Unusual Architecture + museum

's-Hertogenbosch, Paesi Bassi: [MUSEUMKWARTIER 'S-HERTOGENBOSCH BY BIERMAN HENKET]
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

After eight years in the making, Den Bosch’s Museum Quarter, Netherlands. The project, by Dutch studio Bierman Henket, involved the renovation and extension of the town’s Noordbrabants Museum as well as the addition of a brand new building to house the Stedelijk Museum ’s-Hertogenbosch.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

“Space, openness and transparency: those are the keywords,” Janneke Bierman, co-founder of Bierman Henket, explained as she described the origins of the design for the new Modern Art museum.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

A glass corridor connects the eighteenth century mansion that houses part of the Noordbrabants Museum with the new building. “As an architect I find it interesting to combine old and new and thus to build within existing urban fabrics,” Bierman says.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

This concept of union continues as the passageway’s and Stedelijk’s glazed façades blend the museums with the old garden at their centre, which becomes the heart of the Museum Quarter.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

Humberto and Fernando Campana were given complete freedom to design the reception area, auditorium and shop of the new museum, which, together with the garden, will remain a free entry public space.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

The Brazilian designers’ concept was ‘Un-Dutch’. They subverted the sobriety and rigid distribution of space of typically Dutch interiors, creating instead a monumental sculpture of curvy plywood sheets that houses the auditorium and reception desk.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

An enormous soft seat whose parts can be rearranged to give different shapes to the whole, as well as the shop’s display furniture which follows the layered sheets concept also contribute to the designers’ intent.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

“We thought that the location needed something organic, a strong material presence,’ they explain. ‘We wanted to deconstruct the rigidity of the museum building by bringing in the natural world.”

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

Exhibition space was designed by Opera Amsterdam, who also rose up to the challenges inherent to a project of this scope. ‘We needed to create a lot of walls to exhibit the works, but at the same time we had to let light circulate through the rooms,’ Opera’s director Jo Pike and designer Boaz Baradon said.

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

“By cutting windows in the exhibition partitions we managed to do this and to also let people see through the space and know what comes next, making visitors feel more relaxed.”

Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket
Museumkwartier s Hertogenbosch by Bierman Henket

Location: 's-Hertogenbosch, Holland Architect: Bierman Henket Adviseurs: ABT, Adviesbureau voor bouwtechniek bv; Grontmij Technical management; DGMR Bouw bv; Wil M. Ummels bouwconsultancy Landscape architect: MTD Landschapsarchitecten Year: 2013 Client: Noordbrabants Museum - Provincie Noord-Brabant, Stedelijk Museum - Gemeente 's-Hertogenbosch Text: via Frameweb