MVRDV was set up in Rotterdam (Netherlands) in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries. In close collaboration the 3 principal architect directors produce designs and studies in the fields of architecture, urbanism and landscape design. Early projects such as the headquarters for the Public Broadcasting Company VPRO and the WoZoCo housing for elderly in Amsterdam brought MVRDV to the attention of a wide field of clients and reached international acclaim.
The more than sixty architects, designers and staff members of MVRDV are organized into teams headed by project leaders. In each team, different fields and scales of MVRDVs projects are reflected, both in the (international) background of team members and in the variation of work. To allow a wide range of commissions to be handled, special design teams are set up for individual commissions.
The work of MVRDV is published and exhibited worldwide and received many international awards. The monographic publications FARMAX (1998) and KM3 (2005) illustrate the work of the Rotterdam based office.
MVRDV together with Delft University of Technology run a new think tank: The Why Factory (T?F). It is organized as a foundation. T?F wants to give argumentation back to the architectural and urbanistic World. T?F concentrates on the production of models and visualizations for future cities. ANYWHERE. T?F makes new cities! It researches possible directions of our urban futures: The Future City Program.
