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.

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 production to urban farming. Its pink-finished floor hosts a variety of different arts programming from a suite of local institutions and designers, while finally, in the floor below, a curated exhibition further engages its audience with an examination of several key early projects from the studio in the years following its 1993 inception. 

MVRDV is trying to rebound from the dismal Marble Arch debacle, which ended rather unspectacularly with a bevy of public scrutiny and a bill of £6 million earlier in the winter. 

The Podium will open to the public on June 1st and run until August 17th with a free month to start coinciding with the Rotterdam Architecture Month (RA Month) festival. The Rooftop Walk officially kicks off on May 26th and runs until June 24th.