MVRDV

Glass Farm

Glass Farm
© MVRDV

Glass Farm

MVRDV

ARCHITECTS
Mvrdv

MANUFACTURERS
Dip-tech

PHOTOGRAPHS
Persbureau Van Eijndhoven, Jeroen Musch, Mvrdv

AREA
1600 M²

YEAR
2013

LOCATION
Schijndel, The Netherlands

CATEGORY
Urban Design

Text description provided by architect.

Schijndel’s market square suffered from Operation Market Garden damages during the Second World War and has been subject to numerous enlargements and refurbishments.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

Winy Maas wrote a letter in 1980, and in 2000 the town council adopted the idea of a new structure in the square between the church, town hall and main street.

MVRDV since then iteratively proposed new options that could fill the gap of this unusually large village square. The Glass Farm is MVRDV’s seventh proposal for the site, earlier designs included a theatre.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

The village engaged vividly in the process resulting in heated debates, polls and polemics in the local press - by supporters and adversaries. 

The 1600m² building which is entirely covered by a glass facade consists primarily of a series of public amenities such as restaurants, shops and a wellness centre.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

By coincidence, the maximum envelope that was defined by the town planners had the form of a traditional Schijndel farm.

All remaining historical local farms were measured, analyzed and an ‘ideal’ average was conceived from this data.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

In collaboration with MVRDV, artist Frank van der Salm photographed all the remaining traditional farms, and from these an image of the ‘typical farm’ was composed.

This image was printed using fritted procedure onto the 1800m2 glass facade, resulting in an effect such as a stained glass window in a cathedral. The print is more or less translucent depending on the need for light and views.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

At night the structure will be illuminated from the inside, becoming a monument to the farm. At a height of 14 metres the Glass Farm is intentionally designed out of scale and is 1.6 times larger than a real farm, symbolizing the village growing into a town.

The printed image follows this 'augmented history', with the superimposed farm door for example appearing 4 metres tall.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

When adults interact with the building, they can experience toddler size again, possibly adding an element of nostalgic remembrance to their reception of the building. To enhance this further, there will be a table and swing next to the building, a scaled up farmyard.

Coinciding with the completion of the building, an exhibition opens in the local Museum Jan Heestershuis about Context and Authenticity.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV
Glass Farm
© MVRDV

Later this year a book will be published by NAi Publishers exploring the development of the Glass Farm, including a literary description of the lengthy processes which lead to its realisation.

MVRDV realised the building for RemBrand developers, a combination of Van Den Brand Real Estate and Remmers Construction Group, together with Hooijen Engineers, IOC Ridderkerk for installations, Brakel Atmos for the facade and AGC for the print.

Glass Farm
© MVRDV


Glass Farm
Diagram

MVRDV
T +31 10 477 2860
MVRDV
Achterklooster 7, 3011 RA Rotterdam, Netherlands