MVRDV's publicly accessible art depot tops out in rotterdam

in 2014, MVRDV revealed plans to build the world’s first publicly accessible art depot in rotterdam. now, five years later, the museum building has officially topped out ahead of its scheduled public opening in 2021. the structure will contain 151,000 publicly-accessible artworks, as well as a rooftop café surrounded by 75 birch trees. now at its full height of 39.5 meters (130 feet), the building will eventually boast a mirrored glass façade consisting of 1,664 panels.

image © ossip van duivenbode (also main image)

serving as the new archive building for the museum boijmans van beuningen, a major art institution in the dutch city, construction on the MVRDV-designed building got underway in march 2017. in july 2018 the floor of the first storey was cast and the construction of the other floors began. the process of mounting the cladding panels began in april 2019, and at the end of the month the first 18-meter-long visitor staircase was installed in the atrium, followed by the other staircases.

image © ossip van duivenbode

immediately upon entering the building, visitors will get a sense of the size of the collection and the range of the depot’s activities. guests can either take an express elevator to the rooftop restaurant and terrace, where they can enjoy views of the city, or buy a ticket and wander through the remainder of the building. visitors will get glimpses of the various storage facilities and technical spaces, where they can see artworks being restored, silver being polished, and masterpieces being packed for transportation to exhibitions in the netherlands and abroad. see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

image © MVRDV

project info:

architect: MVRDV
principal in charge: winy maas
partner: fokke moerel
project team: sanne van der burg with arjen ketting, gerard heerink, jason slabbynck and jan knikker
competition team: sanne van der burg and marta pozo gil with gerard heerink, elien deceuninck, saimon gomez idiakez, nacho velasco, jason slabbynck, mariya gyaurova and lukasz brzozowski
visualization: antonio luca coco, matteo artico, and carlo cattó
copyright: MVRDV 2018 – (winy maas, jacob van rijs, nathalie de vries)

contractor: BAM
structure: IMd raadgevend ingenieurs
cost engineering: BBN
installations: RHDHV
façade consultants: ABT
building physics: peutz
sustainability: BREEAM excellent (goal)