THE GLASS FARM

In February this year, in Schijndel –a small village in the north-east of the province Noord Brabant, the Netherlands and the birthplace of Winy Maas- the Glass Farmhouse is officially opened.

Schijndels market square suffered from Operation Market Garden bombings in the Second World War and has been subject to numerous enlargements and refurbishments. Winy Maas wrote a letter in 1980, and in 2000 the city council adopted the idea of a new structure in the square between the church, town hall and main street. MVRDV since then iteratively proposed new options that could fill the gap of this unusually large village square. The Glass Farm is MVRDV’s seventh proposal for the site.

The village engaged vividly in the process resulting in heated debates, polls and polemics in the local press - by supporters and adversaries. The 1600m² building which is entirely covered by a glass facade will consist primarily of a series of public amenities such as restaurants, shops and a wellness centre.

By coincidence, the maximum envelope that was defined by the town planners had the form of a traditional Schijndel farm. In collaboration with MVRDV, artist Frank van der Salm photographed all the remaining traditional farms, and from these composed an image of the ‘typical farm’. This image is printed using ink-jet enamels onto the 1800m2 glass facade, resulting in an effect such as a stained glass window in a cathedral. The print is more or less translucent depending on need for light and views.

At night the structure is illuminated from the inside, becoming a monument to the farm. At a height of 14 metres the Glass Farm is intentionally designed out of scale and is 1.6 times larger than a real farm. The printed image follows this augmentation, with the superimposed farm door for example appearing 4 metres tall. When adults interact with the building. To enhance this further, there will be a table and swing next to the building, a scaled up farmyard.
MVRDV realised the building for RemBrand developers, a combination of Van Den Brand Real Estate and Remmers Construction Group, together with Hooijen Engineers, IOC Ridderkerk for installations, Brakel Atmos for the facade and AGC for the print.

Later this year a book will be released by NAi Publishers exploring the development of the Glass Farm, including a literary description of the lengthy processes which lead to its realisation.
http://www.mvrdv.nl

ARCHITECTENDAG on and in the Glass Farmhouse
11/6
Organized by Brakel Atmos, AGC, Stichting Living Daylights and MVRDV
www.architectendag2013.nl


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