MVRDV's Rotterdam ROCKS! Proposal Draws Criticism as 'Vanity Bauble'

Dutch architectural firm MVRDV has unveiled Rotterdam ROCKS!, a design for a waterfront site in Europe's largest port, Rotterdam. The proposal, which won a major architectural competition intended to create 'a new world wonder,' depicts a pile of artificial rocks stacked into a towering cairn. Critics have compared it unfavorably to the firm's Marble Arch Mound in London, which was widely panned. One online commentator described it as 'something Shrek would throw up.' The design is intended to inspire sustainable living, but in an era where the greenest building is one that already exists, the project has been criticized as a 'vanity bauble' that may age poorly. The proposal is currently set to hit Rotterdam docks, though no construction timeline has been announced.