MVRDV have designed a new archive building called Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen for a Museum in Rotterdam. It was opened in a ceremony created by the founding-partner-in-charge of the project Winy Maas, and the Stichting Collectiegebouw consortium which is made up of the museum, the municipality of Rotterdam and Stichting De Verre Bergen.
It will host the museum’s archive of 151,000 artworks and will be fully accessible to the public, unlike other art storage archives. Visitors will be able to see the behind the scenes work at the museum as well as visiting the rooftop café which is surrounded by 75 birch trees planted on the project’s roof. The project will reflect and celebrate the city skyline with a façade consisting of 1,664 panels of curved, mirrored glass at the height of 39.5 metres.
This project is a major milestone in the construction of the world’s first fully accessible art storage facility, as well as the installation of its dramatic atrium staircases and the first panels in its trademark curved mirror façade. This project is set for completion in 2020 and will open to the public in 2021 once the museum’s art collection has been relocated.