Analyzing the Spatial Composition via Datascape Design Methodology in MVRDV's Projects

Abstract

MVRDV describes its design method as ‘Datascape.’ All information that affects buildings, such as building codes, economic feasibility, and environmental requirements, is converted into data, and the results are built into a project. This paper aims to clarify and objectify the characteristics of the architectural space composition method in MVRDV architecture and to make it an alternative to contemporary architecture. A literature review of the concept of datascape and continuity, the theoretical background of MVRDV, was used as a methodology. Based on this, the specific space composition methods are extracted from common denominators in MVRDV’s projects. The result showed that the space composition method by void is a method of creating a void space by deleting stacked programs, and it is a concept that appeared in response to the urban density described by MVRDV. Constructing space by program creates a continuous space by internalizing the architectural program within the space and blurs the boundaries between inside and outside through transparency. The method of constructing space by diagrams creates the space and form of a building through the reinterpretation and rearrangement of a given program. The diagram referred to here appears in various spaces and forms in architecture, such as maps, statistical tables, and diagrams. The space composition method by the internal continuity plane refers to a space in which the city and the space are continuous. It is a space where mutual communication occurs where the distinction between inside and outside is ambiguous due to this continuous space. This can be said to establish a mutually ongoing relationship between the site and the interior space.