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Architects: Cepezed
- Area: 31500 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Lucas van der Wee
Text description provided by the architects. The non-permanently exhibited art and heritage pieces of the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Paleis Het Loo and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands are brought together in the CC NL. cepezed and cepezed interior designed the building, in close collaboration with ABT for the stability, Valstar Simonis for the installations and Peutz for building physics and sustainability.
500,000 objects. The CC NL stores approximately half a million objects. These range from paintings to sculptures, jewellery, clothing, clocks, furniture and other objects of crafts and use. They come from all over Dutch history and from all walks of life. Examples are royal thrones and furniture from noble families, but also merry-go-round horses, historic bicycles, sleighs and a steam engine weighing more than 7,000 kilos. Together, the collections form “the physical memory of the Netherlands”.
Unique collaboration and facilities. Both organizationally and with regard to contents, the four institutions in the CC NL work closely together, in a way that is unique in the world. For example, the objects are not stored and classified per institution, but more according to, for example, nature, type, and date. The collections thus show striking connections. The CC NL also offers unique facilities for the Netherlands that benefit the entire cultural sector. For example, for the first time in the Netherlands, there are special quarantine rooms in which museum pieces can be rid of harmful insects and fungi by means of freezing cold or oxygen extraction. In addition, the building includes a photo studio and an X-ray room. It also contains two large restoration studios that can also be used by other cultural institutions. CC NL stimulates research into the collections and promotes their mobility. For example, fellow museums are welcome to borrow and the building is accessible for research and education by appointment. The CC NL has no public function.
Structure in three parts. Functionally, the building consists of three linked construction sections, which are called the 'head', the ‘neck', and the 'trunk'. The ‘head’ is a transparent volume with the entrance and offices. In the ‘neck’ are the workshops where objects are examined and restored. The X-ray room, photo studio, freezer room, quarantine and oxygen-free areas and space for transport preparation are also located in this building section. Finally, the ‘trunk’ is a compact, closed volume of four storeys. This is the actual depot with large spans of 8.1 meters for maximum layout flexibility. For optimal protection against fire, the fire compartments are small and the partitions of high classification. The ‘trunk’ also contains special facilities such as a cold store for audiovisual material and on the ground floor an extra-large space for large and heavy objects.
From ‘head’ to ‘trunk’, the building sections are connected by two parallel, seven-metre-wide axes that open up the building over its full length and thus form the main traffic arteries. One of the axes connects the covered forwarding area at the front to the depots in the ‘trunk’. The facades are clad with a sleek aluminum skin. In the dark hours, the building is illuminated according to a design by light artist Herman Kuijer.
