Hasta La Ideas

MVRDV will “break open” the Heuvel shopping centre in Eindhoven to connect it with the city, in plans that will also add a music venue topped with a climbable glass mountain.

In a proposal that’s being unofficially called “The Hill Quarter & The Music Mountain”, MVRDV envisions radically transforming the ageing inner-city shopping centre to turn it into a green cultural quarter.

The plan includes the addition of a stacked new building, the Muziekgebouw, sat amongst rooftop parks above the shopping centre’s existing music venue with the same name.

The venue could accommodate an expanded events programme and would also be designed as a landmark, with a glass outer shell. MVRDV says visitors will be able to climb the glass mountain for views of the city.

The broader plans for the shopping centre involve expanding and “breaking open” the existing buildings so that they better integrate with surrounding public spaces.

Currently covered passages will be replaced with open streets, and the rooftops will be made green and accessible.

The precinct will combine shopping, culture and recreation, and the Muziekgebouw will be positioned as “a living room for the city”, with a foyer that is open for people to work, meet and relax in during the day.

“Our vision is an open and accessible shopping, residential, and cultural quarter,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “We achieve this by radically opening up the existing buildings, transforming the complex into seven new city blocks, and expanding upwards from the roofs.”

“Our goal is to make the complex attractive again for all the people of Eindhoven who want to shop and go out, while at the same time ensuring interaction with the inner city,” he added.

The plan is the result of ongoing efforts by Eindhoven city council, North Brabant province, site owner CBRE and regional businesses to rescue the Muziekgebouw and Heuvel shopping centre.

The next step will be a feasibility study, which MVRDV expects before the end of the year.

The Dutch practice, founded in 1993, is one of the world’s leading architecture firms.

Among its other current projects is a plan to revive London’s Oxford Street shopping precinct, with a vision that also involves a kind of mountain, a viewpoint called Marble Arch Hill.

The post MVRDV to transform Eindhoven’s Heuvel shopping centre with glass “Music Mountain” appeared first on Dezeen.