To speed up the process and broaden the scope of potential functions, the city of Rotterdam commissioned architecture and urban design firm MVRDV to write a catalogue of ideas for rooftops. Rotterdam has 18.5 km2 of – mostly empty – flat roofs.

MVRDV came up with 130 ways to repurpose rooftops, from tiny houses and urban campsites, to classrooms and athletic fields, to hubs for delivery drones and parking and landing space for air taxis. They’re not all utilitarian, either: there’s a green maze, a tropical palm conservatory, and — one of our favorites — the super hammock, which would be a gigantic net suspended between rooftops, creating an aerial playground for adults and children.

Another area of interest is densification — adding new buildings on top of buildings. In a neighborhood with few families, for example, larger, child-friendly apartments could be added to rooftops to create a more diverse neighborhood.

Meant to be a practical guide, the catalogue includes which types of roofs an idea can be used on, which UN Sustainable Development Goals are applicable, and which urban challenges it addresses. The ideas are also color-coded based on the functions they add: a yellow rooftop, for example, provides renewable energy, while a red rooftop offers social opportunities.

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Phoenix Wharf flies flag for South West at London Design Awards

The talented creatives at Bristol designers Phoenix Wharf have once again taken GOLD for Best Hospitality Project at the London Design Awards, taking the top spot for the second year in a row. On both occasions, the winning project has been for a South-West client, shining a welcome light on the region’s buzzing hospitality industry at both a national and international level, with the London Design Awards representing the UK arm of the world’s largest network of design award programmes, which has recognised outstanding projects from over 7,500 brands and 2,500 studios since its 2010 inception by organisers DrivenXDesign. The awards run annually in New York, Shanghai, Sydney and Hong Kong, as well as London.