On December 6th, a new exhibition of MVRDV’s work will open in the recently transformed Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre. Named ReviveR, the exhibition will feature the host building as one of its core elements, positioned alongside another 26 key MVRDV projects that share thematic connections. The curatorial concept emphasises the importance of playful, social, fun environments for people of all ages and the need to reuse outdated buildings and materials to reduce carbon emissions.

With its colourful, chunky window frames helping to give new life to a flawed structure from the 1990s, the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre exemplifies a circular economy approach to architecture. The ReviveR exhibition positions the renovated building as a kind of manifesto, asking “what would our cities look like if we pursued similarly playful, social, and sustainable transformations of all existing buildings?”

The curated designs explore this idea through three lenses: there are projects that transform existing buildings, such as the Pyramid of Tirana and Frøsilo; projects that exemplify MVRDV’s bold and playful style such as WERK12 and the Vertical Village; and projects in the Southeast Asia region, such as the Tianjin Library and LAD HQ. At the centre of the exhibition are seven “core projects” that are representative of all three categories simultaneously, including the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre itself alongside Tainan Spring, Seoullo 7017, the Idea Factory, Bulgari Shanghai, the Hangzhou Oil Refinery Factory Park, and the West Bund Dream Centre.

Taking inspiration from the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre itself, the exhibition will be colourful, family-friendly, and sustainable. Circularity is a recurring theme, with its design making use of materials that can be reused elsewhere after the exhibition. In addition to the presented projects, the exhibition will include a number of interactive elements, such as opportunities for drawing and building with blocks, that make the experience fun and educational for the children who make up one of the building’s core visiting demographics.

Completed in July, the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre is an emblematic project for the city of Shenzhen. The decision to renovate the structure, rather than demolish and replace it, allowed MVRDV to save 24,000 cubic metres of concrete from the original structure, resulting in a dramatic saving in carbon emissions. A grid of aluminium frames on the exterior has increased the energy performance of the façade, while the bright new colour palette communicates the building’s main purpose of providing facilities for the welfare of women and children. Selected as one of 24 model examples of revitalisation by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the building sets a precedent in a city that will soon see a huge wave of similar buildings reach the end of their initial lifespan.

ReviveR will open in the 5th-floor auditorium of the Shenzhen Women & Children’s Centre on December 6th, remaining on view until February 28th, 2024. MVRDV founding partner Jacob van Rijs will give a lecture and participate in a roundtable discussion to mark the opening day; details on how to attend will be released soon.