Dutch design practice Mecanoo has unveiled a proposal for a new wing of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Taking aim at the structure's back of house and organization, the project is made to create clear circulation and connections throughout. In addition, the project is part of a larger renovation of the existing Museum Garden as it bring together the wings of the architects Van der Steur and Bodon as part of the collection.
As the team outlines, the museum has a series of problems over the course of its renovations. Mecanoo's plan introduces a transparent passage, meandering organically between the buildings of Van der Steur and Bodon as a public passage from city to park and from park to city. The passage starts on Museumparkstraat as a horizontal and transparent element. The Mecanoo wing subsequently fans out into a multifunctional foyer on the Buitenhof site. It is the foyer for visitors to the exhibition spaces in the Bodon and Van der Steur wings and also gives access to the Buitenhof.
The Mecanoo passage creates a new Museum Park entrance with the introduction of a Park Pavilion in the current parking lot of the villas on the Westersingel. This Park Pavilion will have a partly double-height exhibition space. A number of surgical interventions are needed to make the museum accessible to all target groups and to improve the logistics of the back of house, and Mecanoo is collaborating with BBM for the restoration. Via a central address for all logistics flows, a new logistics axis is made at the basement level of Bodon. The landscape design at ground level will be incorporated in such a way that the logistics intervention will go unnoticed.
The new Boijmans is made to be a catalyst for a stronger connection and cooperation with the surrounding institutions in the Museum Park: Depot, Nieuwe Instituut, Kunsthal, Natural History, Chabot Museum and Arminius. Mecanoo would add sustainable components: more water, more nature and more biodiversity. With its Museumpark, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will become a place for people of Rotterdam and visitors to the city, a place where people of all generations and cultural backgrounds like to go, stay and relax.
News via Mecanoo
