KAAN Architecten have been working on the renovation and extension of Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts since 2003, when they won the competition launched by the Flemish government. The building is a typical example of large scale 19th century museum. It is an extraordinarily complex structure, better understood from an urban than from an architectural perspective. Its qualities, including the gravity of its neoclassic language and the giant scale of its interiors, need to be updated in order to comply with contemporary criteria in terms of modes of display, flows management and logistics.
The extension is grafted inside the existing museum, entirely filling its patios, and it leaves its overall silhouette basically unchanged. This is a forthright stance taken by KAAN Architecten, who are not interested in shaping a new icon for the city, but rather in stressing the importance of the institution as a permanent presence. This is particularly relevant in a neighborhood, right south of the historic center, that over the last few years has changed dramatically on the urban and social plan.
“The 21st and the 19th century museum (…) embody an emblematic contrast in dimensions, light and atmosphere”: these are the words employed by Dikkie Scipio, one of KAAN Architecten’s founders, to describe the juxtaposition of rooms enfilade and open space, decorations and abstractions, saturated colors and ethereal whiteness that differentiate the two architectural seasons of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts.
Despite several specificities, this strategy is comparable in its general guidelines to other important contemporary projects of the same typology, such as David Chipperfield Architects’ Royal Academy of Arts, completed in 2018 in London. In the case of Antwerp, one device proves to be of great theatrical effect, that is the four light wells cutting through the different levels. When they cross the obscurity of the mezzanine, hosting the most delicate artworks, they turn into shiny, geometrical and enigmatic lanterns.
- Project:
- Royal Museum of Fine Arts
- Program:
- museum
- Location:
- Antwerp
- Architects:
- KAAN Architecten (Kees Kaan, Vincent Panhuysen, Dikkie Scipio)
- Senior project leader:
- Walter Hoogerwerf
- Design team:
- Valentina Bencic, Maicol Cardelli, Alice Colombo, Aksel Çoruh, Davis de Cos Roman, Sebastian van Damme, Paolo Faleschini, Raluca Firicel, Eva French i Gilabert, Michael Geensen, Narine Gyulkhasyan, Marco Jongmans, Martina Margini, Giuseppe Mazzaglia, Laura Ospina, Maurizio Papa, Ismael Planelles Naya, Giacomo Rizzi, Ralph van Schipper, Kim Sneyders, Koen van Tienen, Niels Vernooij, Martin Zwinggi
- Client:
- Departement Cultuur, Jeugd en Media (Vlaamse Overheid)
- Area:
- 30,000 sqm
- Completion:
- ongoing