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SERIEN LEHRJAHRE BEI ... • WORKING AT ...
Crystal houses in Amsterdam: wie Mauerwerk verlegte ... • Crystal Houses in Amsterdam: glass bricks ... As an ongoing project, I am implementing our concepts for Werk 12 in Munich together
... Glasbausteine prägen die Fassade. • ... installed like masonry form the façade.
Fotos Crrystal Houses: Daria Scagliola & Stijn Brakkee
062 • AIT 10.2016
M ister Schuster, there are numerous excellent architectural offices in the
Netherlands. Why did you explicitly decide in favour of MVRDV?
Besides the initial spark caused by the EXPO pavilion, it was above all the architectural
standard of the work done here. To be honest, I still had a few further offices on my
list. Today, however, I am very, very glad to be working at MVRDV because here I am
allowed freedom and the processes are transparent. The work is great fun when every-
body is committed heart and soul and I am able to act in concert with such experienced
colleagues. We never develop stereotypical standard solutions; each project is new and
means a challenge to which we rise as a team. This is MVRDV culture in action and I
think it shows in our buildings. It is great to be able to contribute to such impulses for
architecture. For me as a young architect, it is the perfect continuation of my studies.
r MVRDV has long since grown into a renowned office and designed innumerable
striking buildings. Please grant us a few insights ...
We are meanwhile 140 employees and just moved into a renovated office in
Rotterdam which reflects the culture MVRDV in a marvellous way. There is a very inti-
mate and friendly atmosphere among the architects, the three directors and all the
other employees. We see ourselves as a big family. The working structure is open and
geared to exchange and communication. In the everyday routine, there are basically
no noticeable hierarchies; rather, one feels the motivation and the inspiration of all the
employees, be it during project meetings, at the desks or while sharing a meal at
lunchtime. MVRDV offers the chance to entirely integrate into the architectural process
as a trainee as well. Thanks to the trust my team director Gijs Rikken has in me,
already on the first day I was allowed to build a work model for the Crystal Houses in
Amsterdam and then draft the layouts of the penthouse apartments. Right now, the
Crystal Houses are for me the outstanding project in the retail sector.
r What are you currently working on?
Being German, I am working on several projects in my home country. We are very
active there. Just recently, for instance, we submitted a project for an urban-develop-
ment competition in Munich and participated in a peer-review procedure in Hamburg.
with our co-architects N-V-O on site. We are also just beginning diverse individual tasks
for converting a US-military compound in Mannheim, where I myself am working on
the conversion of a former officers’ casino. We always follow the MVRDV-principle to
achieve the maximum even on a small budget. But this does not mean that, being
German, I am restricted to construction tasks in Germany. I was already able to gain
experience through projects in the Netherlands, France and in Beijing in China. In all
this, I am very flexibly participating in various stages of many projects.
r You participated in the Urban Hybrid competition in Emmen in Switzerland which
MVRDV won. It is about a hybrid residential block combining various apartments
and open spaces to a highly varied ensemble. What’s next for this project?
The project meets with very strong approval, also beyond Emmen. It was last shown
at the Neue Räume Meuble-Immeuble in Zurich with a one-to-one accessible model
house. After the successful planning application, we were able to establish a furnishing
catalogue for the single-family homes together with Senn AG. In allusion to Winy Maas,
we call it “Furnishing made to Maas”. On the construction site, however, there is now
a short break since the investor is still in negotiations in order to consistently imple-
ment the multiple concept. After all, it is sometime a bit more difficult for those who
strike out in a new direction.
r Thanks to a significant type of architecture and unusual spaces that can be ex -
perienced, MVRDV seems to succeed in emotionally addressing the average
citizen as well. Is this social component one of the success factors of the office?
In my opinion, the fact that our kind of architecture pleases a lot of people and, some-
their completion. We thus assume social responsibility but also learn a lot and get the
times, also polarizes, justifies our approach. We envision the history of the people, the
users and the uses and, above all, stay in touch with our buildings for many years after
necessary inspiration for further “sustainable” projects – to quote this somewhat
stereotyped buzzword which is really appropriate in the case of our concepts. Yes, I
believe that this is one of the essential success factors of MVRDV. Our approach also
clearly shows in our monograph „MVRDV Buildings“. In it, you don’t find the impres-
sive architectural photographs devoid of people in the focus but the users and the
opinion on our kind of architecture.