The new building, popularly called ‘the Bath Tub’, adds over 9,000m2 to the historic museum building and the extension consisting of a basement with a solid superstructure appears to hovering above ground level. The building is celebrated for its majestic staircase, grand rooms and natural lighting. An information Centre, the library, a museum shop and a restaurant with terrace on Museumplein, occupies the transparent addition, and a large exhibition hall forms the main feature. The building is sensitively reinstated in its former glory as it embarks on a new life facing Museumplein under one roof with the new addition.

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Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum is being renovated and enlarged. Designed by A.W. Weissman, the building is celebrated for its majestic staircase, grand rooms and natural lighting. These strong points have been retained in the design along with the colour white introduced throughout the museum by former director Willem Sandberg. The existing building is left almost entirely intact and in full view by lifting part of the new volume into space and sinking the rest underground. Its entrance has been moved to the open expanse of Museumplein where it occupies a spacious transparent extension. The volume above the entrance with its roof jutting far into space has a seamless sandwich construction of reinforced fibre. With this change in orientation and the jutting roof, the museum comes to lie alongside a roofed plaza that belongs as much to the building as to Museumplein. An information centre, the library, a museum shop and a restaurant with terrace on Museumplein are to occupy the transparent addition. Below the square, the main feature will be a large exhibition hall of some 1100 m2. The exhibition room in the hovering volume is directly connected to the main exhibition hall of the original building. The Weissman building is to be sensitively reinstated in its former glory as it embarks on a new life facing Museumplein under one roof with the new addition.

The smooth white surface of the facade ismade up of 271 panels of a pioneering new

composite material with Twaron® fiber as its keyingredient. The panels are attached to the steel structure by 1,100 aluminum brackets.Twaron, a synthetic fiber, is extremelylightweight (27 kilograms per square meter, orless than half the weight of a normal curtainwall), is five times as strong as steel, maintainsits shape and strength in varying weatherconditions and does not melt in fire. Becausethe composite with carbon fiber andTwaron can be molded, it permits the creationof a smooth, seamless surface of virtuallyany area. Twaron is ordinarily used for the hullsof motorboats and racing yachts, sailcloth,aerospace and industrial componentsand sports equipment such as tennis racketsand hockey sticks. At the Stedelijk, it isbeing used for the first time for a large-scalearchitectural facade.

Arup is responsible for structural engineering advice, lighting design and the optimization of the structure, such as the location of the bearing points and the trusses. Arup advised on the daylight protection and the electric light design.

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The new levitated superstructure contains exhibition space, a restaurant, a shop and the new entrance. Arup is responsible for the structural design and the lighting design.

Designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects, the new building, popularly called ‘the Bath Tub’, adds over 9,000m2 to the historic museum building. This includes programme space as well as 3,400m2 of exhibition space. There is an area located in the basement which is suitable for many forms of contemporary art, being free from daylight.

'The Stedelijk Museum is the first of many museum projects that Arup in the Netherlands is involved in and we are very happy that the doors will open to the public this weekend'.

– Joop Paul, Project Director at Arup

The Stedelijk Museum is now orientated towards the Museum Square, connecting the institute to the illustrious neighbors: the Van Gogh Museum, the Rijksmuseum and the Concert Hall.

‘With this reopening the Stedelijk Museum repositions itself as one of the leading arts institutes. It puts Amsterdam in the spotlight as center of artistic renewal and brings new life to the Museum Square, one of the most important cultural landscapes in the world’.

– Ann Goldstein, Director of the Stedelijk Museum.

The museum maintains a collection of modern contemporary art and design of 90,000 objects dating from the seventies of the nineteenth century to the present.

The historic part of the museum houses the permanent collection, including art from the oeuvre of Karel Appel, Marc Chagall, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol. In addition, the museum offers a permanent design presentation including industrial design, graphic design and applied art. The new building offers temporary exhibitions.

4-Jun-2010

Renovation and extension of one of the largest modern art museums in the Netherlands. Hovering superstructure carried by only six points of support.

The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is being renovated and extended to help it recapture its key position in the art world. The starting point for the restoration was to show the character of the original building, a neo-renaissance design by architect AW Weismann. The building is celebrated for its majestic staircase, grand rooms and natural light.

During the renovation some of the non-original intermediate floors will be removed. New connections will be made between exhibition spaces and the main entrance will be moved .

Arup is responsible for structural engineering advice and lighting design. The optimisation of the structure, such as the location of the bearing points and the trusses, was a collaboration between Arup and Benthem Crouwel.

The aim of the lighting design was to maintain maximum possible natural light in the museum given the constraints of art conservation. Arup advised on the daylight protection and the electric light design, bringing the museum into the 21st Century. Designed by Benthem Crouwel Architects, the museum extension will consist of a basement with a solid superstructure lifted above. This structure will appear to be ‘hovering’ above ground level, allowing the old building to be visible through the glass-encased ground floor. An information centre, library, shop and restaurant with terrace are to occupy the transparent ground floor of the addition – which will also form the new museum entrance.

The new superstructure consists of two levels - a large exhibition space and auditorium on the lower level with offices located above. A large canopy cuts through the new structure at the gutter height of the old building. Large steel trusses in the facade make it possible to carry the ‘bath-tub’ shaped superstructure on only six points of support, five columns and one concrete wall. This solution allows a large open space for exhibitions to be created.

The building has a largest seamless composite façade. Development, production, transport and installation were all done by Holland Composites and they proved that a combination of high tech carbon and aramid fibers can ensure a minimal expansion of the façade elements, These unique properties of the fibers facilitated a smooth and seamless façade construction.

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One of Holland Composites’ most high-profile projects, as developing and manufacturing the façade of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. It is also one of the few projects to receive a nickname from Amsterdam’s citizens, namely 'the bathtub'.

From the outset, it was clear this project would be technically very challenging. A large 2700 sqm white, shiny and seamless surface, that was the idea of Benthem Crouwel Architekten for maximum contrast with the original building of the museum. And construction works were to take place in one of Amsterdams most crowded locations.

This is the largest seamless composite façade construction so far. During an extensive engineering phase, we proved that a combination of high tech carbon and aramid fibres, can ensure a minimal expansion of the façade elements as they have an opposite reaction to temperature changes. These unique properties of the fibers facilitate a smooth and seamless façade construction.

Development, production, transport and installation were all done by Holland Composites.

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