The Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the first publicly accessible art depot in the world, has just completed construction in Rotterdam’s Museumpark. Designed by MVRDV, the bowl-shaped building draws the eye with its 6,609 square meters of exterior glass subdivided into 1,664 mirrored panels that reflect the surroundings and help blend the 15,000-square-meter building into the leafy park. In addition to an expansive art collection that will be made accessible to the public, the art depot features an award-winning rooftop forest at a height of 35 meters along with a rooftop restaurant that provides inspiring views of Rotterdam.
Completed in preparation for the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s big move, the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen was built to house the artworks not on rotation at the museum and to put those stored pieces on display to the public. A complete collection of 151,000 objects will be made accessible and, by next year, the entire collection of Boijmans Van Beuningen will be made visible to the public in the same space for the first time since 1935.
As an art depot, the artworks will not be exhibited according to movement or era but rather by their climatic requirements so as to best preserve the artifacts. Each storage space is climate-controlled and organized into five different climate zones and organized by material type including metal, plastic, organic/inorganic and photography.
In addition to its reflective facade, the art depot makes a strong visual statement indoors with its light-filled atrium crisscrossed with stairs and a suspended glass display case showcasing exhibitions of works selected by museum curators. The atrium branches out to exhibition rooms and curators’ studios that offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the museum maintains and cares for its art collection. Art is displayed throughout the building, from the ground floor lobby to the rooftop restaurant, which is surrounded by 75 birch trees. The art depot will open its doors to the public in autumn 2021.
An award-winning forest tops the world’s first publicly accessible art depot [Inhabitat]