'future towers' marks MVRDV's first completed project in india

‘future towers’ by rotterdam based architects MVRDV, is a residential complex that provides over 1,000 new units in one single building. located in pune, india‘s 8th largest city, ‘future towers’ aims to provide accommodation for a diverse spectrum of the rapidly expanding population. the project is a true vertical village that will house around 5,000 people in one building.

all images © ossip van duivenbode (also main image)

in response to the brief, MVRDV has created a singular mountainous structure with peaks and valleys, under which 1,068 apartments are unified in one building. despite its expressive appearance, the design of ‘future towers’ in fact stems from a series of methodical decisions based on MVRDV ’s research into indian housing. the development also includes a mixture of different units in order to ensure the full spectrum of india’s exploding middle class can live in harmony. apartments ranging from 45 square metres to 450 square metres are mixed together, a diversity enabled by the building’s mountainous shape and the shifting floor plans that it generates.

jacob van rijs, principal and co-founder of MVRDV comments, ‘with our design, we are making an effort to offer more variety and bring people from more different backgrounds together. in the original master plan, 16 separate towers were planned, all of which would have more or less the same type of apartments.’ the design features 9 housing wings ranging from 17 to 30 storeys arranged around just 4 circulation cores. 

the ‘peaks’ allow for optimized daylight conditions and the resulting inclined roofs allow for a number of exterior terraces, both private and communal. recessed balconies on the main façades of the residential slabs hint at the diversity of the homes behind, with a mixture of normal size, double-height, double-width and even some L- shaped balconies. the strong graphical appearance created by the balconies is accentuated by large, brightly coloured openings known as ‘scoops’ that puncture the building’s façade.

despite being designed to house over 5,000 people, ‘future towers’ by MVRDV attempts to create a context-sensitive, diverse and community focused residential project. it is a building that understands the demands of indian housing and the expectations of indian culture, and uses the context of a brand new township to reimagine how they can be combined in a way that is better for both residents and cities at large.

project info:

project name: ‘future towers’ 

location: amanora park town, pune, india

year: 2010 – 2018

client: ccl amanora park town

program: mixed-use, housing, commercial space and public amenities. 

phase 1: 140,000m2 with 1,068 units (realised)

phase 1, 2, and 3: 370,000m2 with 3,500 units (phase 2 and 3 for future development)

budget: undisclosed

architect: MVRDV

principal-in-charge: jacob van rijs

head of department: stefan de koning

design team: oana rades, saimon idiakez, doris strauch, maria lopez calleja, akshey venkatesh, wenhua deng, jose ignacio velasco martin, pepijn bakker, kate van heusen, ignacio zabalo, silke volkert, sara bjelke, nuray karakurt, and ivo hoppers

project negotiation: inger kammeraat

copyright: MVRDV 2018 – (winy maas, jacob van rijs, nathalie de vries)

images: © ossip van duivenbode

partners:

pmc: northcroft with narenda bhagwat, nikita oak, satin walla

co-architects: client team

c&s: j+w with umesh joshi

mep: client team

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