The redesign of MVRDV’s Hannover Expo 2000 pavilion will retain the qualities of the original design and reinterpret the ‘stacked landscape’ concept for two new buildings that will be added. One will contain 370 student apartments and the other offices and parking.
The original pavilion stacked six Dutch landscapes into a tower with stairs wrapped around. The landscape themes will be converted into co-working offices and meeting rooms while maintaining their key characteristics. The first floor that houses the greenhouses theme will for example keep the strict rectilinear grid as an office.
“It’s such an exciting opportunity for us to revisit this early project of ours that we first worked on over twenty years ago”, says MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs. “The original design was certainly a unique design for a very specific purpose, but despite its outspoken design its core structure is highly reusable and more flexible than originally imagined. The differences between the floors will be maintained and converted into a functional office environment that nevertheless retains the unique experimental features of the Expo Pavilion. You will be able to work on the Dunes, or in the forest, or between the treepots.”
The two new buildings will form a perimeter block that steps down towards an entry point on the west of the site. This becomes the access to a loop of roof terraces with a different function and color on each terrace.
Countless previous attempts to transform the renowned pavilion failed on the drawing board. What makes the development possible this time is an expansion of the city of Hannover into what once was a fringe location. Making the area more active and populated.
