MVRDV and Stadgenoot commission 24 international architects to design buildings for Almere Olympiakwartier

Almere, 18 June 2009

Adri Duivesteijn, city councilor of Almere, Amsterdam Housing Association Stadgenoot and MVRDV have met today the group of architects commissioned to design each two buildings within the MVRDV masterplan for the Olympiakwartier in new town Almere, Netherlands. In order to reach a great urban variety within the ambitious plan, 48 of the in total 93 buildings will be designed by 24 different architecture offices from Europe, Japan and America.

Each selected office will design two different buildings ranging from 500m2 to 5,000m2. The architect’s selection consists of a varied group of offices, from young and conceptual to more established classic architects, in order to create true variety. The projects will be realized by a group of experienced construction companies under quality care of MVRDV and Stadgenoot who are joint client to the architects, an experimental way of development.

Frank Bijdendijk, director of housing association Stadgenoot: «In order to reach urban variety, flexibility and high quality of a new city, MVRDV and Stadgenoot invited a diverse group of 24 architects to design individual buildings; they range from starting offices to classic established practices. Stadgenoot explores the possibilities for developing a lively inner city district with long term development. Being a housing association, the creation of good quality living areas is part of our public responsibility.»

The selected offices (a-z):
2012 Architects
Atelier Bow Wow
Baumschlager & Eberle
BKK-3 Architektur
Breitman et Breitman
Bruno. Albert Architecte & Associés
Charles Vandenhove Architecture
Cobe
DierendonckBlancke Architecten
Édouard François
Guallart Architects
Herreros
JDS Architects
Jürgen Mayer H.
Krier Kohl
LOT-EK
Monadnock
Onix
Powerhouse Company
Sadar Vuga Arhitekti
Studio Gang
Urban Think Tank
Van Bergen Kolpa Architecten
Yasutaka Yoshimura Architects

Amsterdam based housing association Housing Stadgenoot commissioned MVRDV to be planner for 60,000m2 work space, 120,000m2 housing (1,000 homes), 15,000m2 education, 2,000m2 commercial space, 2,640 parking spaces and various public spaces. This total has been split into 93 volumes of which MVRDV will design 45. The plan demands individual development of the buildings: a dense mix of living and working leading to a complex urban condition. Retail, a public square and communal gardens are also part of the comprehensive plan which introduces inner city life to the mostly suburban typology of Almere. Flexibility is a key objective: All ground floors and part of the office and apartment buildings are designed to facilitate future change of use. In this way the owner, Stadgenoot, can adjust the district more and more to the needs of the growing new town and its inhabitants.

Almere, founded in 1984 on reclaimed land, is growing fast into becoming the fifth largest city of the Netherlands. After realizing a new city centre, Almere now builds Olympiakwartier as a secondary centre. The project follows the ‘Almere Principles’ which are guide lines towards a sustainable city. Completion is expected 2016, the larger urban plan is by Dutch office Mecanoo.

MVRDV is currently also engaged in the development of the ‘Vision 2030′, Almere’s ambition to grow into a city with a stronger identity and a total of 350,000 inhabitants by 2030. This involves the building of 60,000 new homes and the creation of 100,000 new jobs for the expected 150,000 new inhabitants. A key investment in infrastructure, public transport and the attractive adjoining green belt including Almere’s long coastline will connect the city more with its surroundings.

The 24 architecture teams with the client, Almere city officials and the project teams of MVRDV on site
© Xander Remkes

ALMERE, located just 35 kilometres from the Dutch capital of Amsterdam, offers an ideal climate for working and living for many people and companies from the Randstad conurbation, which is bursting at the seams, and the rest of Holland, thanks to its spacious layout and its greenbelt so rich in waters. In Almere of the total surface of 24,876 hectares 40% is agricultural land, woodlands, parks or nature reserve, making it a very green and blue city when compared with other large municipalities. Some three to four thousand new residents arrive each year. Facilities in the field of education, welfare, culture and sport track the growth as closely as possible.
More information about the new town Almere: http://english.almere.nl/

Stadgenoot works in Amsterdam and Almere. It seeks to enhance the quality of homes and of life in Amsterdam. By contributing here Stadgenoot steadily levers housing standards in the city. Meanwhile, with an eye for individual aspirations and the social mix, Stadgenoot builds towards a sustainable environment for all. In total Stadgenoot, with 465 personnel, develops and manages just over 31,000 homes and 1,800 commercial units.

MVRDV was set up in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV produces designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape design. Early projects such as the headquarters for the Dutch Public Broadcaster VPRO and housing for elderly WoZoCo in Amsterdam lead to international acclaim.
The office continues to pursue its fascination and methodical research on density using a method of shaping space through complex amounts of data that accompany contemporary building and design processes. MVRDV first published a cross section of these study results in FARMAX (1998), followed by a.o. MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), which contains Pig City and more recently Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007). MVRDV deals with global ecological issues in large scale studies like Pig City as well as in small scale solutions for flooded areas of New Orleans.
The products of this approach vary and range from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban designs to publications and installations. Realized projects include the Dutch Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover, an innovative business park ‘Flight Forum’ in Eindhoven, the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam, the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan, Unterföhring office campus near Munich, the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam, an urban plan and housing in The Hague Ypenburg, the rooftop – housing extension Didden Village in Rotterdam, the cultural Centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven, the boutique shopping centre Gyre in Tokyo, Veldhoven’s Maxima Medical Centre and the iconic Mirador housing in Madrid. MVRDV also has a long history of working on urban visions and urban planning, both theoretical as in terms of realisations.
Current projects include various housing projects in the Netherlands, Spain, China, France, Austria, the United Kingdom, USA, Korea and other countries, a television centre in Zürich, a public library for Spijkenisse (Netherlands), a central market hall for Rotterdam, a culture plaza in Nanjing, China, large scale urban masterplans in Oslo, Norway and in Tirana, Albania, a masterplan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain and an urban vision for the doubling in size of Almere, Netherlands.
The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published world wide and receives international awards. The 65 architects, designers and staff members conceive projects in a multi-disciplinary collaborative design process and apply highest technological and sustainable standards.
www.mvrdv.nl