MVRDV has become part of MultiRoofs, a European project that explores how underused urban rooftops can be transformed into sustainable spaces for energy, nature, housing, and community life. Launched in December 2024 with the support of the INTERREG NorthWest Europe programme, the project will run through June 2029. With a total budget of €6.33 million, including €3.8 million in co-funding from the European Union, the project brings together partners from across the region to explore new ways to make cities more sustainable.

MVRDV joins MultiRoofs with a strong history of investigating the promise of rooftops. Projects such as Didden Village and the Stairs to Kriterion showed how densifying and creating access to roofs could unlock potential. These early experiments led in 2021 to the Rooftop Catalogue, a collection of 130 innovative ideas to make use of Rotterdam’s roofs, commissioned by the City of Rotterdam and produced in collaboration with Rotterdam Rooftop Days. Following from this, in 2022 MVRDV, Superworld, and the City of Rotterdam released the prototype of RoofScape, a software designed to help architects, urban planners, policy makers, and citizens unlock the untapped potential of rooftop spaces.

Members of MVRDV’s Urban team and technologists from MVRDV NEXT will bring this expertise to a consortium of 14 partners from Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany to realise the MultiRoofs initiative. At the core of MultiRoofs is a digital tool that creates 3D maps of rooftops. By analysing factors like surface area, structure, and solar exposure, the tool helps cities and communities assess how each rooftop can be used effectively. This approach supports local planning and encourages tailored, scalable solutions for urban resilience.

In addition to MVRDV, partners in the project include Dublin City University (DCU), Open & Agile Smart Cities (OASC), Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Codema (Dublin’s Energy Agency), FARI—AI for the Common Good Institute Brussels (ULB and VUB), Region Île-de-France, the Cities of Brussels, Rotterdam, Mannheim, and Mechelen, as well as Rooftop Revolution and Roofscapes.

By helping cities rethink the role of rooftops, MultiRoofs promotes a more climate-friendly, resilient, and inclusive urban future—without expanding the city’s footprint.

Find out more here.