Sanne van Manen | MVRDV

'Towards a rooftop landscape'

In the Netherlands we have about 600km2 flat roofs. Imagine we would only build 1 level extra on (only) 10% of this surface: this will already provide 600.000 homes. In addition, there would be enough room for green, energy, leisure and sport. However, how to get this done?

Sanne will talk about the process via the Rooftop Catalogue and the Roofscape software to help municipalities into making actual policies for all this rooftop space. The Rooftop Catalogue is a design research in which the possibilities for rooftop usage is imagined. This led to the making of the Roofscape tool; a new software engine for municipalities to investigate rooftop possibilities and scenarios on actual neighborhoods.

Research partners. Rooftop Catalogue: municipality of Rotterdam.
Roofscape software: Superworld and municipality of Rotterdam.

Biography

Sanne van Manen is architect and senior associate at MVRDV. She was involved in the Valley project in Amsterdam, expressive, and green mixed-use residential towers, as well as the Grotius Towers, and the transformation of Centraal Beheer in Apeldoorn. In addition, she was initiator and author of the Rooftop Catalogue book.

Outside her work at the office, van Manen is active academically, teaching at the Academy of Rotterdam, and the Delft Technical University. She is a boardmember of the Platform Wederopbouw Rotterdam. Recently she co-founded and launched the Platform Woonopgave; a growing collective looking for affordable and sustainable answers to the current housing crisis.