MVRDV’s unveils the design for the Shift Embassy in Rotterdam
MVRDV wins the international competition to design the Shift Embassy, an important planned cultural destination of Rotterdam pop-up Waterkant area (find designboom’s previous coverage here). Designed by social enterprise Shift, the project aims to encourage ecological and social change through architecture, immersive storytelling and public programming. The architects imagine the project as a rocky landscape emerging from the banks of the Maas, where visitors move through greenery, terraces, exhibitions and public viewpoints while remaining immersed in nature.
Called Rotterdam ROCKS!, the proposal moves away from the isolated landmark image by transforming much of the building into an accessible public landscape. Seven stacked, porous volumes form a series of caves and elevated terraces connecting exhibition spaces, hospitality functions and outdoor pathways. Visitors can climb on the outside to reach panoramic viewing platforms overlooking Rotterdam, while vegetation, water and habitats for birds and insects extend the future tidal park vertically across the facadeand attempts to integrate ecological systems directly into its architecture.
all images courtesy of MVRDV
Rotterdam ROCKS! combines ecology with cultural programming
The program includes The Elysium, an immersive 5,000 square meter experience designed to explore possible futures through art, storytelling and interactive installations. Change the experience intends to encourage visitors to imagine how the ecological transition could reshape everyday life. Adjacent to the fair is a 200-room hotel, training facilities, venues for business and local community events, restaurants, a food court and an observation deck. The architecture organizes these uses in two interconnected towers that are sculpted into a series of rock forms, opening voids that introduce daylight, vegetation and public circulation deep into the building.
The proposal also extends its environmental ambitions to its own construction. According to the Team based in Rotterdam at MVRDV, the Shift Embassy is to act as a testing ground for low-carbon building methods, openly documenting which construction strategies are succeeding and which are falling short. The project is intended to become a large-scale laboratory for emerging sustainable construction techniques, while minimizing its own ecological footprint throughout the construction process.
MVRDV also frames the proposal around a central contradiction: the most sustainable building is often the one that already exists. Rather than presenting the project as a complete solution, the architects argue that every new building must justify its environmental footprint through circular construction, biodiversity, low-carbon materials and long-term adaptability.
As such, the proposal serves as a testing ground for reused steel, low-carbon concrete, bio-based materials and components designed for future disassembly and reuse. The building’s performance, including energy production, water cycles, biodiversity and material use, is intended to remain visible through real-time monitoring, making environmental systems part of the visitor experience.
Rotterdam ROCKS! rises from the banks of the Meuse as a stack of planted rock-like volumes
The Shift International Architecture Competition chooses its winner
The project is planned for Waterkant, a new mixed-use neighborhood on Rotterdam’s south bank that will include around 3,750 homes, schools, workplaces, cultural venues, restaurants, offices, sports facilities and a new train station.
The competition attracted 80 international proposals, with five teams qualifying for the final stage: Ecosistema Urbano, Heatherwick Studio, Mecanoo, Office for Political Innovation and MVRDV. After presentations and a verification process, Shift selected MVRDV along with partners Arup, Arcadis, DGMR, Studio Bertels and Joris Laarman Labs. Since then, the design has undergone further refinement ahead of a local public participation process planned for autumn 2026.
Unlike many recent cultural projects that focus on sustainability, Rotterdam ROCKS! puts equal emphasis on experience and ecology. Its central proposition is not simply to host climate change exhibitions, but to use architecture, through landscape, biodiversity, public access and material experimentation, as part of the message.
the proposal organizes two interconnected towers into a cluster of sculptural, climbing forms
a meandering public path climbs through planted terraces and traverses the building’s rounded exterior
public paths weave between terraces, gardens and rock-like volumes
embossed facade panels create habitats for insects, birds and vegetation while retaining water
the facade incorporates planting pockets and cavities designed to support urban biodiversity
