Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat has completed an underground museum extension with a park on top in Assen, the Netherlands.
The new gallery wing at the Drents Museum is burrowed into the ground around a former coach-house, which is retained as a new ground-floor entrance.
Just past the foyer is a single large exhibition hall, with a ceiling of curved stripes that ascend above the ground surface to create high-level windows.
These folding waves create gentle slopes on the ground above, where pathways lead across a planted garden to the city beyond.
Erick van Egeraat has designed a number of projects in Europe, including a stadium in Moscow, a city hall in Budapest and an incinerator in Roskilde - see more projects here.
Photography is by J Collingridge.
Here's some more information from the architects:
Erick van Egeraat completes new Museum in Assen [NL]
On the 16th of November Erick van Egeraat’s new Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, will be officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
The festive re-inauguration of the Museum marks the official end of 18 months of construction within budget and timeframes.
Erick van Egeraat’s design was unanimously voted the winner at the design competition by the Jury and the client, the province of Drenthe.
His vision to use the extension of the Museum as an organizing instrument for the Museum as a whole was the decisive factor.
The most important aspect of Erick van Egeraat’s design is the consistent integration of the museum with the cities fabric.
A balanced play of building, landscape and water, creates a new identity for the extended museum.
The design reinforces both the scenic character and the cultural-historic face of Assen’s city centre.
The staggered, organic roof of the new wing connects existing gardens and parks in the city. Erick van Egeraat is thus creating a publicly accessible park.
Openings in the roof allow light to penetrate into the exhibition spaces below. The new wing links the new entrance with existing parts of the museum and the city landscape.
The existing coach-house will serve as the museum’s new main entrance.
Lifted 1 meter above the ground, the existing structure rests on a glass plinth, revealing the building’s new function in an elegant manner.
The historic façade is left untouched, therefore preserving the buildings civic appearance.
During the day, the glass plinth allows light to enter the building. At night, interior lighting transforms the coach-house into a beacon for the city and its inhabitants.
The images show the building as the architect intended it, captured in its final moments before being hopelessly diluted with fussy things like people and artifacts. This blank canvas is nothing but a blank canvas: an object devoid of context.
Wow! Impressive!
What an interesting contrast between the modern and minimalist interior that looks like a sleek futuristic airport to the vegetation covered exterior! I love the interplay between the two.. the smooth and curvilinear forms interiors, and then the complimenting wood exterior is gorgeous.
The only thing missing outside is a shabby garden shed and some goats.
I'm more interested in how objects are exhibited in a space like this than the sparse white interiors. Shame they didn't wait until it was inhabited before letting the photographer loose.
On the plus side, I quite like the roof allotment!
In my view the best project by van Egeraat. He's always been a very stylish artist. But this time he is also very delicate. And such a killing combination of a cool style and modesty is what architecture is all about…
How WHITE is that interior? I wonder if the surfaces will age gracefully, or if smudges, dirt, dings will start to show easily. Otherwise, yeah, the interior/exterior contrast is pretty stunning and provocative. May be my fave by EvE too.
The photographer has executed these shots excellently, no easy task in such a white space I would of thought.. Well done J. Collingridge.
The Architecture is pretty impressive too.
ah ok.. so Erick van Egeraat CAN make good designs!!