Dutch architecture studio MVRDV has opened Rotterdam Rooftop Walk, a temporary bright orange rooftop installation in Rotterdam that crosses the rooflines of two adjacent buildings.
Rotterdam Rooftop Walk is a temporary walkable installation that extends up the side of Rotterdam’s World Trade Centre and creates a bridge across to the city’s Bijenkorf department store.
The 600-metre-long installation was built by scaffolding construction company Dutch Steigers as part of Rotterdam Rooftop Days, a festival that creates new spaces to give visitors the chance to meander across the city’s roofs and discover several rooftop exhibitions.
Beginning at Rotterdam’s World Trade Centre, MVRDV’s orange-hued walkway extends up and around the base of the office building and across its roofline.
The walkway structure is supported by a scaffolding system that rises and falls across the topography of the buildings’ roofs.
A number of exhibitions and installations organised across the rooftops aim to highlight and increase awareness surrounding the usability of rooftop spaces, specifically for plant life, water storage and food and energy production.
From Rotterdam’s World Trade Centre, the Rotterdam Rooftop Walk installation bridges two roofs 30 metres above Coolsingel, one of the city’s best-known streets.
After crossing Coolsingel, the 600-metre long walkway leads visitors to the rooftop of the Bijenkorf department store, which is similarly decorated with installations and exhibitions from several artists, architects and designers.
“In 2016, for the celebration of 75 years of Rotterdam’s reconstruction, we designed the Stairs to Kriterion, which attracted almost 370,000 visitors,” said MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas.
“That’s when the idea arose that it would be good to make a sequel to the project.”
“We should not only occupy our roofs and make them greener but also connect them so that we can offer Rotterdammers a new rooftop park!” Maas continued. “For this, the orange carpet and the bridging of the Coolsingel are a nice initial test case.”
Rotterdam Rooftop Walk is open from 26 May to 24 June 2022.
Earlier in 2022 and also as part of Rotterdam Rooftop Days, the studio unveiled its plans to install a giant neon-pink staircase across the exterior of Rotterdam’s Het Nieuwe Instituut that will lead to a viewing platform on its roof.
The studio was also responsible for the controversial Marble Arch Mound project, and criticised London’s Westminster City Council for its “loveless execution” of the studio’s design.
Photography is by Ossip van Duivenbode.
Rotterdam Rooftop Walk takes place from 26 May to 24 June 2022 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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