Schijndel’s market square suffered from damages during the Second World War and has been subject to numerous enlargements and refurbishments. Winy Maas wrote a letter in 1980 proposing the idea of a new structure in the square between the church, town hall and main street, and in 2000 the town council finally accepted. MVRDV has since proposed an iteration of options that could fill the gap in this unusually large village square. The Glass Farm is MVRDV’s seventh proposal for the site, earlier designs have included a theatre and various other facilities.
The villagers engaged vividly with the process, resulting in heated debates, polls and polemics in the local press – both by supporters and adversaries of the plan. 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.
By coincidence, the maximum envelope that was defined by the town planners had the form of a traditional Schijndel farmhouse. All of the remaining farms of this type were measured, analyzed and an ‘ideal’ average was developed from the data. In collaboration with MVRDV, artist Frank van der Salm photographed the historic buildings, and from these an collage of the ‘typical farm’ was composed. This image was printed using fritted procedure onto the 1800m2 glass facade, resulting in an effect similar to stained glass windows in a cathedral. The print varies in translucency depending requirements for light and views.
At night the structure will be illuminated from the inside, becoming a monument to the traditional farmhouse. 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’s growth into a town. The printed image follows this 'augmented history', with the superimposed farm door appearing 4 metres tallfor example. When adults interact with the building, they are once again the size of a small child in relation to the building, possibly adding an element of nostalgic remembrance to their experience. To enhance this sensation further, there will be a table and swing next to the building, scaled up to the same size.
Coinciding with the completion of the building, an exhibition opens in the local Museum Jan Heestershuis about Context and Authenticity. 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 designed 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 printed glass.
