Rotterdam Rooftop Walk

Open for one month in which it plays a highlight role in both Rotterdam Architecture Month and the Rotterdam Rooftop Festival, the Rotterdam Rooftop Walk allows visitors to venture across a variety of the city’s rooftops at a height of 30 metres. It aims to give the public a new perspective on the city: the extensive programming should increase visitors’ awareness of the potential of roofs, which can become a “second layer” that makes the city more liveable, biodiverse, sustainable, and healthy, while the highlight of the route is the bridge spanning the Coolsingel, one of Rotterdam’s most important streets.The bright orange Rotterdam Rooftop Walk is 600 metres long and offers the public a fantastic view of the city for a month. In the rooftop exhibition artists, designers, and architects show how much is possible if we use our roofs efficiently for greenery, water storage, food production, and energy generation. On top of the installation, built by Dutch Steigers, all kinds of makers show how roofs can contribute to a sustainable, healthy and liveable city – from a virtual village to a green design for the roof of the Bijenkorf department store.

The temporary installation is an initiative of Rotterdam Rooftop Days, with the concept and design developed together with MVRDV. As an office, MVRDV has actively worked on solutions for the scarcity of space in the city for years, and hopes to prevent the continued urbanisation of rural areas. Rooftop programming can help with major issues such as climate change, the housing crisis, and the transition to renewable energy; the Rooftop Walk draws attention to these problems – making visitors more aware of the possibilities, especially in a city like Rotterdam where 18.5 km2 of flat roofs remains unused.

“In 2016, for the celebration of 75 years of Rotterdam’s reconstruction, we designed the Stairs to Kriterion, which attracted almost 370,000 visitors. That’s when the idea arose that it would be good to make a sequel to the project,” says MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas. “During the Eurovision Song Contest, the idea was to make a high stage to honour the winner, but that was cancelled due to the pandemic. I am glad that Rotterdam Rooftop Days have managed to achieve this, and I want to argue for a further sequel: we should not only occupy our roofs and make them greener but also connect them so that we can offer Rotterdammers a new rooftop park! For this, the orange carpet and the bridging of the Coolsingel are a nice initial test case.

Designing for roofs is becoming a tradition for MVRDV: in 2021, MVRDV and Rotterdam Rooftop Days, together with the Municipality of Rotterdam, presented the Rooftop Catalogue, a handbook with 130 innovative proposals for better use of existing flat roofs. This book has since inspired other municipal authorities to take concrete action. The team that designed the Stairs to Kriterion and the Rooftop Walk have also designed a third rooftop installation: The Podium, which opens on June 1. This pink podium on the roof of Het Nieuwe Instituut will be accessible to the public free of charge and can be reached via a 143-step external staircase. The Podium overlooks the MVRDV-designed Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen.

鹿特丹屋頂步道

打開屋頂，俯瞰城市。荷蘭建築事務所MVRDV與鹿特丹屋頂節（Rotterdam Rooftop Days）共同合作，打造鹿特丹屋頂步道（Rotterdam Rooftop Walk），作為鹿特丹建築月與屋頂節的亮點。在為期一個月的開放期間內，參訪者能於30公尺高之處，探索這座城市各式各樣的屋頂。這條路線的特點宛如天橋，穿越鹿特丹最重要的街道之一：柯爾辛格大街（Coolsingel）。主要目標是讓大眾以新視角看待城市，此項範圍廣大的屋頂計畫，目標在於讓參觀者更能體會屋頂的潛能，將屋頂視為城市的「第二層」（second layer）空間，以創造更宜居、具備生物多樣性、永續與健康的城市。

鹿特丹屋頂步道為亮橘色，總長度600公尺。在屋頂展覽區，藝術家、設計師與建築師會示範如何有效利用空間，例如更加綠化、儲水、生產食物與發電，為城市創造更多可能性。步道結構由荷蘭鷹架營建公司Dutch Steigers負責建造，而其屋頂則有來自各領域的設計者之作，展現屋頂能如何對永續、健康與宜居的城市做出貢獻，從虛擬村落到女王百貨公司（Bijenkorf，意為「蜂巢」）屋頂的綠設計都是示範。

多年來，MVRDV事務所積極解決城市空間稀少的問題，盼能防止鄉村地區持續都市化。屋頂節計畫有助於因應重要議題，例如氣候變遷、住宅危機、再生能源過渡計劃；而屋頂步道不僅讓參觀者關注這些議題，亦能更了解屋頂的潛能，尤其在鹿特丹有18.5平方公里的平屋頂都是閒置空間，因此更具意義。

「2016年，為慶祝鹿特丹重建75年，我們設計『通往標準劇院的階梯』（Stairs to Kriterion），引來近37萬人參觀，因此當時興起了為這計畫做個延續的想法，」MVRDV創辦人文尼・馬斯（Winy Maas）說。「在歐洲歌唱大賽（Eurovision Song Contest）期間，我們曾規劃位於高處的舞台來表揚優勝者，但因為疫情取消。很高興鹿特丹屋頂節能達成此目標，而我也想在這次的延續計畫中更進一步探討，屋頂不該只被占據，應更加綠化，並要將之連接起來，給鹿特丹人一座新的屋頂公園！為此，橘色『地毯』與連接柯爾辛格大街的天橋就是很好的測試方案。」

MVRDV長期以來不斷為屋頂提出設計。2021年，MVRDV、鹿特丹屋頂節和鹿特丹市政府攜手合作，推出《屋頂目錄手冊》（Rooftop Catalogue），手冊中提出130項創新建議，以更好的方式來利用現有的平屋頂。後來，這本手冊也激發其他市政單位，採取實際行動。設計「通往標準劇院的階梯」與屋頂步道的團隊，又為第三座屋頂裝置操刀：六月一日揭幕的「The Podium」平台。這座桃紅色平台位於荷蘭新機構（Het Nieuwe Instituut）博物館屋頂，民眾可免費登上143級的室外階梯，抵達平台。The Podium是鹿特丹建築月的核心主場，可俯視MVRDV設計的「范伯寧恩美術館典藏庫」（Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen），為閒置屋頂再添設計應用的可能性。