Winy Maas will lead a new studio for visiting professors at the Faculty of Architecture CTU

Dutch architect and urban planner Winy Maas, founder of the MVRDV studio and the research think tank The Why Factory, will serve as a visiting professor at the Faculty of Architecture of CTU in Prague during the academic year 2022/23. His theme NEXT PLANET will explore various ways in which architecture and design can respond to global climate change.

Winy Maas is, along with Jacob van Rijs and Nathalie de Vries, the founder of the MVRDV studio, an architectural office recognized for its innovative and experimental approach to architecture of buildings, cities, and landscapes.

“The visiting professor's studio aims to bring internationally recognized personalities, current topics, and new teaching methods to the faculty. I am excited that Winy Maas has accepted this role as the first and that we can offer our students two semesters under the guidance of this visionary figure. I believe he will be an inspiration and enrichment for the academic community and the professional community,” says Dalibor Hlaváček, Dean of the FA CTU.

Among the popular buildings by MVRDV are the Dutch pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hannover, the Rotterdam Markthal, Crystal Houses in Amsterdam, the Book Mountain library in Spijkenisse, or the world's first publicly accessible art repository Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. The office also has a number of master plans in its portfolio, including visions for the future of Greater Paris, the left bank in Bordeaux, and the waterfront in Oslo. In Brno, they are currently participating in the competition for the building of the Moravian Jewish Museum Mehrin.

Winy Maas combines his practice with teaching and research. In addition to his work for MVRDV, he is a professor at the Delft University of Technology, where he founded The Why Factory in 2008, a global think tank and research institute that explores possibilities for the development of future cities.

“I advocate for denser, greener, more attractive, and livable cities. Designing cannot be without innovative and sustainable ideas. Typology or scale does not play a role here,” Winy Maas explains the principles of his work.

MVRDV and The Why Factory regularly engage in public debates about architecture and urbanism through exhibitions, publications, discussions, and this will also be the case in Prague. In the winter semester, students in Maas's studio will focus on global issues. The result will be a collection of proposals ranging from small interventions to visions on an XXL scale, which will be presented in the form of a 3D installation NEXT PLANET, the planet of the future, at the final exhibition in January. In the summer semester, the studio will focus on current topics in the Czech Republic.

Winy Maas will give a public lecture on Monday, November 7, 2022, at 18:00 as part of the November Talks series at the FA CTU.

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