The ‘M’ of MVRDV, Founding Partner and Principal Architect Winy Maas (Schijndel, NL - 1959), has received international acclaim for his broad range of urban planning and building projects, across all typologies and scales. These are often self-generated, innovative, experimental, and theoretical.

Driven by this dedication to green, user-defined, sustainable cities and spaces, Maas’ leadership drives many of the office’s award-winning projects, amongst them Rotterdam’s Markthal (2014), Crystal Houses (2016) the Tianjin Binhai Library (2017), Valley (2022) and the first publicly accessible art depot in the world, Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, which opened its doors in Rotterdam end of 2021. In Maas’ broad portfolio are also several masterplans, including a vision for the future of Greater Paris, the Left Bank in Bordeaux, and the waterfront of Oslo. Maas supervised the world horticultural exhibition Floriade 2022 and Eindhoven city centre from 2017 until 2022.

Maas challenges colleagues, clients, as well as students and collaborators at TU Delft’s The Why Factory – an internationally engaged think tank Maas established in 2008 – to challenge the boundaries of established standards to produce solutions that reimagine how we live, work, and play. Aside from his dedicated leadership role at MVRDV and professorship at TU Delft and elsewhere, Maas is widely published, actively engaged in the advancement of the design profession, and sits on numerous boards and juries, including the Spatial Quality Boards of Rotterdam, Eindhoven, and Barcelona.

“I advocate denser, greener, more attractive and liveable cities, with an approach to design that centres around user-defined, innovative, and sustainable ideas for the built environment, regardless of typology or scale.”

– Winy Maas

Portrait: ©Barbra Verbij