GEM + Museum
of Photography, The Hague
The exterior of this former exhibition
building, added to the Gemeentemuseum in 1962 by Sjoerd Schamhart and J.F.
Heijligers, was left largely unaltered during the renovation. The key
interventions were to make its new contents directly accessible from the avenue
(Stadthouderslaan), enlarge it slightly at the new entrance, and place the
restaurant at the front of the pool with a clear view of the Gemeentemuseum.
Inside, the building's existing spatial structure has been retained. All
exhibition spaces save for the ground-floor galleries are freely subdivisible
and technically equipped to display media art. A key museological component of
the new museum is its easy-to-follow routeing.
The restaurant has been fitted out as an
art project in close collaboration with the museum directors. Benthem Crouwel
designed the layout and fixed elements, Richard Hutton the movable elements and
R. van Meygaard and B. Afrassiabi the lighting.
Client
City of The Hague
Architect
Benthem
Crouwel Architekten
Gross
floor area
3500
m²
Start
design
2000
Completion
2003
