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MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is finally open in Rotterdam

2021-11-08T12:13:00-05:00

The wait has ended for the revamped Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. The world’s first publicly accessible art storage depot officially opened to the public over the weekend after a five-year-long construction period led by MVRDV.

Visitors will now be able to interact with over 151,000 pieces of art housed by the 167,000-square-foot facility, which also features a Birch-lined rooftop garden and viewable conservation areas giving them behind-the-scenes views of the museum’s staff working across five distinct climate-controlled zones.

Image © Ossip van Duivenbode/MVRDV

The unique, 1,664-mirrored-panel bowl design made waves online and has been among the most highly-anticipated museum projects in recent memory since being announced in 2013. The project was initiated by the museum after repeated flooding of its previous storage facility prompted officials to reimagine how they might be able to use an upgrade to expand the relatively small amount of its collection that was vie...

The world's first publicly accessibly art depot designed by MVRDV opening in 99 days

2021-07-30T16:30:00-04:00

Today marks 99 days until the MVRDV-designed Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opens its doors in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Upon opening on November 6th, the building will be the world’s first publicly accessible art depot, making its entire art collection of 151,000 works available to see.

The depot breaks from tradition as museums worldwide usually only display six to ten percent of their collections at any given time with the rest being in storage. Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen makes all of its works accessible and makes visible the processes behind preservation and restoration, which are normally closed off to the public.

The museum’s collection was formerly housed in the basement of the adjacent Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen but was increasingly emptied in 2015 due to unsafe, overcrowded, and dated conditions. The art was distributed and stored in five external depots in the Netherlands and abroad. Under the same roof again, the works are now saf...

MVRDV completes mirror-clad art depot in Rotterdam

2020-09-28T12:15:00-04:00

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the MVRDV-design publicly accessible art depot, has a completed construction. Located in Rotterdam's Museumpark, the depot offers a unique experience for museum goers in the form of a "sturdy" engine room where the complete collection 151,000 objects is made accessible to the public. Additionally, the depot includes a restaurant and rooftop forest.

"With this construction completion, now the museum and the users can start to inhabit the building and fill its spaces with priceless art," said Winy Maas, founding partner of MVRDV in a statement. "Although it will take another year before the real opening, the completion is a special moment for all: the museum, the city of Rotterdam, Stichting De Verre Bergen and of course for the contractor BAM, the many construction workers and subcontractors who persisted during the difficult circumstances we all faced due to the pandemic. The depot design is daring, and its success comes f...