ARCHITECTUURGIDS.NL / ARCHITECTUREGUIDE.NL

MUSEUM BELVEDERE

INBO, 2003-2004, Oranje Nassaulaan 12, Oranjewoud

ARCHITECT(URAL OFFICE):
Inbo

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT:
Michael van Gessel

PROJECT ARCHITECT:
Eerde Schippers

BUILDING TYPE:
Museums and exhibition buildings


RELATED BUILDINGS:
Belvédère Oranjewoud

This museum stands in the middle of a new park designed by landscape architect Michael van Gessel in the grounds of Oranjewoud, an 18th-century country estate. Given over to Frisian painting, it lies like a bridge across the central 'Grand Canal'. Almost the entire long narrow volume of 104 by 13 metres is clad in rough basalt stone panels. The part of the building straddling the water has all-glass facades. On plan the museum divides into three parts: a middle section containing the entrance, café and services, a part for the permanent exhibition and a third part on the opposite side for temporary shows. The café above the water has a concave ceiling. A narrow glass plinth in the exhibition areas washes the floor with light, giving just a hint of the light outside in these otherwise hermetic spaces.