THE NEW COLLECTION BUILDING and The Friends of the Park

The development of an open depot building for Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in the centre of Rotterdam is a great chance to intensify the experience of the city. Additionally it offers the museum an extra chance to raise its international profile. But how will the design open itself towards the city? How can the building participate in the cultural life of the city? The Collection Building can be seen as an art warehouse. By designing the building in a round volume the façade surface is optimised. The compact floors are crossed by a route, the Zigzag, which accesses the depots and makes them visible. The Zigzag leads ultimately to the roof terrace where the trees from the current ‘front garden’ of Museum Park will stand. The roof terraces becomes a lifted park. By cladding the building in reflective material the surrounding and the park are mirrored. The park becomes bigger; the building seems to be absorbed by the surroundings like a contemporary ‘fata morgana’. At the locations of the windows the reflective surface is erased so to speak. Here the building shows its collection as a present to the city. LINK dezeen

The Friends of the Park grants Boijmans depot. The Museum Park is in our view, not the appropriate location. On several occasions we have actions publicized through public flyers. Is your opposition also visible? LINK vriendenvanhetpark (in Dutch)