MVRDV welcomes Lennaart Sirag as director of its new Berlin office opening in September in Kreuzberg, a vibrant neighbourhood in step with the office’s adventurous spirit. 

Jacob van Rijs, co-founder of MVRDV: “We are pleased to have Lennaart on board, given his broad experience delivering large scale urban projects through all phases. His deep understanding of processes, regulations, and stakeholder engagement within the field of planning and project realization in Germany, is integral to MVRDV’s ambitions in the country. With Lennaart’s experience, our newly opened Berlin office will begin a productive exchange of ideas between MVRDV and other German architects, clients, officials, and the public. We love Germany, and 30 years after our first project I am glad we finally opened this office. I look forward to bringing MVRDV’s radical-streak to Berlin.”

Inger Kammeraat, Managing Director: “As MVRDV we work on 125 projects a year in 25 countries. Our aim is to have as much local presence as possible. We are delighted that Lennaart will manage our new office in Berlin. Thanks to his technical expertise we can offer an even more complete package to our German partners. Our ambition is to have more local offices in various countries in the future.’

Lennaart Sirag (1974, Leiderdorp, the Netherlands) was educated at the Technical University Delft. He gathered professional experience over 20 years in both the Netherlands and Germany. Throughout his career, he has contributed to a variety of large scale, mixed-use projects from first concept to final realization, gaining considerable skills in architectural design, general planning, and technical due diligence.

In his position as director of MVRDV’s Berlin office, Lennaart oversees the projects in German-speaking countries in the realization phase. “Built environments in Germany reach very high standards of technological quality. At the same time, they tend to be more monotonous than abroad. It is a great pleasure to mix things up with MVRDV’s characteristically spectacular, vivid, sustainable, and colourful approach to architecture and urbanism.”

This summer, prior to the opening of the Berlin office, MVRDV held an exhibition highlighting 30 years of the office’s German projects at the Architektur Galerie Berlin. Many projects were included, from MVRDV’s first project, Berlin Voids, to Unterföhring Park Village, Werk12, KoolKiel, and the Expo Pavilion, which will become a co-working office building. The design maintains the design’s original qualities making it an icon of the 2000 World Expo, including a forest on the 3rd floor.