Almere, founded in 1976 on reclaimed land, is growing fast into becoming the fifth largest city of the Netherlands. After realizing a new city centre, Almere now builds Olympiakwartier as a secondary centre. Amsterdam based housing association Stadgenoot commissioned MVRDV to be planner for 60,000m2 of flexible work space, 120,000m2 housing (1,000 homes), 15,000m2 education, 2,000m2 commercial space, 2,640 parking spaces and various public spaces. This total has been split into 82 volumes of which MVRDV will design 40. In order to reach a great urban variety within the ambitious plan, 42 of the in total 82 buildings will be designed by 24 different architecture offices from Europe, Japan and America.

The plan demands individual development of the buildings: a dense mix of living and working leading to a complex urban condition. Retail, a public square and communal gardens are also part of the comprehensive plan which introduces inner city life to the mostly suburban typology of Almere. Flexibility is a key objective: All ground floors and part of the office and apartment buildings are designed to facilitate future change of use. 

A central parking structure serves the urban concept: by avoiding underground large trees can grow in the communal gardens in the various communal court yards. The central location to station cars guarantees pedestrian traffic. The parking structure is set to be the centre of the neighbourhood with shops and a drive-in cinema. A combination of natural ventilation, daylight and a green interior court make the structure pleasant to use and energy efficient. The scale of the garage, allows double use and brings down the total number of parking spaces in the area.

MVRDV has recently combined the designs into a financially feasible definitive design which assembles comment by Stadgenoot and the construction companies who are part of the process from an early stage on. This innovative construction method, the so-called ‘chain-integration’ is geared towards early problem recognition and solving. Amsterdam Housing corporation Stadgenoot is developer of the ambitious plan whilst MVRDV is main architect. Olympiakwarter is part of the larger Almere Poort urban plan developed by the city of Almere.