The staple building of MVRDV, the Market Hall located in Rotterdam, Netherlands was realized in 2014.  The arch consists of apartments,  which covers the public square below.  This square is a central market by day, and home to various resturants at night.  It is a hybrid building where one can eat, shop,  park their car, and live. The ground and first floor include retail shops, cafes, and restaurants.  The aspect of the building that stands out the most is the mural “Cornucopia”. This mural envelopes the entire underside of the arch.

Designed by MVRDV, the Gyre building finished construction in 2007. It is located in Tokyo, Japan and is home to many flagship stores of major brands.  The building focuses on being inviting and its verticality. This is in contrast to most other shopping centers.  The floors are twisted around a central core. This results in two twin terraces around the core, one for ascending and one for descending.  The two routes are connected at every floor through a store. This is what gives the building its mystique.  In the designers own words, it is a “vertical promenade”.

Located is Matsudai, Japan, the Matsudai Cultural Centre was built by MVRDV in 2004. In Matsudai, summers are brutally hot and winters usher in blankets of snow. The design of this building kept all of that in mind. It addresses this problem by being built on “legs”. These legs create a snow free zone under the building during the winter,  and a shaded plaza in the summer.  The building consists of exhibition halls, shops, classrooms,  and a cafe. It also plays host to a tri-annual arts festival.

The first building by MVRDV Architects that caught my attention was the Tianjin Binhai Library.  Located in China The library features steps that are full of books.  There are also terraced areas that serve as a reading place.  The aesthetic of this library is insanely unique and futuristic. The centerpiece of the building being a globe like “eye”.

I will never forget the first time I watched a football game here.  I was eight years old and I had never experienced so many people being at one place at one time.  Even today it blows my mind with how fun these games can be to watch. With the closed bowl and the seats being fairly on top of each other, the place can get very loud.  Being in a stadium of 80,000+, all rooting for a common goal, is always a bewildering experience.

I grew up within walking distance of this museum.  This place is a dream come true for children. Everything from the exhibits to the doorways were designed with children in mind. As children usually are, I was a very curious one. This museum would satisfy my need for a new experience every time I visited.

The MET, which it is often called, is where i discovered my love for art.  Right when i saw the building i knew it was something special. Inside, nearly every room is layed out differently according to what type of art it houses. Because of this, by the time I left, I felt as though I had been to a hundred different places all in a day.  This really changed how i viewed the history of the world and my place in it. I didn’t think before that a museum would be able to do something so powerful.

This memorial is such a serene, beautiful place in the middle of the chaos that is NYC. The first thing I felt when I saw the hole in the ground and all the names was sadness. Where there was once one of the tallest buildings in the world, was now a giant hole. But after spending time there the beauty becomes so apparent.  There is a constant waterfall with trees all around. It gives off a strong feeling of hope, showing that something beautiful can come from such a terrible event. I spent about an hour here just thinking.