MVSA is more than "just" an architecture firm. With a team of seventy employees, architect Roberto Meyer sees his firm as a creative institute with different disciplines and insertions. Among other things, in addition to design, the team also looks at operations, integrality, includes wizkids in the IT field and did the first Public Private Partnership within architecture. After several large, renowned projects, Mall of the Netherlands opened in 2021, after seven years of Westfield. The largest high-end shopping center in the Netherlands and one of the larger ones in Europe. MASTERS wonders: who was Roberto's wheelbarrow? Text: Mical Joseph
Image: MVSA Architects
"I was born in South America and moved from Colombia to the Netherlands at the age of 6. My mother is Uruguayan and my father was Dutch. He worked in Colombia for an American bank. After emigrating, we lived temporarily in a 1950s bungalow. As a child I was already drawing and thought there were really some things that could be changed in that bungalow. As far as I am concerned, that is where my current profession originated.
School didn't interest me. During this period, I partied a lot and met many new people. I ended up creating a valuable network as a result. So we can say that I was there early on, haha."
"Leaving the aforementioned lively and boisterous period a bit more to rest, it was only after high school when I started studying Architecture that I fully committed myself. At a very young age during my studies I set up MVSA with a partner."
"I was 23 years old. Back then something like that was possible, but today it would be unthinkable for an Architecture student to embark on something so big so young."
"A lot changed in the years that followed. It used to be that a client would need an architect, seek them out, a plan was made, the builder was chosen and with the result: the physical building. This, in a nutshell, is the process. Today, an architectural firm is a multidisciplinary team of well-matched people, supplemented by outside experts and working closely with suppliers and clients. There are so many different facets within architecture, making it much harder for a 23-year-old to set up his or her own architectural firm so young."
"I had not yet graduated, but already had my own projects underway through the agency I was setting up. My goal was to compete for the Prix de Rome, the renowned state prize for fine art and architecture, but one was only allowed to enter if one had completed one's studies. I didn't care about that: I sent a letter to the relevant minister and explained why I was a suitable candidate. No sooner said than done: I graduated in 1990 and won silver with this project. Even before I graduated, someone in my network gave me the opportunity to build a villa. It was of course bizarre that he had confidence in someone who was just starting out, AND was only 23 years old, but in the end the end result was to be welcomed."
"I am a huge social animal and have built a large network over the past 30 years. To be honest, that has been my wheelbarrow. As a firm, we work for both governments and large private parties. With MVSA, we built the building for the EMA, NATO, Ministry of Finance and Rotterdam Central Station, among others. We also work for large investors and developers. All in all, of course, I also learned a lot from the people I am in contact with for such projects."
"Usually a mall is a big building with an opening where you go in as a customer and you end up in a covered shopping street. This is exactly what we didn't want. With the shape of the voile that hugs the entire building like a veil, we wanted to create unity. This voile embraces all the entities: these are the stores, cinemas and restaurants, each with its own entity. The flowing lines of the design guide the visitor in, so to speak. The colossal of a mall as we know it does not have this mall. You experience a human scale."
"Our office is more than a beautiful building. Personally, I think a merely beautiful design of a building is way too thin, that's obvious. We asked ourselves the question, 'How do you make a beautiful building that responds to the future?' By taking an integrated approach, in addition to all the sustainability labels, we have twenty-six different IT systems working together to make the building a pleasant place to be. In addition to a corporate canteen which has been compared to a nightclub, we have a gym with a wellness center. This makes our office no longer primarily a place to work, but a place to meet, a clubhouse."
"I love raising the bar again and again. It gives me a thrill to work on project that is an important part of society."
"Often after completing a project I wanted to continue as before, because the assignment had been a success, but the tipping point came precisely when I thought, 'We're not going to do it like that again.' It is important to stick my neck out, because otherwise it becomes deadly boring. I have learned to stick my neck out even more, but with the confidence that my team and I will get everything done with their expertise."
"Follow your heart and do what you love. That is the basis of all success."
"I believe that people should develop further, both in our office and outside. It's nice when I can enthuse and stimulate others. Especially the next generations. I also have a broad network, so I like to link connections. Some people have good ideas, but don't always know how to put them into practice. I like to help them."
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