KAAN architecten's renovation of the royal museum of fine arts antwerp

at the end of 2011, the royal museum of fine arts in antwerp closed for a major renovation. now, although no completion date has been set, images from inside the museum show the scale and state of the project by KAAN architecten. established in 1810, the institution houses a collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings from seven centuries of art: from flemish primitives to expressionists.

historic columns had been concealed inside false walls — they have now been restored
image © toon grobet | main image © karin borghouts

‘the royal museum of fine arts in antwerp was built as a part of the 19th-century expansion of the city center,’ explains KAAN. ‘during the 20th century, the building underwent many haphazard changes — courtyards were covered, windows closed off, new walls added — disrupting the logical routing of the original whole.’ KAAN’s intervention aims to reverse these spatial changes by combining a thorough renovation of the historic structure with the addition of a new ‘vertical’ museum.

198 skylights illuminate the upper level of the new museum building
image © karin borghouts

as part of the project, the spaces of the original building are being comprehensively restored with their original colors, materials, and circulation routes. simultaneously, a new museum offers a contrasting spatial experience at the heart of the existing structure.

in the new museum volume there will be a mix of large and small halls
image © toon grobet

‘through a sequence of large and small exhibition halls, hidden rooms, horizontal and vertical sightlines and varying gradations of daylight, the new extension charts a route full of surprising experiences,’ explain the architects. ‘the historical and the new museum function as separate entities, coexisting as two different worlds in one building.’

inside the reading room with the bookshelves being installed
image © toon grobet

however, the institution says that visitors will have to patient before they can return to the museum. ‘before we can reopen, our climate control system has to run for a whole year to test it properly and a mosaic floor still needs to be laid in the entrance zone,’ says the museum. ‘the museum galleries haven’t been handed over officially yet, while the de keyser gallery with our grand staircase has to be refurbished. only then can we start fitting out the interior and installing the works of art.’ see other projects by KAAN on designboom here.

the museum closed for renovation at the end of 2011
image © karin borghouts

project info:

name: royal museum of fine arts
location: antwerp, belgium
architect: KAAN architecten (kees kaan, vincent panhuysen, dikkie scipio)
client: vlaamse overheid (flemish government) / fonds culturele infrastructuur (FoCI) FoCI
main contractor: artes roegiers
initiated: 2003
GFA: 23,500 sqm (phase 1), 29,500 sqm (phase 2)
program: renovation and extension of the 19th century museum, artworks depot, cafeteria, bookstore, offices
design team: maicol cardelli, sebastian van damme, katarzyna ephraim, paolo faleschini, raluca firicel, michael geensen, narine gyulkhasyan, walter hoogerwerf, marco jongmans, giuseppe mazzaglia, laura ospina, maurizio papa, ismael planelles naya, giacomo rizzi, koen van tienen, niels vernooij