Institutions Lecture: MVRDV Aser Gimenez Ortega October 6 AT 1:00 PM

For each of the past ten years, the programs shared by the institutions studio have explored the multiple ways Institution buildings refer to attempts to improve the functioning of organizations by creating, strengthening or changing ‘institutional software’ – the way people relate to one another in the context of public action and public activities. This semester, the studio focuses on the framework of the typology of a Market while addressing the resilience of the marketplace as a public institution. A framework which invites students to challenge on how the market’s representational role can mediate new spatial forms in a digital era of avidly online consumption.

In order to reflect on public markets and food production, the institutions studio is hosting our guest speaker, Aser Giménez-Ortega, Spanish architect and associate director at MVRDV. Giménez-Ortega studied at TU Eindhoven, the Netherlands and Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain, graduating with a Masters in Architecture in 2005. Before joining MVRDV, he worked as an architect and urban designer in Spain, Brazil, and the Netherlands. Aser joined MVRDV in 2007, and has experience leading projects of various scales and phases, ranging from masterplan to interior design and from concept to construction. Aser overlooked the conceptualization and realization of Oslo’s DNB bank headquarters and Shanghai’s Hongqiao CBD, both exemplary green projects with a fast, smooth construction process.