MVRDV

This is Tvistas – a mixed-use apartment building along the Kaunas waterfront set to become a charismatic symbol of a new neighbourhood! 🏙️🌟

Part of the Nemunaičiai masterplan development, the building has a tribune staircase on its most prominent corner that doubles as a grandstand for summer events on the adjacent plaza. It also provides access to a garden on top of the plinth, for residents and visitors to relax, have a drink on the café terrace, and enjoy the view. 🌿☕

🏠 Above the plinth, a cubic block of 36 apartments – which rises to a total height of 30 metres – appears to hover thanks to an intermediate layer encased in glass. Its rotation improves the residents’ views of the river and the city centre, optimises sunlight hours for the apartments, and helps the building to stand out from its neighbours. 🌅

In this design, we also propose the reimagination of the historic water tower – a reminder of the site’s industrial heritage – as a vertical circulation core, providing public access to a rooftop viewing terrace from the centre of the plaza.

Read more on the project here! https://www.mvrdv.com/projects/1344/tvistas

Come peek behind the doors of our MVRDV House! 👀 On Saturday, June 20, our Rotterdam office will participate in the Open Office Day, from 13.00 to 16.00!

As part of the Rotterdam Architectuur Maand, our office will be open to the public for an afternoon. It's a great opportunity to better understand how we work by getting inside our space and talking to our colleagues!

Entrance is free but you must sign up in advance to be able to enter, as the capacity is limited. Register here! 🎟️➡️ https://rotterdamarchitectuurmaand.nl/en/programme/item/mvrdv-6/

📸 Michèle Margot

🌍 "The Architecture of Understanding Emissions." How is carbon reshaping our cities? Join Nathalie de Vries and Sanne van der Burgh in Toronto on June 4 for a keynote on design, policy and the future of the built environment.

Part of our travelling exhibition Carbon Confessions – currently on display at Toronto’s Urbanspace Gallery – Nathalie and Sanne will build on the themes of the exhibition and explore how carbon is reshaping architectural practice, from individual buildings to the scale of the city. 🏙️🔄 Their talks will be moderated by architecture critic Alex Bozikovic.

Drawing on our "Carbon Cases" – a series of projects and reflections developed over time – they will share insights into the ambitions, challenges, and trade-offs involved in working towards lower-carbon design, both in Canada and elsewhere in the world.

Set within the context of Toronto, the event opens up a wider reflection on the relationship between buildings, mobility, and emissions, and the tensions that arise between reuse, intensification, and new development.

This event will take place in the main hall of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. 🎟️ Entry is free of charge with registration. Sign up here! https://www.eventbrite.nl/e/carbon-confessions-the-architecture-of-understanding-emissions-tickets-1988003426765?aff=oddtdtcreator

From model to metropolis… 🏙️🗺️ Our models of Silodam and Valley are now on display at the Arcam Architectuurcentrum Amsterdam!

In the exhibition "Van Maquette tot Metropool", visitors will experience Amsterdam up close, from first scale models of the city's iconic buildings to future developments. It follows five different construction phases over the past forty years.

With Silodam, completed back in 2002, we showed how to design a diverse neighbourhood in one single building. 20 years later, Valley was realised with that same design philosophy in mind of mixed-use and public spaces that function as a vertical village.

The exhibition is on display until September, come check out our models! 🤩 Find more info here: https://arcam.nl/en/events/from-model-to-metropolis-amsterdams-urban-story-1986-2026/

📸 Sanne Couprie

Our Marvila Masterplan has been approved by the municipality of Lisbon! This plan transforms an underused and disconnected site of 28 hectares on the Tagus waterfront into a new urban centre with 1,400 homes, public facilities, and commerce.

The area is currently fragmented and disconnected from the rest of Lisbon by railway lines crossing the site, with vacant plots and a lack of public space concealing its untapped potential. Our masterplan organises the site into four distinct clusters that will be interconnected through a central urban park with a sequence of squares and green corridors.

Railway infrastructure is partly covered to remove the former barriers, with a reorganised road network that prioritises pedestrian and cycling connections. The plan also integrates existing cultural and natural heritage, such as a former convent and a centuries-old rubber tree becoming a focal point of a new public square.

With a variety of typologies, including affordable and social housing as well as spaces for commerce and services, the area remains active throughout the day. The size and placement of new buildings respond to the local topography, views and the existing surroundings, with a focus on courtyards, open blocks, and public routes.

"Our plan turns former barriers into connections, using landscape and public space to reconnect the neighbourhoods with each other, with the city, and with the river," says Jacob van Rijs.

Read more on the project here! https://mvrdv.com/news/4865/mvrdv-and-oodas-marvila-masterplan-regenerates-a-fragmented-and-vacant-piece-of-lisbon-into-a-landscape-led-urban-centre

Developed with OODA, in collaboration with LOLA landscape architects and Thornton Tomasetti
📸 OODA