Why did MVRDV choose a steel loadbearing structure for Matrix ONE? 

On 15 October, Partner and Architect Frans de Witte will discuss these material considerations and other questions about a building which serves as the main hub for Amsterdam's Matrix Innovation Center. Optimised to be fully demountable, whereby the structure can be fully dismantled and its elements to be reused, as well as providing highly flexible floorplans in which even interior walls can be moved or removed, Frans will elaborate on how material selections including steel place the building in its overall context and one with circularity at its core.

Frans de Witte joined MVRDV in 1996 and, being Americas studio director, he is currently leading projects in the Netherlands, the USA, Canada and South America. Frans has executed many successful MVRDV projects, such as Silodam, the Radio Tower and Hotel in Manhattan, the sustainable office and laboratory complex Matrix 1 in Amsterdam.

He is currently leading projects in the Netherlands, the USA, Canada and South America, including six residential towers ranging from 92 to 143 metres in Ecuador, the Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health (SAMIH) at the University of Toronto, a mixed-use project at the Enterprise Research Campus adjacent to Harvard Business School, and a masterplan for affordable housing in Boston.

• Date & Time: 15 October 2024, from 11:00 (CET)
• Location: zaal Johannes Vermeer, AFAS Theater, Inspiratielaan 3, 3833 AV Leusden
• Further details for the event can be found here