Amsterdam, the new Rijksmuseum by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos – Part 2
Client: Programmadirectie Het Nieuwe Rijksmuseum
Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos - Seville / Amsterdam
Furniture design:
Jean-Michel Wilmotte - Paris
Decorative apparatus restoration:
Van Hoogevest Architecten - Amesfoort
https://www.cruzyortiz.com/
The Rijksmuseum new entrance building, photo courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos
The Rijksmuseum of the 21st century by Cruz y Ortiz arquitectos – Part 2
Continued from Part 1
Along with the Atrium and the Asian Pavilion, the project for the Rijksmuseum by Cruz y Ortiz involved the complete renovation of the Philips Wing, originally designed by Cuypers, and the construction of a brand-new service entrance building.
The Philips Wing
The Philips Wing is an ensemble of structures, designed by Pierre Cuypers and his son Jos, shortly after the completion of the Rijksmuseum’s main building. The complex includes the so-called “Fragment Building”, a peculiar late-19th-century construction that incorporated architectural elements, saved from various Dutch historical buildings fated for demolition. During the renovation project development, the Rijksmuseum decided to convert these buildings into a new, state-of-the-art space for temporary exhibitions.
The Philips Wing at the Rijksmuseum, photos courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos
The project by Cruz y Ortiz coped with this historical ensemble similarly as it did with the main building, yet at a smaller scale. Thus, historical and modern elements are juxtaposed and the latter are carefully tuned in materials, colors, and visual weight.
Again a chandelier-like ceiling tops a central atrium, that acts as a functional “pivot” giving order to the different spaces of the building, which includes exhibition galleries on a total floor area of 1.320 square meters, an innovative restaurant where chefs rotate like guest curators, a bar and a public terrace. The renovated Philips Wing opened on November 1, 2014.
The Philips Wing, photos courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos
The new entrance building
Along with the Asian Pavilion, covered in the first part of this article, Cruz y Ortiz also designed a second small building in the Rijksmuseum garden, aimed to provide a service entrance to the museum complex, as well as museum staff spaces, a loading area, and access, via an underground passage, to the Teekenschool education center nearby.
The Rijksmuseum new entrance building, photo courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos
The design of the new entrance building followed the same principles of the Asian pavilion’s one, thus it is a contemporary, stone-clad structure, quietly sitting in the garden and complementing the complex in a delicate, yet absolutely effective, manner.
All images and drawings courtesy of Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos. http://www.cruzyortiz.com/
The project for the new Rijksmuseum has been selected as one of the 40 finalists at the Mies Arch European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, 2105.

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is a museum with a one-million-piece collection of Dutch and international art dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century

Amsterdam
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