Vibrant and popular, the historic Eastern Market is the largest public farmers market in the United States, and continues to thrive as an active food hub for the region after nearly 130 years. Glass Mural will be located directly across from Eastern Market’s largest and busiest market hall, Shed 3, at the intersection of Russell and Division Street. Currently, the site is home to a two-storey brick building whose key redeeming feature is a mural by the established local artist DENIAL. MVRDV’s proposal, developed alongside co-architect Integrated Design Solutions, is to visually preserve this artwork by recreating the mural and brick pattern on a new canvas made of glass – combining a larger version of the mural with images of the building’s brick pattern as a single image, stretched around all four sides of the building.

Winy Maas, founding partner at MVRDV, said, “We loved the idea of the artworks that bring this area to life, and this building is our tribute to this character, eternalised through a printing technique. It allows us to interact with the spirit of the neighbourhood in a way that is playful and unexpected. Our decision to do so with glass is also practical, as it allows us to incorporate windows to become a part of the artwork, not an obstacle for artists to work around. That enables a greater level of faithfulness to the original artwork that will be recreated, as well as greater artistic freedom for the new artwork.”.