MVRDV co-founder and principal architect Winy Maas for The Why Factory (Delft University of Technology) is giving a lecture for the IAAC Lecture Series 2019/20, Barcelona, on Monday 10 February. The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) is a centre for research, education, production and outreach, with the mission of envisioning the future habitat of our society and building it in the present. IAAC runs an international IAAC Lecture Series in which architects and experts from a variety of different disciplines present their work at IAAC. In this context, Winy Maas, in a collaboration between The Why Factory (Delft University of Technology) / IAAC Faculty will give his lecture “Everything is Landscape”.

What if we cover all cities with a thick layer of green? Everything! From roofs, facades and streets, to interior walls, floors and even furniture. We have combined the knowledge of plants and buildings in The Green Dip Maker. We know what strategies on buildings we can use, and which elements can hold how much plant material. We can select the correct species for the right biomes. We know the weight of the green hats, coats, socks,how much water it needs, when it flowers and how it effects our buildings. Now our cities can be totally green… So what?

What if we cover all cities with a thick layer of green? Everything! From roofs, facades and streets, to interior walls, floors and even furniture. We have combined the knowledge of plants and buildings in The Green Dip Maker. We know what strategies on buildings we can use, and which elements can hold how much plant material. We can select the correct species for the right biomes. We know the weight of the green hats, coats, socks,how much water it needs, when it flowers and how it effects our buildings. Now our cities can be totally green.

Het ABC Architectuurcentrum Haarlem bestaat dit jaar 30 jaar. Het centrum viert dat onder meer met de organisatie van drie bijzondere lezingen (‘Masterclasses’) door drie Nederlandse  toparchitecten: Ben van Berkel (UNStudio), Francine Houben (Mecanoo) en Winy Maas (MVRDV).

The workshop Qianhai 2.0 organized by The Why Factory (Delft University of Technology) will look to use the occasion of the Greater Bay Area undertaking as a point of departure for an exercise in intensive design speculation—imagining wholly novel urban futures that may emerge from this initiative.

Why green? What are its capacities? How does green perform? How can green be implemented to our cities? Can we create a database of plant species? Can we create a software to help us do it? Can we invent a series of green elements to be implemented?

How to open up our solid towers?

The Why Factory exhibits 81 porous towers at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo as part of the exhibition Future and the Arts: AI, Robotics, Cities, Life – How Humanity Will Live Tomorrow.

Very soon at the Mori Art Museum
“Future and the Arts: How humanity will live tomorrow”
Opening Next November 18th

This friday the MSc1 students will present The Green Dip. Feel free to join us in the orange room of the faculty from 14:00.

In the Spring 2020, The Why factory will initiate a research in collaboration with AMS Institute (Amsterdam Metropolitan Solutions). Witihn this framework, the MSc2 studio of The Why Factory will explore the urbanism(s) capable to accommodate hyper population derived from massive incoming flows of migrants.

We are very excited to welcome a group of 42 students to The Why Factory. This years MSc1 Studio on The Green Dip was opened with a day full of The Why Factory Talks and workshops. 

During the summer a group of GSAPP students came to Delft to participate in a workshop on the green dip. They developed a series of greening trends, greening strategies, greening calculations and a catalog of green qualities.

With a big bang, the students presented 66 new planets concluding the Planet Maker 2 Studio. Can we simulate possible scenarios which can change the planet? How to script those future planet scenarios? What do we need to know to achieve this? Who are our key planet actors? How to test their needs and capacities? […]

Organised by INDESEM, Winy Maas and Saskia Sassen will give a lecture followed by a debate at the Kunsthal.

This fall semester (2019/20) The Why Factory will offer MSc3/4 Making Future Cities, The Next Agenda.

This fall semester (2019/20) The Why Factory will offer MSc1 Air City, Living in the Sky.

This fall semester (2019/20) The Why Factory will offer MSc1 The Green Dip, Covering the City with a Forest.

The Why Factory Director, MVRDV co-founder and principal architect Winy Maas is giving a lecture on the 28th of February at the IE School of Architecture and Design in Madrid, Spain. In his lecture entitled “What’s Next for Architecture and Urbanism?”

What if we could fly? What would it look like? How would our buildings be configured? What new typologies would emerge? How dense can we live?

Wondering how we can green our cities? The Students present their research on The Green Dip to Winy Maas at #IAAC. Next week the finals, Exciting times :D!

What if we could fly? What would it look like? How would our buildings be configured? What new typologies would emerge? How dense can we live?

The students of the Sky City studio developed a vr experience of the Sky City. This is a video showing the building aggregations creating a new sky urbanism.

Join us for the book launch of the new Why Factory publication:
PoroCity, Opening up Solidity.

Felix Madrazo presented Copy Paste at the Politecnico in Milan during the Copy + Paste Architecture and Transnational Urbanism Seminar.

PoroCity, The Why Factory’s most recent publication. Leaf through!

The seminal architectural publication Domus presented its new director: Winy Maas. The MVRDV principal and co-founder will head Domus for the upcoming 10 issues as part of the magazine’s new 10x10x10 editorial strategy. Maas is the second Editor-in-Chief selected as part of this 10-year plan, following in the footsteps of Italian architect and designer Michele De Lucchi.

On November 7 -13, a group of almost 80 students from TUDelft, ENSA-Marseille and ESADM Marseille proposed a myriad of interventions for the future of the city.

PoroCity – Opening up Solidity is a manifesto for the introduction of the public realm into the private sphere of our cities. The book provides the tools to make urban porosity socially, environmentally and economically valuable. The book will officially be launched on 6 November, 17:45 at Delft University of Technology and will be available for sale from nai010 booksellers www.nai010.com.

Manifesta has announced a collaboration with MVRDV on an interdisciplinary urban study of Marseille and its metropolitan region as the base for the curatorial framework of Manifesta 13. The study will serve as a platform to develop artistic and cultural interventions during the biennial in 2020.

“In this lecture, Winy Maas talks about the recent works of his architectural firm, MVRDV, and about the project ‘(W)ego’ at the research institute The Why Factory. “

MOSCOW URBAN FORUM — is the largest international congress on the development challenges of global megacities. The Forum has been held annually since 2011.

The Why Factory, led by Winy Maas, present the first results of the Planet Maker design studio and research by The Why Factory in collaboration with RMIT Melbourne and UTS Sydney at TU Delft’s Orange Tribune

On July 3, the results of the Planet Maker design studio by The Why Factory in collaboration with RMIT (Melbourne) and UTS (Sidney) will be presented at the orange tribune.

On 19 June the exhibition ‘SPB 2103’ opened in St Petersburg, where The Why Factory and MVRDV have presented 3 installations.

On June 19, Winy Maas, director of The Why Factory, will participate in the On Cities Workshop, organised by the Norman Foster Foundation, which will take place this week (18 to 22 June 2018) in Madrid.

The Centre Pompdou in Paris organises the exhibition “Coder le monde”, featuring among other works, the research “Porocity”, undertaken by The Why Factory

Winy Maas reflects on the future of Barcelona

Winy Maas Prof. Ir. Ing. FRIBA HAIA is one of the co-founding directors of the globally operating architecture and urban planning firm MVRDV, based in Rotterdam, Netherlands, known for projects such as the Expo 2000 and the vision for greater Paris, Grand Paris Plus Petit.

With the Planet Maker symposium we celebrated the MSc2 Kickoff. We are very excited to start with our ambitious Planet Maker studio.

Tuesday 24 April, The Why Factory will host a series of presentations related to the topic of this semester’s design studio: Planet Maker. Instructors, researchers and former students will show their work.

We are delighted the (W)ego has been awarded one of the Architectural Media Jury Award awards at the 7th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen) with the theme – Cities, Grow in Difference which concluded at its main exhibition venue Nantou Old Town on March 17th, 2018.

Next week Wednesday the 21st of February, Adrien Ravon will present the ongoing research undertaken at The Why Factory:
‘From Wego to Barba, building a fully adaptable environment’

The MsC1 students just presented their OnTheGo housing project.

The Exhibition entitled City of Lego opened its doors last week featuring 5 Lego Towers produced by the Why Factory students for the Porous City research.

The Why Factory presented yesterday the installation “The Future City is Wide”, about the production of our think tank over the last 10 years.

Together with MVRDV, The Why Factory presented The Wego House in Shenzhen.

Between November 17th and 21st, AEDES Network Campus hosted the Why Factory’s workshop “WeShare Berlin” aimed to identify alternatives to sharing accommodation

The final review of the OnTheGo Studio took place with Felix Madrazo, Wiel Arets and Winy Maas. “IIT Architecture meets The Why Factory.”

This studio is a collaboration between The Why Factory and UTS Sydney.
Students from Australia will travel to Delft during the last weeks of the studio and will work collaberately with TUDeft students.

This studio is a collaboration between The Why Factory and RMIT Melbourne.
Students from Australia will travel to Delft during the last weeks of the studio and will work collaberately with TUDeft students.

Ten years of research, education and public engagement are currently being shown at SpazioFMG in the city of Milan, Italy.

How do you imagine the future of city centre of Downtown Eindhoven?

The Why Factory’s (W)ego research takes the streets of Eindhoven.
Research and concept design: The Why Factory
Def design and definitive drawings: MVRDV
Images: Ossip van Duivenbode

Dutch Design Week ambassador Winy Maas curates with The Why Factory Products change our cities, an installation showing the vast ideas produced by the research hub for future cities

Listen Winy Maas speaking about Copy Paste, the tenth book in the Why Factory’s Future Cities Series.

Copy Paste is the tenth book in the Why Factory’s Future Cities Series.

Copy Paste is the tenth book in the Why Factory’s Future Cities Series.

Copy Paste is an invitation to copy with finesse and skill.

Copy Paste understands the past as a vast archive on which we can and must build.

Copy Paste is a reader in the art of evolution.

Copy Paste is a bad ass copy guide.

How do you imagine the future of city centre of Eindhoven?
ICI Eindhoven Masterclass with Winy Maas is up and running!
The Why Factory + MVRDV + TU/e

The audio-visual installation to be shown in the Hall 1of the Klokgebouw during the Dutch Design Week (October 20-29) focuses on products that will change our world.

The one year graduation design studio -“(y)our block”- tested the capacity of a 100 x 100 x 100 m hypothetical housing block to respond to a multitude of future scenarios.

Join our symposium on Wednesday!

16:00 Room K
Drinks will follow the panel presentations

It is time to fill in the gap left vacant by fleeting city thinkers.
It is time to take a position on how we want to live in the future.
It is time for a visionary city.

A fully adaptable hotel!
Meeting the demands of populations on the move.

The Why Factory launches the Fall 2017 design studio “OnTheGo” for TUDelft MSc1 and IIT Chicago Students.
Friday September 8. Faculty of Architecture, TUDeflt, Room K 10:00.

The Kuala Lumpur Architecture Festival (KLAF) is the main event of the architectural calendar in Malaysia. The thematic for KLAF2017 is “POWER is/and/to/with/of/for ARCHITECTURE”

Our exhibition “The Why Factory: Research, Education and Public Engagement” is featured in Domus. Don’t miss it if you are in Munich.

Next September 14, Winy Maas will participate in the Helsinki Design Week.

The Why Factory´s Manifesto after 10 years of Research, Education and Public Engagement

Watch Winy Maas’ lecture at the Indaba Festival in Cape Town, where he presented some of the research undertaken by The Why Factory.   From Design Indaba Website: If you are reading this while sitting in one of the world’s big cities chances are that you’re in a tall grey-looking building overlooking several more of […]

Winy Maas gave the lecture “What´s next” to architecture students of the School of Architecture of the Technical University of Munich (Germany).

We are thrilled to announce that Winy Maas together with designers Lonny van Ryswyck and Nadine Sterk (Atelier NL) and journalist Marcus Fairs (Dezeen) have just been announced as ambassadors for this edition of Dutch Design Week (DDW).

Research, Education and Public Engagement (2007-20017)

The Why Factory Graduation Ceremony

From Now to Then: Between Man-Kind and Robot-Kind

The Wego Workshop: A Zero Star Hotel

The Why Factory MSc3/4 Graduation Studio 2017-2018

The Why Factory MSc1 Design Studio 2017-2018

The Why Factory MSc1 Design Studio 2017-2018

On April 20-21, Felix Madrazo, Adrien Ravon and Arend van Waart will participate in the 4th International City-Gaming Conference to be held at The New Institute in Rotterdam.

Winy Maas, director of The Why Factory, will give a lecture during the Design Indaba Conference next March 2017.

Find below some of the media coverage of The Why Factory exhibition “The Why Factory: 10 years of Research, Education and Public Engagement” held at COAM Madrid between December 15th, 2016 and January 30th, 2017.

Fall 2016 / 2017 @ IIT, Cloud Studio

Fall 2016 / 2017 @ GSAPP

Spring 2015/2016 @ TU Delft, MSc1

Spring 2015/2016 @ TU Delft, MSc1

Spring 2015/2016 @ IIT, Cloud Studio

2015 / 2016 @ TU Delft, MSc3/4

The Why Factory: 10 years of Research, Education and Public Engagement

Exhibition at COAM in Madrid (15 Dec 2016 – 30 Jan 2017)

The Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) in collaboration with The Why Factory and TU Delft announce the opening of the exhibition “The Why Factory: Research, teaching and public engagement (2006-2016)” reflecting on a decade’s research on the future of cities. The exhibition is organized around nine claims along which the activity of The […]

Save the date! December 15th. The Why Factory exhibition opens at COAM Madrid. Lecture by Winy Maas at 7 pm. More very soon!    

What if cars disappear? What if the planet enters a new ice age? What if we are forced to live in complete autarchy?… Having understood that there is a multitude of components with an impact in the 11 billion people city footprint, students proposed a list of future scenarios at the scale of (y)our world, […]

For five days, architecture students from TU Delft, IIT Chicago and Columbia GSAPP developed an (almost) infinite matrix of components in order to measure human settlement at a global scale. Our aim is to develop a quantitative analysis of the global footprint of a 11 billion people city. Can we depict the world in an […]

What do 11 billion people need? What does one person need? During this workshop, we have analyses typologies, heights, floor area ratios, accessibility, energy, biodiversity, food, automation… We have measured and compared all that can be quantified. But we did not not avoid getting to the bottom of the matter, to the bottom of the […]

In the academic year 2016/2017, the different Studios that The Why Factory will offer (MSc1 and MSc ¾ at TU Delft, IIT Chicago and GSAPP New York) are an invitation to look at the city through a multitude (or an almost unlimited number) of filters simultaneously, and to test the capacity of adaption of a home, a […]

During the Fall semester 2016, The Why factory will host a design studio at Columbia University in the City of New York, taught be Winy Maas, Javier Arpa and Adrien Ravon. The studio “Our World, Our City, Our Block” is being launched simultaneously by The Why Factory in the United States and The Netherlands, and will also be […]

Leaf through it!

Leaf through it!

Leaf through it!

Leaf though it!

The architecture practice MVRDV and The Why Factory envision a new model for the development of Asian cities. Their idea is The Vertical Village, a three-dimensional community intended to bring back personal autonomy, diversity, flexibility and neighbourhood life to cities in Asia.