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VAN ABBEMUSEUM (EXTENSION)

A. CAHEN, 1991-2002, Bilderdijklaan 10, Eindhoven

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Abel Cahen

ORIGINAL DESIGN:
Alexander Kropholler

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:
H+N+S

BUILDING TYPE:
Museums and exhibition buildings


RELATED BUILDINGS:
Van Abbe Museum

Kropholler’s traditionalist museum building of 1935 has been restored and enlarged so that it now has three times as much exhibition space plus a library, auditorium, education centre and restaurant. The new exhibition areas occupy an expressive block in five levels, two of which are below ground, topped with a tall tower whose facades tilt every which way. The river Dommel laps around three sides of the extension. Daylight penetration features as heavily in the rooms of the new portion as in the original museum. A network of stairs and landings in the tower - a ‘museum within a museum’ - is to provoke artists into making site-specific installations.