MVRDV | Lecture and Lunchtime Discussion
Fokke Moerel, architect, partner, and design director of the Dutch firm MVRDV will deliver a lunchtime lecture and discussion with students.
About MVRDV
MVRDV was founded in 1993 by Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries. Now, the three founding partners lead a dynamic and optimistic team of over 300 alongside partners Frans de Witte, Fokke Moerel, Wenchian Shi, Jan Knikker, and Bertrand Schippan. Based in Rotterdam, Shanghai, Paris, Berlin, and New York, MVRDV has a global scope, providing solutions to contemporary architectural and urban issues in all regions of the world. Their highly collaborative, research-based design method involves clients, stakeholders, and experts from a wide range of fields from early on in the creative process. The results are exemplary, outspoken projects that enable cities and landscapes to develop towards a better future.
While MVRDV is recognized for a range of buildings and urban developments globally such as Silodam, Markthal, the Depot Boijmans van Beuningen, Valley, and Tianjin Binhai Library, their designs range from clubhouses in refugee camps to façades for Tiffany & Co., and from the very small (approximately 0.1 sqm) to the very large (approximately 18 million sqm), and cover all typologies.
MVRDV is passionate about addressing contemporary challenges through design, exploring topics such as:
Density and Urban Living: Exploring innovative solutions for high-density urban environments
Sustainability and Resilience: Designing for a sustainable future and adapting to climate change
Data and Technology in Design: Utilizing data analysis and technology to inform design decisions
Public Space and Social Interaction: Creating vibrant and inclusive public spaces that foster community
About Fokke Moerel
Fokke Moerel was one of the first architects to join MVRDV in 1998. Her projects include public and cultural buildings, as well as transformations of monumental buildings that endeavour to revive their immediate urban context. To this end, she oversees teams working on designs ranging from interiors to public buildings. Through MVRDV projects, she generates a strong relationship between interior and exterior public programme.
A clear example of this is the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, with construction led by Moerel. As a fully publicly accessible art depot, it opened its doors to the public in 2021, bringing all visitors into a close connection with renowned masterpieces and with the city. In addition to this, Moerel has led award-winning designs such as the Book Mountain Library (2012) in Spijkenisse, the transformation of the Stedelijk Museum Schiedam (2014), the Baltyk office tower (2017), and the mixed-use building Concordia Design Wroclaw (2020) in Poland.
Coming from a family of designers, Moerel’s professional presence extends beyond practice to include teaching or serving as a guest critic for academies and universities worldwide. Moerel has a master’s degree in architecture from the Academy of Architecture Rotterdam, and a bachelor’s degree in interior architecture from the Willem de Kooning Academy. She has taught at Harvard and Cambridge alongside MVRDV founding partner Nathalie de Vries; at the Silpakorn University in Bangkok, Thailand; and is currently tutoring at The Hague Royal Academy of Arts. Moerel is also an external critic at the Academy of Architecture Rotterdam.