Day 7 – Office for Metropolitan Architecture 3-16-2023

This is the day for the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and MVRDV. Students dressed up for this and some walked in with their portfolio in hand. We arrived at OMA’s new office at 11:30 am. Marina Fernandez Maestre, Public Relations, provided us with a presentation of the old iconic buildings produced by the Rotterdam office. Funny that I could recognize a few on which I also worked during my long period there. The presentation was dynamic: we walked through the long corridors of the office and the students were diving with their whole bodies into the large-scale physical models displayed along the way.

One of the most significant OMA buildings realized in the city of Rotterdam is De Rotterdam (The Rotterdam). De Rotterdam stands tall and proud on the Wilhelminapier Island, across the Erasmus bridge, on the south side of the city. When visiting the building today, city architect Marc Verheijen explained to the group the importance of the bridge. It connects the center of Rotterdam to one of its first urban extensions toward the south, (Kop van Zuid). One highlight in Marc’s presentation was the urban development of the city and its focus on slow mobility and the carbon-free/low-impact strategy adopted by the city administrators.

Rotterdam is resilient and is leading a redevelopment that is focused on people and environmental sustainability (pedestrian and bicycle accessibility, strengthening public transportation connections, water re-sanitation, parks, etc...). For a year now, I have been privileged to work with the Ecological Design Collective (EDC), a community for radical ecological imagination and collaborative practice. Listening to Rotterdam’s urban and social agenda made it clear to me that design is adopting a more decentralized approach by moving away from anthropocentric design and moving towards a more ecologically focused path that is inclusive and factors in all the species in the universe. 

From where we were standing, on the 40th floor of De Rotterdam, the city renewal unfolded clearly before our eyes. From there we had a great view of the city center, and we could look back at the floating offices, the far-away Katendrecht island that is the future expansion of Rotterdam.

Cycling back across the bridge and toward the center of Rotterdam, the students got a peek at the Timmerhuis project (MVRDV) and the Markthal (MVRDV). The day ended at MVRDV. After checking in and signing release forms, we sat by the bleachers running parallel to the main design studio, and Gijs Rikken Associate, Design Director, and Architect started his lecture. What a fun place to work! While Gijs was amusing us with stories of teams interacting with projects and clients, obsessing over the choice of colors and materials, and exploring the city through unsolicited projects that provided new and fantastic experiences to Rotterdamers, the work at the office was moving along as usual. From where we were sitting, we could enjoy the buzz of young and less young designers collaborating on future state-of-the-art buildings populating the globe. 

Gijs projects’ selection for this presentation was Rotterdam based. Gijs opened with the Markthal, of course, and walked us through some daring 1 to 1 spatial studies intended to explore new ways of living in the city. From the Blue House to the Podium and the stairs, MVRDV is colonizing the roofs of the city to provide more houses and parks. Once again, the students could not contain their enthusiasm and, despite the long day, they all hung out with Gijs after the lecture and asked for more. They wanted to know more about this crazy and wonderful world of architecture created in Rotterdam. What followed was a business cards exchange and the promise of sending out portfolios… soon.

Day 1 – UNStudio Visit

Day 2 – Black Heritage Tour

Day 3 – Amsterdam Walking Tour

Day 4 – Delft-Rotterdam – Back Down Memory Lane

Day 5 – Architecture Evolving

Day 6 – Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen

Day 8 – Time to Say Goodbye