The Rotterdam-based architectural firm MVRDV caused quite a stir with its pavilion at EXPO 2000 in Hanover. The motto of the Dutch contribution was "Holland Creates Space", a topic skilfully applied by the team of architects to a façade-free building consisting of stacked-up landscapes. A more recent project by the group, a structural exploration of the future of the Rhine-Ruhr region, implemented in co operation with a number of universities in Germany and the Netherlands, has been extensively documented in the book at hand-a compact commentary on the meaning of region, identity, and tradition, issues ever more consciously present in the face of globalization.
From the beginning of the last century, the Ruhr area has been the industrial heart of Germany. With the demise of the coal, iron, and steel industries, the region now faces an existential question: growth or shrinkage? This question is the point of departure for the development of various future scenarios: is it possible to define a new Rhine-Ruhr region, and, with substantial interventions, prepare it for global competition? Or is it preferable to encourage structural re-building by means of an unobtrusive cultivation of extant structures?
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