Innovation on Rotterdam Rooftop Days. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue by MVRDV

The city of Rotterdam has commissioned MVRDV to produce a Roof Catalog for the Rotterdam Rooftop Days, an annual event known as Rotterdamse Dakendagen that takes place on the first weekend of June.

The catalog offers a new vision with 130 innovative ideas to make use of the roofs and rooftops of the entire city, taking advantage of these mostly unused spaces and relegated to secondary services.

Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

MVRDV, together with the city of Rotterdam and the Rotterdam Roof Days, shows how the use of existing roofs can be an efficient solution to the shortage of space in the city and prevent Rotterdam from expanding into nearby rural areas.

The book aims to inspire people and give visibility to this proposal as a tool to face such important problems as climate change and the transition to renewable energy. The catalog groups proposals as diverse as personal offices, sports fields or a cemetery.

Description of project by MVRDV

MVRDV, the City of Rotterdam, and Rotterdam Rooftop Days launches Rooftop Catalogue

Rotterdam has 18.5 km2 of – mostly empty – flat roofs. Why has the city only made use of a limited number of roofs, when there is so much potential in doing so? To address this topic, the City of Rotterdam commissioned MVRDV and Rotterdam Rooftop Days to produce a catalogue of 130 innovative ideas to make use of the city’s roofs, giving rise to a fantastic new phase of development in Rotterdam.

Rotterdammers are increasingly becoming used to seeing green roofs and even rooftop forests, thanks to the completion of MVRDV’s Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. Yet flat roofs can be used for much more, for example storing water or as an event space. The Rooftop Catalogue offers an inspiring overview of no less than 130 different possibilities, from personal offices to sports fields to a cemetery.

The Rooftop Catalogue shows how roof use can be a solution for the scarcity of space in the city and how it can help to prevent the city from expanding outwards into rural areas. The book aims to inspire people, showing why we should take to the skies and how reprogramming rooftops can help with major issues such as climate change, a lack of housing, and the transition to renewable energy. The catalogue addresses the practical side of using roofs: What are the different options for construction? Which ideas are suitable for which types of building?

The Rooftop Catalogue also offers a glimpse of the future; what will it take to make this a reality? “I think we need a new Building Code, or rather a Rooftop Code, with a helpdesk for the homeowners’ associations and corporations that take the initiative. You should be able to stack the four elements – water, greenery, energy, and population – on top of each other, like a sandwich. It should be defined in some kind of regulation that rooftops should be able to support that weight. Stronger structures are more sustainable”, says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.

The launch of the Rooftop Catalogue is part of Rotterdam Architecture Month, when MVRDV and other Rotterdam architecture firms showcase their work and ideas. MVRDV is also participating with, among other things, a sneak preview of the exhibition MVRDVHNI: The Living Archive, which opens this autumn in Het Nieuwe Instituut. Outdoor activities will also be organised.

The Rooftop Catalogue (published by Rotterdam Roof Days) was produced by MVRDV on behalf of the municipality of Rotterdam. The 148-page catalogue costs €19.95 (with a promotional price in the first week of €12.95) and will be presented at a live event on June 3, 8pm: rotterdamsedakendagen.nl/dakencatalogus. The sneak preview of The Living Archive can be seen from 2 to 27 June in the Stadsgarage Schouwburgplein 2 level -4 (entrance via Weenatunnel).

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Financial Benefits. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Functional Benefits. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Athletic fields. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Bee Rooftop. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

City stage-event plaza. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Community workshops. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Filling pitched roof. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Overhang intermediate layer. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Stadium. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Terrace building. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

The twist. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Vertical Park. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Work spaces and guest rooms. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

Rooftop City. Rotterdam Rooftop Catalogue for Rotterdam Rooftop Days by MVRDV. Courtesy of MVRDV

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More information

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Architects

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MVRDV.

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Collaborators

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Rotterdam Rooftop Days.

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Client

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City of Rotterdam.

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Dates

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May 31st 2021.

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Location

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Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, Nathalie de Vries. MVRDV

MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The practice engages globally in providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues. A highly collaborative, research-based design method involves clients, stakeholders and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects, which enable our cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.

The products of MVRDV’s unique approach to design vary, ranging from buildings of all types and sizes, to urban plans and visions, numerous publications, installations and exhibitions. Built projects include the Netherlands Pavilion for the World EXPO 2000 in Hannover; the Market Hall, a combination of housing and retail in Rotterdam; the Pushed Slab, a sustainable office building in Paris’ first eco-district; Flight Forum, an innovative business park in Eindhoven; the Silodam Housing complex in Amsterdam; the Matsudai Cultural Centre in Japan; the Unterföhring office campus near Munich; the Lloyd Hotel in Amsterdam; the Ypenburg housing and urban plan in The Hague; the Didden Village rooftop housing extension in Rotterdam; the music centre De Effenaar in Eindhoven; the Gyre boutique shopping center in Tokyo; a public library in Spijkenisse; an international bank headquarters in Oslo, Norway; and the iconic Mirador and Celosia housing in Madrid.

Current projects include a variety of housing projects in the Netherlands, France, China, India, and other countries; a community centre in Copenhagen and a cultural complex in Roskilde, Denmark, a public art depot in Rotterdam, the transformation of a mixed use building in central Paris, an office complex in Shanghai, and a commercial centre in Beijing, and the renovation of an office building in Hong Kong. MVRDV is also working on large scale urban masterplans in Bordeaux and Caen, France and the masterplan for an eco-city in Logroño, Spain. Larger scale visions for the future of greater Paris, greater Oslo, and the doubling in size of the Dutch new town Almere are also in development.

MVRDV first published a manifesto of its work and ideas in FARMAX (1998), followed by MetaCity/Datatown (1999), Costa Iberica (2000), Regionmaker (2002), 5 Minutes City (2003), KM3 (2005), Spacefighter (2007) and Skycar City (2007), and more recently The Vertical Village (with The Why Factory, 2012) and the firm’s first monograph of built works MVRDV Buildings (2013). MVRDV deals with issues ranging from global sustainability in large scale studies such as Pig City, to small, pragmatic architectural solutions for devastated areas such as New Orleans.

The work of MVRDV is exhibited and published worldwide and has received numerous international awards. One hundred architects, designers and urbanists develop projects in a multi-disciplinary, collaborative design process which involves rigorous technical and creative investigation. MVRDV works with BIM and has official in-house BREEAM and LEED assessors.

Together with Delft University of Technology, MVRDV runs The Why Factory, an independent think tank and research institute providing an agenda for architecture and urbanism by envisioning the city of the future.