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MVRDV
Dutch studio MVRDV would have been placed highly in our Hot List under any circumstances – but its high ranking this year is due to the extraordinary popularity of its recent Chanel store facade in Amsterdam, which is made of glass bricks.
The post generated almost 100,000 views, making it the second-most popular project of the entire year (most popular was a swimming pool in the sky by Arup Associates) while the movie about the project has had over 700,000 views on our Facebook page.
The firm excels at the unexpected architectural gesture: also popular this year was the giant temporary scaffolding staircase it built in Rotterdam to mark the 75th anniversary of its home city's post-war reconstruction.
Interestingly for such an international practice, the most popular posts about MVRDV this year were all projects in the Netherlands, with its tennis clubhouse in Amsterdam, Silodam housing in the same city and horseshoe-shaped Markthal in Rotterdam all getting tons of visits (despite the latter being completed in 2014).
Not all their ambitious ideas come off though. In a video interview with Dezeen published last November, former Serpentine Gallery director Julia Peyton-Jones described the unbuilt pavilion the firm designed in 2004 as a "heroic failure".
Top posts:
1. MVRDV replaces Chanel store's traditional facade with glass bricks that are "stronger than concrete"
2. MVRDV completes giant scaffolding staircase in Rotterdam city centre
3. MVRDV to build giant scaffolding staircase in Rotterdam city centre
4. MVRDV completes Amsterdam tennis clubhouse with seating bowl on the roof
5. Movie documents MVRDV's pioneering technique for creating glass brick facades