Design by MVRDV
The design for Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen by architect agency MVRDV is the epitome of sustainability. Equipped with modern techniques and materials, economical in its use of water and energy, the building meets all the criteria for the BREEAM certificate of excellence.
The building offers 15,000 m2, has 7 storeys (from the ground floor), is 39.5 metres tall and has a footprint with a diameter of 40 metres that splays out upwards to a diameter of 60 metres. The ground floor includes an inviting entrance area with museum shop and coffee corner. This floor also houses the areas for art handling: packaging, acclimatisation, quarantine, loading and unloading.
All depositories, presentation areas, the knowledge centre and the cinema are located on a central atrium measuring 6 by 18 metres and nearly 30 metres tall, which rises from the first floor and is capped with a glass roof allowing light to pour in. Many artworks from the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will hang or stand in the atrium. The storeys are connected by floating stairways, so that the view is in some ways reminiscent of the fascinating sketches of the eighteenth-century architect Giovanni Battista Piranesi.
The round volume and reflective glass façade of the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen will mirror the green and the buildings around the Museumpark. Conversely, park and city will be visible in the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen so that it merges with its surroundings. On the roof, the tops of a small roof wood rise like a Fata Morgana from the reflective bowl.
From the roof and the pavilion with Grand Café and exhibition space located there, the visitor has, from early morning to late evening, a 360-degree view across the park and the skyline of Rotterdam. At night, the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is transformed into a beautifully illuminated lantern which lights up the heart of the Museumpark.