OMA / David Gianotten, together with Being Development, has won the competition for the redevelopment of Van der Meulen-Ansemsterrein (VDMA), this is currently a partly unused site, located in the centre of Eindhoven and marked by industrial heritage, will be transformed into a urban hub with housing, offices, and public spaces.

This was announced today at a press conference in Eindhoven. Featuring a Brainport Frontdesk supporting creative initiatives, a sustainability hub, and a Micro Forest—a dense green space that nurtures local vegetation species—the revived VDMA will be home to innovative technology companies and address local housing needs.
The design for the site of approximately 75,000 square meters was developed by OMA together with diederendirrix, FABRICations, landscape architect DELVA and designer collective NUL ZES.
 
The plan proposes to revitalise historically significant structures into cultural spaces, while creating new buildings for residential and office usage. An old match factory from the 19th century—representative of Eindhoven’s early history as the City of Light and one of the most important buildings on site—will be restored to its original state to house cultural, education, and retail programs. An old garage will be transformed into a flexible public space that can be configured for exhibitions, events and theatre performances.

One unique feature of VDMA, occupying one-third of the site, will be a Micro Forest comprised of different vegetation species from Eindhoven’s natural surroundings. The urban forest will be a reminder for residents, office users, and passers-by of the city’s invaluable natural resources.

The plan creates a hub between the city center, the station area and surrounding residential areas. New residential buildings are designed as stacked volumes which correspond to varying scales of the site’s surroundings.
 

The lower blocks will have glass facades that evoke Eindhoven’s industrial architecture. Facades of the upper volumes will be installed with sustainable features, including green walls, and kinetic PV panels that optimise solar gain throughout the day.

The housing blocks provide a combination of social housing, averagely-priced rental properties, private sector houses and a community home. A five-storey volume with large floor plates wrapping around the Micro Forest, will offer co-working spaces ideal for technological startups. A public route will connect all cultural, retail, and open spaces in the urban hub at different levels and link VDMA to the rest of the city centre.
 
“VDMA offers a unique opportunity to revive a centrally located site in Eindhoven that is full of potential. Our plan builds on the history and assets of the city as a center for technological innovation and industrial design, and introduces exciting public programs to the area. The redeveloped VDMA-site will offer the city a platform for engagement with the most innovative ideas in technology and culture.”
David Gianotten.
 
OMA / David Gianotten is currently leading two other large-scale urban development projects in the Netherlands: Feyenoord City—the redevelopment of Rotterdam-Zuid—and the transformation of the former Bijlmer Bajes prison complex in Amsterdam into a residential and cultural district. The VDMA-site redevelopment is OMA’s first project in Eindhoven.
 

Project description by OMA

VDMA (Van der Meulen-Ansemsterrein) is comprised of a collection of industrial heritage buildings, including a 19th century match factory representative of Eindhoven’s early history as the City of Light, and the city’s first parking garage from the late 1920s—part of Eindhoven’s modernising initiatives. Currently partly unused, VDMA has the potential to once again become a significant hub for innovation.

The VDMA masterplan proposes transformation of the site into a mixed-use area that will address local housing needs, accommodate leading technology companies and introduce exciting public spaces. The revitalised VDMA will feature a Brainport Frontdesk supporting creative initiatives, a sustainability hub, and a Micro Forest—a dense green space that nurtures local vegetation species.

Historically significant structures will be transformed into cultural spaces, while new buildings for residential and office usage will be created. The existing match factory—one of the most important buildings on site—will be restored to its original state to house cultural, education, and retail programs. The garage will be transformed into a flexible public space that can be configured for exhibitions, events and theatre performances.

One unique feature of the VDMA, occupying one-third of the site, will be a Micro Forest comprised of different vegetation species from Eindhoven’s natural surroundings. The urban forest will be a reminder for residents, office users, and passers-by of the city’s invaluable natural resources.

In response to the Municipality of Eindhoven’s vision to create a distinctive city identity through densification with high-rises, new residential buildings at VDMA have been designed as multi- storey structures of stacked volumes that correspond to varying scales of the site’s surroundings. The lower blocks will have glass facades that evoke Eindhoven’s industrial architecture. Facades of the upper volumes will be installed with sustainable features, including green walls, and kinetic PV panels that optimise solar gain throughout the day.

A five-storey volume with large floor plates wrapping around the Micro Forest will offer co- working spaces ideal for technological startups. A public route will connect all cultural, retail, and open spaces in the urban hub at different levels and link VDMA to the rest of the city centre.

Building on the history and assets of Eindhoven as a center for technological innovation and industrial design, the revitalised VDMA will be home for the most innovative ideas in technology and culture—in Eindhoven and beyond.

More information

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Architects
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OMA. Partner-in-Charge.- David Gianotten. Project Architect.- Mariano Sagasta
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Project Team
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Bozar Ben Zeev, Sandra Bsat, James Carden, Joana Cidade, Caterina Corsi, Benedetta Gatti, Federica Giorgetta, Lex Lagendijk, Jonathan Levine, Juliet Moore, Michael den Otter, Karolina Szczygiel, Chuchu Wu.
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Collaborators
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Collaborating Architects.- Diederendirrix, FABRICations. Landscape Architect.- DELVA. Community Program Video, Graphics.- NulZes. Building Physics and Sustainability.- DGMR. Structural Engineer.- IMD. Modular Construction.- NEZZT. Installations.- Techniplan. Traffic Consultant.- Rebel Group. Rendering.- Proloog. Model Photography.- Frans Parthesius.
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Venue
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Van der Meulen-Ansemsterrein. Eindhoven. The Netherlands
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Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international practice operating within the traditional boundaries of architecture and urbanism. AMO, a research and design studio, applies architectural thinking to domains beyond. OMA is led by eight partners – Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van Loon, Shohei Shigematsu, Iyad Alsaka, Chris van Duijn, Jason Long, and Managing Partner-Architect David Gianotten – and maintains offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. OMA-designed buildings currently under construction are the renovation of Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe) in Berlin, The Factory in Manchester, Hangzhou Prism, the CMG Times Center in Shenzhen and the Simone Veil Bridge in Bordeaux.

OMA’s completed projects include Taipei Performing Arts Centre (2022), Audrey Irmas Pavilion in Los Angeles (2020), Norra Tornen in Stockholm (2020), Axel Springer Campus in Berlin (2020), MEETT Toulouse Exhibition and Convention Centre (2020), Galleria in Gwanggyo (2020), WA Museum Boola Bardip (2020), nhow RAI Hotel in Amsterdam (2020), a new building for Brighton College (2020), and Potato Head Studios in Bali (2020). Earlier buildings include Fondazione Prada in Milan (2018), Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow (2015), De Rotterdam (2013), CCTV Headquarters in Beijing (2012), Casa da Música in Porto (2005), and the Seattle Central Library (2004).

AMO often works in parallel with OMA's clients to fertilize architecture with intelligence from this array of disciplines. This is the case with Prada: AMO's research into identity, in-store technology, and new possibilities of content-production in fashion helped generate OMA's architectural designs for new Prada epicenter stores in New York and Los Angeles. In 2004, AMO was commissioned by the European Union to study its visual communication, and designed a colored "barcode" flag, combining the flags of all member states, which was used during the Austrian presidency of the EU. AMO has worked with Universal Studios, Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Heineken, Ikea, Condé Nast, Harvard University and the Hermitage. It has produced Countryside: The Future, a research exhibited at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; exhibitions at the Venice Architecture Biennale, including Public Works (2012), Cronocaos (2010), and The Gulf (2006); and for Fondazione Prada, including When Attitudes Become Form (2012) and Serial and Portable Classics (2015). AMO, with Harvard University, was responsible for the research and curation of the 14th Venice Architecture Biennale and its publication Elements. Other notable projects are Roadmap 2050, a plan for a Europe-wide renewable energy grid; Project Japan, a 720-page book on the Metabolism architecture movement (Taschen, 2010); and the educational program of Strelka Institute in Moscow.

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David Gianotten is the Managing Partner – Architect of OMA globally, responsible for the overall organizational and financial management, business strategy, and growth of the company in all markets, in addition to his own architectural portfolio.

As Partner-in-Charge, David currently oversees the design and construction of various projects including the Taipei Performing Arts Centre; the Prince Plaza Building in Shenzhen; the KataOMA resort in Bali; the New Museum for Western Australia in Perth; the masterplan of Rotterdam’s Feyenoord City and the design of the new 63,000 seat Stadium Feijenoord; and Amsterdam’s Bajes Kwartier, a conversion of a large 1960s prison complex into a new neighborhood with 1,350 apartments.

David led the design and realization of the MPavilion 2017 in Melbourne and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange headquarters. He was also responsible for the end stages of the CCTV headquarters in Beijing. David’s work has been published worldwide and several of his projects have received international awards, including the 2017 Melbourne Design Awards and the CTBUH Awards in 2013. David gives lectures around the world mainly related to his projects and on topics such as the future development of the architectural profession, the role of context within projects, and speed and risk in architecture.

David joined OMA in 2008, launched OMA's Hong Kong office in 2009, and became partner in 2010. He became OMA’s global Managing Partner – Architect in 2015 upon his return to the Netherlands after having led OMA’s portfolio in Asia for seven years. Before joining OMA, he was Principal Architect at SeARCH in the Netherlands.

David studied Architecture and Architectural Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology, where he has also served as a professor in the Architectural Urban Design and Engineering department since 2016. Additionally, he serves on the board of the Netherlands Asia Honors Summer School.

 
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