The Vertical Village exhibition by Netherlands-based MVRDV, created in conjunction The Why Factory and JUT Foundation, recently opened in Taipei, Taiwan and is designed to explore “…the rapid urban transformation in East Asia, the qualities of urban villages and the potential to realize this in a much denser, vertical way as a radical alternative to the identical block architecture with standard apartments and its consequences for the city.”
With the increasing pressure of urbanization and densification in the last decades on East Asian cities, the result has been what many designers and architects are describing as “Block Attack” – the construction of giant, square or rectangular towers, blocks and slabs. These enormous block-like buildings have replaced the smaller scale traditional wooden houses and/or “lighter” individualized homes that used to be more prevalent in the cities.
“Their faceless replacements packed with identical apartment units offer a Western standard of living for an affordable price, but at the expense of differentiation, flexibility and individual expression,” explain the exhibit organizers. “The exhibition offers an alternative, a contemporary Vertical Village – a three-dimensional community that brings personal freedom, diversity, flexibility and differentiation, flexibility and individual expression."
The exhibition consists of a 6m (19.7ft) tall Vertical Village installation comprised of brightly colored blocks, various grid models, a documentary and animations. Visitors also have the opportunity to design their ideal house and create their own Vertical Village using parametric software.
The Vertical Village exhibit continues until January 8, 2012 in Taipei, Taiwan.
Visit: MVRDV & The Vertical Village
Via DesignBoom
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