The main building of the Stedelejk Museum was designed and built by Adrian Willem Weismann in 1895. Typical of the era, the red brick building with white décor is known for its spectacular staircase, spacious rooms and plenty of natural light.
The specialists of the Dutch bureau Benthem Crouwel left the historic building practically intact. All new areas (about 12,000 m2) are located in an annex overlooking the green area of Müseumplein. It is frankly alien: transparent glass walls and a smooth, seamless, completely white top, which even the architects themselves call a "bathroom". Its peak protrudes strongly into the space of the square, turning into a transition zone between the urban landscape and the museum.
In order not to close the old facade of Stedeleikmuseum, which is completely familiar to the residents, large spaces had to be placed underground. In the above-ground part of the extension there is only the main entrance, a museum shop, a restaurant with a terrace. Underground there is a library, an information and educational center and a large exhibition hall with an area of about 1,100 m2. Moreover, there is no need for visitors to return to the entrance area once again: special escalators placed in a closed yellow “pipe” connect these rooms with the rest of the exhibition spaces, so that the “thread” of the artistic narration will not be broken.
If the external appearance of the building deliberately emphasizes the "invasion" of modernity, creating a spectacular new image for the museum, then in the interiors, on the contrary, the transition from historical halls to modern ones is made as invisible as possible. So nothing will prevent the visitor from focusing.
L. M.
