Part of the Project
Design Commons is opening the door to collaboration, meaningful discussion and solutions that make better cities possible. At the inaugural event we brought together people from a wide spectrum including architects including Sir David Adjaye, people who are rethinking the way we plan our transport routes as well as landscapes.
Winy Maas was one of our speakers in Helsinki. The architect, urban designer and landscape architect as well as co-founding director of the globally operating architecture and urban planning firm MVRDV is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
He says that he is an optimist when it comes to the future of our cities.
Adding that there is a need for remarkable buildings in cities to serve two purposes, "Remarkable buildings can point to certain things, can inspire people and can help to set a standard for next directions."
The architect has worked on a few remarkable buildings of his own including a mosaic-like structure that combines urban farming and housing in the Eindhoven city centre, as well as a Crystal house built using glass bricks.
He added that another function of remarkable building was that they can help us navigate ourselves "through this kind of monstrous, and endless mediocrity that most cities are."
