MVRDV has won the international design competition for the Shift Embassy, organised by the social enterprise Shift. Planned for Rotterdam’s new Waterkant district on the south bank of the River Maas, the Shift Embassy is conceived as a cultural destination that raises awareness of the climate crisis and societal transition while encouraging visitors to experience a more sustainable way of living. The site occupies a key location within the redevelopment of Rotterdam’s former harbour district and will serve as a gateway to the future Third City Bridge.
The winning proposal, Rotterdam ROCKS!, envisions the coexistence of humans and nature as an artificial landscape. Resembling a monumental rock formation, the building features terraced landscapes, greenery, water elements, viewing platforms, and public spaces open to all. MVRDV extends the riverside landscape vertically through the concept of a “3D Park,” transforming the building into an extension of the city’s public realm. At its core is The Elysium, a 5,000-square-metre immersive exhibition where visitors explore sustainable living through art, storytelling, and immersive experiences. The programme also includes a 200-room hotel, education facilities, community spaces, conference venues, a food court, restaurants, and an observation deck.
The building is composed of seven rounded rock-like volumes organised around two primary towers, one dedicated to the exhibition experience and the other to hospitality. Open voids between the volumes bring daylight, vegetation, and public circulation deep into the building. Separate circulation routes serve the exhibition and hotel programmes, while an exterior public route leads to viewing terraces and a rooftop overlooking the Maas and Rotterdam. The façade incorporates pockets and niches for soil, water retention, planting, and wildlife habitats, enhancing biodiversity. The project also employs low-carbon construction strategies, including reused steel and bio-based materials, alongside a monitoring system that visualises the building’s environmental performance—including energy production and consumption, and water cycles—in real time.
MVRDV founding partner Winy Maas said, “Our first step in approaching this design was to expand the brief – we need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and to create inclusive spaces for people, trees, plants, for water, air, and for animal habitats, balancing the need for new built space with new landscapes to compensate our ecological impact. Our design integrates these human and natural spaces, playing with porosity to keep the project compact while maximising its ecological value.”
The jury commented, ”MVRDV’s proposal is a remarkably bold, powerful statement that we expect will capture visitors’ imagination and encourage them to come back again and again. Rotterdam Rocks departs from how sustainability is traditionally communicated, bringing together joy, discovery, and surprise into a new architectural language. We anticipate this building and its program will invite people to rethink their everyday behavior and encourage new ways of living sustainably together.”
Launched in January 2025, the two-stage international competition attracted 80 entries. Five teams—Ecosistema Urbano, Heatherwick Studio, Mecanoo, MVRDV, and Office for Political Innovation—advanced to the final stage. The design will now be further developed through a public participation process involving local residents.
