Hans Melchers, new owner of the Dutch paintings from the DS Art collection, commissioned Amsterdam based Hans van Heeswijk Architects to design the new museum for realistic art. The museum is located in the heart of Gorssel in the east of the Netherlands. Construction will start in the spring of 2013 and the museum is expected to open in the spring of 2015.
Location
The museum will be housed in the former town hall of Gorssel. The residents have responded enthusiastically to the plans of architect Hans van Heeswijk. The Melchers family and the municipality of Lochem (to which Gorssel nowadays belongs) are very pleased with this response. Mayor Frans Spekreijse: "Hans Melchers dreamed of a museum in the east of the Netherlands. I am very pleased that this will become reality in Gorssel. I have high expectations of the museum and the opportunities it will bring."
New building
The existing monumental town hall (dating from 1914) will be retained and become part of the museum. Inside this building, the museum brasserie and auditorium are planned, while the new galleries will be realized behind the former town hall. The new wing with galleries will be built in natural materials, such as stone and glass.
Pavilion
The museum will be a pavilion-‐like building of two floors with strategic vistas to the park-‐like environment in which it is located. Besides exhibiting the permanent collection, the building will also house temporary exhibitions. On the ground floor a spacious entrance hall with a museum shop, four galleries and a museum brasserie are planned. On the first floor there will be three museum galleries, offices and a small auditorium.
Museum concept
Hans Melchers purchased over 1,000 pieces of Dutch art from the approximately 1,240 works of the former DS Art collection. In the museum work will be exhibited from both magical realist artists and their contemporaries (Pyke Koch, Charley Toorop and Wim Schuhmacher) and post war and contemporary figurative art. The museum will include a museum shop, a museum brasserie, a children’s workshop for cultural education and a room for small concerts. For temporary exhibitions the museum will cooperate with other Dutch museums. Marisa Melchers Ph.D., daughter of Mr. Hans Melchers graduated cum laude in art history and archaeology at the University of Leiden in 1990, will be the director of the new museum.
Hans van Heeswijk
The design is clearly recognizable as the architecture of Hans van Heeswijk, which is characterized by a clear and surprising spaciousness and a high level of finish. Van Heeswijk is also the architect of museum Hermitage Amsterdam and the Graphic Design Museum (now Museum of the Image) in Breda. His design for The Mauritshuis in The Hague is currently under construction with a new grand entrance hall under the forecourt and additional museum spaces and facilities in the adjacent building at the Plein square. Last September, the new town hall of Lansingerland in Bergschenhoek near Rotterdam was finished.
Gorssel
The former municipality Gorssel is part of the municipality of Lochem since 2005. The centre of the village has over 3,800 inhabitants. It is easily accessible by public transport and the A1 motorway and forms a rural buffer between the old Hanseatic cities Deventer and Zutphen, along the IJssel river. The landscape is one of the main characteristics of the area and the village. It has a lively centre with stylish shops and elegant restaurants.
