I was particularly interested in having this book, being a former employee intern of MVRDV back in 2006. As expected this book does not disappoint. For anyone that has read the heavy theoretical works that they frequently publish (KM3, The Why Factory) it's hard to experience or understand their creative works without the pride and bias that accompanies each of their books. KM3 is in itself an immense tome, oozing with hundreds (literally) of ideas and projects that they have attempted to establish or build in the real world. But one need only take a look at the list of their actual built projects, compare that number to the amount of unbuilt ideas and projects and you would realize it is not the easiest to experience their work outside of the conjectural titles they print.
That being said, this book is phenomenal in the way that it gathers up all of the built projects (as of 2012) into a very concise, evocative, and diagrammatic collection. A simple and informative introduction by partner and co-founder Natalie De Vries explains all that I have found on my own: each project has many photographs showing the building both interior and exterior, as well as rarely seen-in-public plans and sections of the projects. Along with that, the editors have included a simple description of the building, without too much fluff to detract from the visible intention of each project. Sometimes there are very telling comments by users and occupants of the buildings which are even more revealing in the way that the actual experience of the client is both grounding and interesting. After all, it's not easy to access these buildings from the inside, let alone experience them long enough to understand their successes and failures.
The front inside cover breaks the projects down by square meterage, and the back inside cover shows the projects by period and category (housing, offices, etc). I especially enjoy the architectural plans and sections, as some of these buildings I have yet to personally visit and would still be unable to access areas unseen from beyond the street level.
The quality of the book is also exquisite, published by the NAI (Nederlands Architecture Institute) with a heavy hard-bound cardboard cover, there are full page spreads on linen paper so there's no fear of smudging fingerprints while muddling through the book.
I am hopeful that this will be one of several editions which cover the length and breadth of their built projects over the next remaining decades. I am even tempted to buy a second copy just to keep one copy mint, and the second for perusing and wandering through the vast collection of ingenious approaches and social experiments they tackle within the guise of architecture.
This book is A MUST HAVE for any serious architecture enthusiast!
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Reviews with images
Must have for Architects/Enthusiasts
I was particularly interested in having this book, being a former employee intern of MVRDV back in 2006. As expected this book does not disappoint. For anyone that has read the heavy theoretical works that they frequently publish (KM3, The Why Factory) it's hard to experience or understand their creative works without the pride and bias that accompanies each of their books. KM3 is in itself an immense tome, oozing with hundreds (literally) of ideas and projects that they have attempted to establish or build in the real world. But one need only take a look at the list of their actual built projects, compare that number to the amount of unbuilt ideas and projects and you would realize it is not the easiest to experience their work outside of the conjectural titles they print.That being said, this book is phenomenal in the way that it gathers up all of the built projects (as of 2012) into a very concise, evocative, and diagrammatic collection. A simple and informative introduction by partner and co-founder Natalie De Vries explains all that I have found on my own: each project has many photographs showing the building both interior and exterior, as well as rarely seen-in-public plans and sections of the projects. Along with that, the editors have included a simple description of the building, without too much fluff to detract from the visible intention of each project. Sometimes there are very telling comments by users and occupants of the buildings which are even more revealing in the way that the actual experience of the client is both grounding and interesting. After all, it's not easy to access these buildings from the inside, let alone experience them long enough to understand their successes and failures.The front inside cover breaks the projects down by square meterage, and the back inside cover shows the projects by period and category (housing, offices, etc). I especially enjoy the architectural plans and sections, as some of these buildings I have yet to personally visit and would still be unable to access areas unseen from beyond the street level.The quality of the book is also exquisite, published by the NAI (Nederlands Architecture Institute) with a heavy hard-bound cardboard cover, there are full page spreads on linen paper so there's no fear of smudging fingerprints while muddling through the book.I am hopeful that this will be one of several editions which cover the length and breadth of their built projects over the next remaining decades. I am even tempted to buy a second copy just to keep one copy mint, and the second for perusing and wandering through the vast collection of ingenious approaches and social experiments they tackle within the guise of architecture.This book is A MUST HAVE for any serious architecture enthusiast!
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2013
I was particularly interested in having this book, being a former employee intern of MVRDV back in 2006. As expected this book does not disappoint. For anyone that has read the heavy theoretical works that they frequently publish (KM3, The Why Factory) it's hard to experience or understand their creative works without the pride and bias that accompanies each of their books. KM3 is in itself an immense tome, oozing with hundreds (literally) of ideas and projects that they have attempted to establish or build in the real world. But one need only take a look at the list of their actual built projects, compare that number to the amount of unbuilt ideas and projects and you would realize it is not the easiest to experience their work outside of the conjectural titles they print.
That being said, this book is phenomenal in the way that it gathers up all of the built projects (as of 2012) into a very concise, evocative, and diagrammatic collection. A simple and informative introduction by partner and co-founder Natalie De Vries explains all that I have found on my own: each project has many photographs showing the building both interior and exterior, as well as rarely seen-in-public plans and sections of the projects. Along with that, the editors have included a simple description of the building, without too much fluff to detract from the visible intention of each project. Sometimes there are very telling comments by users and occupants of the buildings which are even more revealing in the way that the actual experience of the client is both grounding and interesting. After all, it's not easy to access these buildings from the inside, let alone experience them long enough to understand their successes and failures.
The front inside cover breaks the projects down by square meterage, and the back inside cover shows the projects by period and category (housing, offices, etc). I especially enjoy the architectural plans and sections, as some of these buildings I have yet to personally visit and would still be unable to access areas unseen from beyond the street level.
The quality of the book is also exquisite, published by the NAI (Nederlands Architecture Institute) with a heavy hard-bound cardboard cover, there are full page spreads on linen paper so there's no fear of smudging fingerprints while muddling through the book.
I am hopeful that this will be one of several editions which cover the length and breadth of their built projects over the next remaining decades. I am even tempted to buy a second copy just to keep one copy mint, and the second for perusing and wandering through the vast collection of ingenious approaches and social experiments they tackle within the guise of architecture.
This book is A MUST HAVE for any serious architecture enthusiast!
That being said, this book is phenomenal in the way that it gathers up all of the built projects (as of 2012) into a very concise, evocative, and diagrammatic collection. A simple and informative introduction by partner and co-founder Natalie De Vries explains all that I have found on my own: each project has many photographs showing the building both interior and exterior, as well as rarely seen-in-public plans and sections of the projects. Along with that, the editors have included a simple description of the building, without too much fluff to detract from the visible intention of each project. Sometimes there are very telling comments by users and occupants of the buildings which are even more revealing in the way that the actual experience of the client is both grounding and interesting. After all, it's not easy to access these buildings from the inside, let alone experience them long enough to understand their successes and failures.
The front inside cover breaks the projects down by square meterage, and the back inside cover shows the projects by period and category (housing, offices, etc). I especially enjoy the architectural plans and sections, as some of these buildings I have yet to personally visit and would still be unable to access areas unseen from beyond the street level.
The quality of the book is also exquisite, published by the NAI (Nederlands Architecture Institute) with a heavy hard-bound cardboard cover, there are full page spreads on linen paper so there's no fear of smudging fingerprints while muddling through the book.
I am hopeful that this will be one of several editions which cover the length and breadth of their built projects over the next remaining decades. I am even tempted to buy a second copy just to keep one copy mint, and the second for perusing and wandering through the vast collection of ingenious approaches and social experiments they tackle within the guise of architecture.
This book is A MUST HAVE for any serious architecture enthusiast!
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2015
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
Nevertheless, to my liking I find the amount of diagrams and architectural drawings insufficient to meet my expectations of the book, a tendency inherited from other publications the firm has done and I've personally read such as FARMAX. I could expect such documentation could help to grasp the design intent with more than already plenty but interesting text blocks explaining the projects, leaving the graphical communication aspect (besides photographs) to a second plane; which is slightly a bummer to me. I also hoped these expected diagrams could help to complement the information of some of their most famous projects already featured in other books such as Manual of section or FARMAX, for instance; yet little new information has been brought forth in this book. But don't let this review stop you from buying it, since the architectural documentation included on it is pretty interesting if relatively scarce (3:1 pictures to diagrams ratio), and does its job greatly explaining every project. About the key projects missing, perhaps some of them were too new to be featured, others never went beyond competition, or they could have been explained extensively in other books... my slight let down is just a matter of opinion.
Hoped for more diagrams, Missing key projects... slightly a bummer
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
Don't be fooled by the title, this book is a great compilation of MVRDV's projects throughout 20 years of work (1994-2014) and quite a bunch of them (41 to be precise) what could be an astonishing documentaton of the firm's work. Every single project "chapter" includes appealing photograph, a detailed narration of the design and construction process and how the comissioner worked with the firm to make the projects happen, which is very interesting because you actually get to know what do the comissioner expected from the design process and how these expectations were met by the final result, since those who are going to use the resulting building are as important as the project itself.Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2021
Nevertheless, to my liking I find the amount of diagrams and architectural drawings insufficient to meet my expectations of the book, a tendency inherited from other publications the firm has done and I've personally read such as FARMAX. I could expect such documentation could help to grasp the design intent with more than already plenty but interesting text blocks explaining the projects, leaving the graphical communication aspect (besides photographs) to a second plane; which is slightly a bummer to me. I also hoped these expected diagrams could help to complement the information of some of their most famous projects already featured in other books such as Manual of section or FARMAX, for instance; yet little new information has been brought forth in this book. But don't let this review stop you from buying it, since the architectural documentation included on it is pretty interesting if relatively scarce (3:1 pictures to diagrams ratio), and does its job greatly explaining every project. About the key projects missing, perhaps some of them were too new to be featured, others never went beyond competition, or they could have been explained extensively in other books... my slight let down is just a matter of opinion.
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2016
This is an awesome presentation of MVRDV's portfolio
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2016
This is an awesome presentation of MVRDV's portfolio. Such a cool book! I love the inclusion of original blueprint designs and testimonies from residents of MVRDV-designed homes. A great purchase for anyone who loves architecture and a rich glimpse into MVRDV's projects and global influence.
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2016
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Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2014
