Archinect - News

Mecanoo's Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen renovation moves forward in Rotterdam

2024-07-03T12:42:00-04:00

Mecanoo’s plan for a much-needed renovation of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam has been given the go-ahead by the city’s mayor and alderman for their design, which will author a "new chapter" in its 175-year history and be delivered by the end of 2029.

Aspects of the work will include creating a new entrance, improving logistics and circulation for the museum, and restoring the existing Van der Steur, Bodon, and Henket buildings, which are considered national monuments.

Rendering courtesy of Mecanoo

A modern intervention will be added to connect all three structures after the Robbrecht en Daem wing is demolished. Fire safety and sustainability will be prioritized throughout; and, finally, a new connection to the museum's Park will be made by repurposing the Henket Pavilion into a restaurant for museum visitors.

Rendering courtesy of Mecanoo

A 3D printed ceramic facade by Studio RAP in Amsterdam is inspired by weaving textiles

2023-12-04T11:54:00-05:00

Rotterdam-based Studio RAP has transformed a boutique facade in Amsterdam with 3D printed ceramic tiles. The Ceramic House sits along the city’s famous P.C. Hooftstraat shopping street, and according to the firm, “reshapes architectural expression by seamlessly blending tradition and innovation, reintroducing bespoke details to the realm of architecture.”

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

For the project’s design, the firm developed in-house algorithms to reinterpret the existing qualities and language of glazed ceramics in Amsterdam. The resulting facade features intricate layers inspired by textiles, including creases, interloping yarns, and stitch patterns.

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

“Its organic, wave-like quality changes as viewers approach the design from different angles,” the team explains. “Gradually, as the line of vision moves, new elements within the custom ceramic tiles are unveiled, resulting in a luxur...

In Delft, a 3D-printed passage by Studio RAP reinterprets traditional ceramic crafts

2023-07-13T12:15:00-04:00

Rotterdam-based Studio RAP has completed a 3D-printed ceramic walkway in the Dutch city of Delft. Titled 'New Delft Blue,' the project “reinterprets the world-famous decorative qualities and design vocabulary of Delft Blue porcelain,” with a fusion of 3D clay printing, computational design, and artistic glazing.

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

The scheme is located in the communal courtyard of the PoortMeesters residential building block. Within the block, two large arching gates cover a public staircase, drawing reference from Delft’s historical role as a trading city. Studio RAP’s intervention within the arched passage takes its inspiration from traditional Delft Blue porcelain plates, whose vocabulary has changed radically over centuries with influence from Chinese and Japanese designs.

Image credit: Riccardo De Vecchi

“The differentiation between a decorative, nature-inspired frame and idyllic scene, however, has bee...

UNStudio completes Booking.com City Campus HQ in Amsterdam

2023-06-28T14:39:00-04:00

A new HQ project from UNStudio for the Dutch travel site Booking.com has opened in Amsterdam, offering a dynamic central location it says will serve as a “recruitment machine” while creating a more inclusive, healthy, and socially engaging experience for the company’s 6,500 employees.

Video courtesy UNStudio on Vimeo.

Designed to maximize connectivity for its users and visitors to the campus’ Oosterdokseiland location, the nearly 700,000-square-foot plan creates a highly-visible, activities-laden consolidation of disparate office locations that, for over a decade, had been spread throughout the city.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

Anchored by a striking main building made of glass and steel and sited on a double-height plinth that creates an urban element underneath and around a cantilevered overhang, the development was influenced by years of research into comparable corporate headquarters and engenders a “platform for human activity,” the architects say.

Image: © Hufton + Crow

A network o...

De Zwarte Hond designs flexible timber office park in Amsterdam

2023-06-22T11:30:00-04:00

De Zwarte Hond has designed a timber office building for Dutch energy company Alliander. Located on the Noordzeeweg in Amsterdam Westpoort, the new offices are described as circular and flexible, consisting of workshops, warehouses, test facilities, and educational and park buildings.

Image: Jaques Tillmans Foto Focus / De Zwarte Hond

Sustainability guided the design of the roughly 226,042-square-foot complex, which resulted in high flexibility, scalability, and modularity. Materials such as wood were used as much as possible, and harmful substances like glue, PU foam or sealant were minimized. The parking building’s detached set-up allows it to grow or shrink. In addition, the structure’s façades are made of weather-resistant Corten steel.

Image: Scagliola Brakkee / De Zwarte Hond

The office is gas-free and energy neutral due to approximately 37 square feet of solar panels and thermal energy storage. Its use of timber allowed the project to store 560 tons of carbon dioxide. Much con...

OMA and Circlewood develop adaptable modular wood system to build schools in Amsterdam

2023-05-12T13:59:00-04:00

OMA, along with Circlewood, a coalition of architects, engineers, builders, and researchers, have developed a modular wood system to build a variety of schools in Amsterdam.

This project aims to support the city’s goal to halve the use of primary raw materials by 2030 and become fully circular by 2050. As part of this mission and the need to meet the increasing demand for schools, Amsterdam initiated the Innovation Partnership School Buildings program to build nine to thirty “high-quality, flexible, and sustainable” schools in ten years.

Image courtesy of OMA

Consisting of standardized wooden columns and cross-laminated wooden floor panels, the prefabricated system is connected by recycled steel joints. OMA explains, "All of the components are made in a factory under a digitally controlled process allowing for quick assembly and disassembly by an electric crane on site."

Photography by Arthur Wong for OMA.

They are arranged into 11.8-foot wide (2.6m), 23.6-foot long (7.2m), and up t...

In Amsterdam, a new residential development draws on canyons, forests, and beaches

2023-05-09T14:39:00-04:00

A team comprising Orange Architects, Felixx, Ballast Nedam West, and ABT has completed a mixed-use residential scheme in Amsterdam inspired by various natural forms. Titled Jonas and situated on the artificial island of Ijburg, the building is centered around a “concentration of special places” inspired by rocks, islands, forests, beaches, and canyons.

Image credit: Sebastian van Damme

At the front of the building, a landscape titled ‘The Rock’ is anchored by a large wooden sculpture that integrates a parking garage entrance. A multifunctional grandstand is created by sculptural terraces and wooden decks, while on summer days, the building’s interior and exterior merge by way of a large operable glass frontage.

Image credit: Sebastian van Damme

The patio of the building has been dubbed ‘The Forest,’ manifesting as a quiet, intimate space populated by large birch trees, ferns, moss, slate paths, and wooden benches. The s...

MVRDV’s Winy Maas to curate biennale on threatened Van Gogh landscapes

2023-04-17T13:36:00-04:00

MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas has been selected as curator for the Van Gogh Homeland Biennale. Set to launch in 2025, the event will draw attention to the Brabant landscapes in the Netherlands which featured in many Vincent Van Gogh paintings more than a hundred years ago and are now under threat from climate change.

Image credit: MVRDV

The Biennale is part of a broader collaboration between Midpoint Brabant, MVRDV, and the Van Gogh Homeland Foundation, which aims to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by the Dutch landscape, where the number of flood events is increasing, and tensions are rising between farmers, cities, industries, and nature lovers over land use.

The team hopes that a blend of architecture, landscape design, sustainability, and leisure backgrounds will “show in an attractive and accessible way how the landscape that inspired Vincent van Gogh 150 years ago can be made more sustainable and greener in the future.”

Image credit: MVRDV

The Biennale will in...

UNStudio refurbishes former banking HQ in Eindhoven

2023-04-11T17:55:00-04:00

UNStudio has just unveiled a completed redesign of a former bank headquarters building called Fellenoord 15 in the Dutch city of Eindhoven.

The project transformed the former Rabobank HQ into a 32,000-square-meter (344,440-square-foot) governmental facility equipped with the latest building management technology and capable of hosting more flexible work concepts that are better constituted for the demands of our century.

The building before its transformation. Image: Studio Hans Wilschut

The completed building following the redesign. Image: Studio Hans Wilschut

Taking the shell of the existing building, UNStudio says they were able to save roughly 40% of the CO2 footprint required by new construction. Its design enables the use of a new public space between the building’s entrance and the adjacent bus station. A series of high-tech sensors decreases energy consumption while increasing the efficiency of workers’ use of the building through data.

Image: Evabloem

Geotherma...

MAD Architects unveils design of new dance center in Rotterdam

2023-03-10T08:00:00-05:00

MAD Architects has revealed the design of Danshuis, a world-class dance center built from a former riverfront warehouse in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It will feature professional dance studios, theaters, and exhibition spaces for dancers from around the world.

Image: Proloog

MAD Architects was commissioned by philanthropic investor Droom en Daad Foundation. The Rotterdam-based organization aims to make the city a world leader through art and culture. Sitting along the south bank of the Mas River Rotterdam, the Danshuis will echo the adjacent Fenix Museum of Migration, MAD’s first European cultural project.

Image: Proloog

For Danshuis, the architects preserved the original warehouse structure while introducing a number of components that express the project’s aim to be a symbol for freedom and pluralism. This is evident through an open-air, semi-circular theater that refers to ancient Greek gathering spaces located in the middle area of the top floor. This performance space will be o...

This double-curved roof house by Mecanoo is covered in slick multicolored tiles

2023-01-12T15:41:00-05:00

Mecanoo has designed a distinctive residence with a striking double-curved roof and ceramic tile-covered façade in Schoorl, a village in northern Holland.

Image: Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy Mecanoo.

Called Villa BW, it spans three floors, with an additional level within the hood of the roof. The roof comes together through two overlapping shapes: a gable roof and a horizontal roofline. According to the design team, the structure adapts to its natural, sloping surroundings. On its southeast side, the connection with the landscape along the sloped garden is enhanced by enclosing two voids with a curtain wall system.

Image: Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy Mecanoo.

The building’s custom multicolored ceramic tiling reflects the strong connection between the home and the landscape. Its colors, five shades of gray, green, and blue, represent the transitions in the landscape, such as the dune landsca...

A look inside ANNA Stay, the World Hotel Building of the Year 2022 winner at the World Architecture Festival

2023-01-04T17:21:00-05:00

A modular, wooden cabin from Dutch designer Caspar Schols has won the World Hotel Building of the Year 2022 Award at the recent World Architecture Festival (WAF). Named ANNA Stay, the project is recognized for its sustainable design that allows its guests to reconnect with themselves and nature.

Image: Tonu Tunnel

Image: Jorrit 't Hoen

The building blends into its surrounding environment through its highly flexible design. The structure features two protective sliding shells: an inner shell comprising double glass and an outer shell made of wood. The shells can be adjusted, allowing the space to adapt to various weather conditions, moods, or occasions.

Image: Jorrit 't Hoen

In the cold, the insulated wooden shell can retain heat inside the dwelling. If it becomes too warm, inhabitants can slide and close the wooden layer to keep the coolness within. The glass layer can also be slid open to inject cool air to enter. The glass layer also invites natural light ins...

Studio Gang adds to Amsterdam's much-needed housing stock with its first-ever European project

2022-12-14T13:41:00-05:00

A new, two-tower mixed-use scheme from Studio Gang has been delivered in Amsterdam, representing a first for the firm on the continent as it looks to grow outside of the American market with recent expansions into Canada and now the EU.

The 297,170-square-foot Q Residences are meant to address the capital region’s considerable housing needs with a scheme that adds 248 total residences located in the center of Buitenveldert – one of the last “garden cities” constructed in Amsterdam following the conclusion of World War II.

Image © Kees Hummel via Studio Gang

Studio Gang says their design “brings a more organic, sculptural feel to the rational rectilinearity of the surrounding 1950s developments.” Its two volumes distribute the residential program into mid- and high-rise forms dubbed Qube and Quartz, respectively. A series of angled balconies are set at staggering depths and cascade down the taller structure in what the architects described as an origami-like pattern. The mid-rise Qub...

MVRDV launches digital tool that lays out design possibilities for Rotterdam's rooftops

2022-11-28T17:21:00-05:00

At the Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona, MVRDV’s computational design arm MVRDV NEXT, multidisciplinary planning organization Superworld, and the Municipality of Rotterdam announced RoofScape, a software that visualizes potential uses for rooftops in Rotterdam.

RoofScape was designed to be used by both professionals and citizens while being detailed enough to assist policymakers and urban planners. As noted in MVRDV’s press announcement, rooftops have become one of Rotterdam’s urban planning priorities. This program builds on prior work between MVRDV and the Dutch city, who launched Rooftop Catalog in 2021, a book containing 130 suggestions for how rooftops can be utilized to increase Rotterdam’s density. The suggestions range from providing more housing and leisure spaces to fostering biodiversity and energy generation.

Image courtesy of MVRDV

The software works by color-coding roofs by what uses they can support. The possibilities are determined through a wide range of ...

Construction to begin on 'energy-positive' brick tower by Mecanoo in Amsterdam

2022-10-07T12:07:00-04:00

Mecanoo is moving ahead with a 28-story tower in north Amsterdam. The mixed-use residential and commercial tower, whose inception we covered in 2020, has been formally approved by city officials and will now move forward to construction later this month. Completion is expected in 2025.

Named the Brink Tower after the Dutch word for open green space, the scheme is imagined as a ‘visual and social link’ between two existing residential neighborhoods in north Amsterdam.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

The concept is defined by its rounded corners along the entirety of its 90-meter (295-foot) height. Clad in a warm red brick to reference the influential Amsterdam School of the 1920s, the tower’s 28 stories are interspersed on the façade by brick and concrete bands. Between the bands, each level benefits from full-height glazing broken by slender brick elements.

Image courtesy of Mecanoo

When viewed from the north, the tower adopts a wide, robust form in response to neighboring towers in Amste...

Take a closer look at MVRDV's newly-opened Amsterdam 'Valley' towers

2022-09-20T13:24:00-04:00

After five years of construction, MVRDV’s highly-touted mixed-use Valley project has officially opened in Amsterdam.

Behind the under-construction Canyon, recently-completed Grotius Towers, and last year’s Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen project, the three-tower scheme represents one of the firm’s larger and more significant works of recent vintage.

Featuring a cantilevered series of terraces and vertical forests designed by Piet Oudolf, the 75,000-square-meter (807,000-square-foot) development is meant as a stimulus to the otherwise bland Zuidas business district and includes an open fourth and fifth floor Green Valley, boutique ground-level retail and cultural offerings, and a covered grotto that further connects the public to what founding partner Winy Maas called a “first step towards transforming this part of Amsterdam into a greener, denser, and more human city.”

A total of 271 young trees and 13,500 small local plants were...

MVRDV’s jagged Grotius Towers scheme debuts in The Hague

2022-07-21T15:58:00-04:00

Five years after being first announced, Dutch mainstay MVRDV’s Grotius Towers apartment scheme has been completed in The Hague, the country’s third largest city.

In a project announcement, the studio described their new creation rather accurately as “an eye-catching new addition to the skyline of The Hague.” It is defined by two 100- and 120-meter-tall (328 and 393 feet, respectively) towers that “crumble” asymmetrically from the top down, combining with a series of setbacks and stacked terraces to create a distinctive jagged massing carefully placed on a lot adjacent to the city’s Central Station.

Image © Emmely van Mierlo

Per the design team: “With façades of natural stone and sustainable composite bamboo, gas-free homes, and approximately 1,500 bicycle parking spaces (in addition to 244 for cars), the Grotius Towers are also sustainable. In the design, attention was paid to energy efficiency in the form of good insulation and heat recovery systems. The towers are also multifunctio...

BIG and Barcode complete cantilevering residential building on Amsterdam waterfront

2022-07-15T11:39:00-04:00

Work has been completed on Sluishuis, a residential project in Amsterdam by Bjarke Ingels Group and Barcode Architects. The scheme, which comprises 442 homes, a public green roof garden, and maritime jetties, is defined by a cantilevered form meeting at a high corner.

Photograph © Ossip van Duivenbode

The architects describe the project as a “remarkable building with a unique volume that seems to float on the water thanks to the double cantilever.” Towards the water, the building’s untreated aluminum facade rises to meet at the cantilever, creating a gateway to the inner harbor at the building’s core. On the opposite side, the stepped form contains a stairway to the rooftop garden and private residential terraces.

Photograph © Ossip van Duivenbode

The 442 energy-neutral homes, which vary between owner-occupied and rental units, are designed for a variety of income levels and age categories. Typologies include compact studios, water sports apartments, and duplex penthouses. The steppe...

MVRDV to convert structuralist icon in the Netherlands into a new residential district

2022-06-16T19:16:00-04:00

MVRDV is transforming the famed Herman Hertzberger-designed Centraal Beheer building in the Dutch city of Apeldoorn into a sustainable, green residential neighborhood. MVRDV will work alongside Hertzberger's office, AHH to revitalize the celebrated structure. Certitudo Capital commissioned the project in an effort to expand the three-hectare site near the city's train station. MVRDV's design introduces approximately 650 to 800 homes and prioritizes heritage preservation, greening, and innovation.

The Centraal Beheer building was originally designed for an insurance company, noted for its influential and revolutionary office design when it opened in 1972. The building consists of four quadrants, divided by two central "streets" that form the social heart of the building. A collection of 30-foot cubes come together at varying levels to give the structure its distinctive form.

In 2015, the building was purchased by Certitudo Capital and the surrounding site to convert it into a multif...

Design-versus-reality images show ODA's transformation of historic Rotterdam post office

2022-05-11T11:53:00-04:00

New photographs have been released showing construction progress at POST Rotterdam, documenting the restoration and reinvention of a historic post office in the Dutch city. Designed by ODA with Omnam Group, the project sees the 100-year-old building transformed into a hotel, with accompanying retail, restaurants, two public plazas, and a 155-meter (500-foot) tall residential tower.

Historic entrance and elevator, during construction. Image © Ossip

Historic entrance and elevator, design proposal. Image © ODA

Among the architectural features showcased in the new images are the Great Hall, a 22.5-meter (75-foot) high vaulted room dating from 1916. Working with Braaksma & Roos Architectenbureau, the team has preserved and restored the space, whose ultimate role will be to serve as the project’s “public heart.” To make the hall more accessible, a new entrance is being added via a piazza-style courtyard from a former service entrance.

The G...

Winy Maas on Almere’s radical vision of the future

2022-04-06T13:38:00-04:00

"We didn't really plan anything in concrete detail, but instead allowed residents to build their own neighbourhoods," says Maas. "In return they have more responsibility – to plan streets with their neighbours, to arrange their own energy provision, and so on. That part sounds radical to some people – but it's really just how cities were built for centuries." "We don't believe that any city should be the result of the vision of just one person or one organisation.”

The designer of this year’s Floriade horticultural expo talked to the BBC about the city’s self-organized development and how it all ties into his MVRDV-designed Almere 2030 master plan that will add some 60,000 residencies by the end of the decade. Maas wouldn’t categorize Almere as an experimental city “exactly,” but said rather that he sees it as “a city in which experiments can happen […] The difference is subtle but important.”

“Successful cities always arise from the input of multiple people over years, decades, sometimes millennia,” he explained. “It's this belief that has led to Almere's reputation for experimentation – how we allow individuals to add their own vision.”

Arup completes the Netherlands' tallest timber-hybrid residential building

2022-03-31T19:16:00-04:00

Arup has designed and engineered the Netherlands’ tallest timber-hybrid residential building.

Completed this year, HAUT is part of the country’s commitment to becoming climate-neutral by 2050, in which the use of timber as a building material has been identified as one of the most effective ways to accelerate decarbonization. As noted by Arup, in 2021, over 80 Dutch companies signed the Green Deal covenant Houtbouw of the Metropoolregio Amsterdam. With this, the nation's capital and most populous city is committing to the goal of building at least one in five buildings using primarily timber from 2025 onwards.

Previously on Archinect: Arup, TEAM V to build world's tallest timber residential building in Amsterdam

HAUT was conceived in 2016 with the aim of being of both sustainable and high architectural quality. Situated near the Amstel river, the structure is one of the tallest timber-hybrid buildings in the world, standing 21 floors tall at nearly 240 feet. It was also certified B...

MVRDV's new Flores Tower is a top-to-bottom exhibition of flower power

2022-03-14T13:25:00-04:00

The colorful new centerpiece of the 2022 Floriade horticultural exhibition is now set to debut after MVRDV announced the completion of its 43.5-meter (142-foot) Flores Tower in the Dutch city of Almere.

The vibrant structure comes complete with a custom-made, AR-enabled panoramic facade artwork titled Sympoiesis from Rotterdam-based Arttenders and the Flemish artist Alex Verhaest.

Taking the surrounding MVRDV-designed arboretum as its inspiration, the glass-paneled facade is activated by a digital scripting technique that projects a layered composition with images of 1,800 different floral species taken from various databases and university libraries.

The illustration covers the full catalog of plants and flowers available to visitors of the expo with an interpretive key located in the building’s plinth that offers itself as a proportionate wayfinding guide indicating th...

MVRDV's The Podium at Het Nieuwe Instituut seeks to showcase the role rooftops can play in urban design

2022-03-01T19:13:00-05:00

Expanding on its long and studied history of demonstrating the capacity for rooftop spaces to produce a better urban environment, MVRDV has now revealed plans for a bright, new, temporary event space on top of the Jo Coenen-designed Het Nieuwe Instituut that will serve as the heart and arteries of Rotterdam’s Rooftop Walk and Architecture Month this summer.

For a little over ten weeks, the 600-square-meter space can be accessed via a 143-step staircase leading into an elevated viewing platform on the pergola of the Instituut and is meant to engage visitors with an informative view of the neighboring Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen and Museumpark in addition to its built-in program of creative inspiration.

Image © MVRDV

Rising to a height of 29 meters (95 feet), the temporary platform is meant to highlight the city's rooftops' amazing potential to reduce the sprawl as it provides Rotterdammers with the ability to pursue a host of green activities ranging from energy product...

The Dutch government is leading the fight to retrofit against climate change

2022-01-14T17:55:00-05:00

Energiesprong (which translates to “energy jump”), a nonprofit that the Dutch government helped launch a decade ago, is coordinating a system of mass retrofits. “We thought, okay, let’s make home retrofits into a scalable solution,” says Christian Richter, who works in the organization’s market development team in Germany.

The Netherlands has pursued an aggressive agenda which has meant a spate of net-zero residential conversions. Now groups are looking for ways to apply lessons from the program outside the country in the hopes of matching increased demands with advancements that have produced certain types of completed retrofit projects in less than a day.

“We know that roughly 70% of the buildings that exist today will exist in 2050,” Martha Campbell, the president of an energy nonprofit called RMI told FastCompany. “And if we’re going to hit net zero by 2050 . . . our estimates are that we need to hit a retrofit rate between 4% and 6%.” That adds up to as many as 6 million retrofits each year in the U.S. alone.

Stefano Boeri releases documentary about 'world’s first social housing vertical forest'

2021-12-22T14:59:00-05:00

Stefano Boeri Architetti has released a short documentary on the Trudo Vertical Forest, which the firm bills as “the first social housing vertical forest in the world.” Built in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, the project draws its inspiration from the firm’s Bosco Verticale in Milan.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stefano Boeri Architetti (@stefanoboeriarchitetti)

The 19-story tower rises 230 feet (70 meters) and contains 125 apartments designed to accommodate long-income users, particularly young couples. In addition, thirty homes in the building have been reserved for asylum seekers, political refugees, and people with disabilities.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Stefano Boeri Architetti (@stefanoboeriarchitetti)

The facades are adorned with 135 trees of various species as well as 10,000 shrubs and plants. To service the extensive greenery, the scheme contains four collection tanks housing 20,000 liters of rainwater eac...

Museums are closing across Europe as Omicron variant rapidly spreads

2021-12-20T19:50:00-05:00

Museums in Denmark and the Netherlands will close as part of new coronavirus lockdown measures being imposed in both countries in reaction to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the disease. The announcements have been met with resignation and disappointment as it will mean further strain on the already stretched museum sector after nearly two years of sporadic closures and reduced capacity.

In London, the Natural History Museum is closed until December 27th due to staffing shortages caused by Covid. The Wellcome Collection and the Foundling Museum in London have also decided to shut down amid the surge. These closures come without the UK government declaring any mandates for these institutions to close their doors. On the other hand, national mandates in both the Netherlands and Denmark have closed all non-essential establishments and public venues until mid-January.

In the US, with New York City reporting record numbers of daily Covid cases, no major institutions have closed. As it stands, another shutdown is out of the equation.

MIT-designed self-driving Roboats make a splash in Amsterdam’s canals

2021-11-18T13:33:00-05:00

After six years of design and research at MIT, a pair of autonomous boats have been launched into the canals of Amsterdam. Roboat, a research project undertaken by the MIT Senseable City Lab and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS Institute), seeks to encourage a future where autonomous boats could help the city of Amsterdam move part of its road traffic to the water.

From November onwards, the two full-scale prototypes will be used for three use cases: passenger transport, logistics (waste collection), and data collection (surveying water infrastructure and monitoring water quality). The boats will operate with complete autonomy through the use of way-point finding, autonomous docking and undocking, and collision avoidance.

“Picture being amid the hustle and bustle on the Amsterdam canals,” explains Ynse Deinema, Roboat Project Lead at AMS Institute. “This urban context involves tight space maneu...

De Zwarte Hond designs a multi-use supermarket made entirely out of wood

2021-11-16T18:46:00-05:00

In Meerstad, a neighborhood in the Dutch city of Groningen, De Zwarte Hond is designing a multi-use supermarket made entirely of wood. Called the SuperHub, the project is labeled as a sustainable and flexible building that is also a host to a variety of social functions.

Meerstad, which was added to the municipality of Groningen in 2017, is known for its spaciousness, greenery, and the newly constructed Woldmeer, a lake for recreation. The focus of the area is on healthy living and sustainability. The neighborhood is also growing, as it anticipates the construction of around 5,000 homes over the next 25 years. To meet the needs of Meerstad’s expansion, De Zwarte Hond was tasked with designing a facilities cluster that could grow with the district. It was envisioned to be the heart of the changing area, where people not only did their shopping but also come together and spend time.

The building is transparent and all-sided, offering impressive views of a nearby new park and the la...

MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is finally open in Rotterdam

2021-11-08T12:13:00-05:00

The wait has ended for the revamped Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. The world’s first publicly accessible art storage depot officially opened to the public over the weekend after a five-year-long construction period led by MVRDV.

Visitors will now be able to interact with over 151,000 pieces of art housed by the 167,000-square-foot facility, which also features a Birch-lined rooftop garden and viewable conservation areas giving them behind-the-scenes views of the museum’s staff working across five distinct climate-controlled zones.

The unique, 1,664-mirrored-panel bowl design made waves online and has been among the most highly-anticipated museum projects in recent memory since being announced in 2013. The project was initiated by the museum after repeated flooding of its previous storage facility prompted officials to reimagine how they might be able to use an upgrade to expand the relatively small amount of its collection that was vie...