-working office building surrounded by new a housing and mixed-use development.

"The current project maintains this 'stacked landscape' concept, renovating the existing building and adding two stepped buildings on the perimeter of the original site," explains MVRDV's description of the planned transformation.

"The renovated pavilion will house co-workin...