MVRDV + The Why Factory

Abstract

From the urgencies seen in contemporary societies and urban situations, it is obvious that it is time to begin thinking about our cities in completely new ways. The urban environment has become fundamentally different in many aspects, but we are still trying to physically define it in the same way as before. And we are almost paralyzed in what seems to be a splintered and contradictory reality. On the one hand cities and communities are highly individualistic and increasingly based on the individual unit, and on the other hand global connectivity and awareness is proliferating in almost all our daily activities. There is a need to find ways of bringing together these two extremities — the individual and the collective — from both ends and both conceptually and practically, into possible constructions.