Under Tomorrow’s Sky

The global population is set to rise by billions in the coming decades, with the majority of these new earthlings living in cities. A different architecture will be required to keep future urban living pleasant and healthy, says Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, a globally operating firm of architects. Instead of uniform tower blocks, he argues in favour of 'high rises on a human scale', stacked structural volumes with open spaces and greenery around them that feel like vertical villages.

Documentary maker Jan Louter followed the architect for a year. MVRDV works simultaneously on hundreds of projects, including Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s mirror-clad depot in Rotterdam and a new central station in Taipei. We see Maas working as foreman of his 280 employees, teaching at the university in Delft, commuting between continents and inspiring innovative research. Sometimes he is frustrated, seldom angry or tired and he never loses faith in the future he is co-shaping.

Part of RTM, the Rotterdam selection.