In the heart of Rotterdam’s Museumpark, this shimmering, mirrored landmark invites you to step behind the scenes of the art world. Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the world's first publicly accessible art depot, houses over 150,000 artworks in open storage, allowing visitors to explore the museum’s vast collection and witness the care, restoration, and curation that usually happen out of sight.

The form of the 39,5-metre-high Depot is ovoid, a building, ‘in the round’. Its bowl-like shape means that the ground-level footprint is small – maintaining views into and routes through the Museumpark – while the roof is as expansive as possible. The crisscrossing staircases that lead visitors to exhibition rooms and curators’ studios also lead up to the rooftop, and the atrium is filled with 13 glass display vitrines that show a "lightly curated", constantly evolving selection of the depot's many treasures. One of the building’s most striking features is the reflective façade, which is comprised of 6,609 square metres of glass subdivided into 1,664 mirrored panels. The mirroring panels ensure the integration of the design with its surroundings, by reflecting and thus honouring the activity and the nature of the Museumpark.

https://www.mvrdv.com/projects/10/depot-boijmans-van-beuningen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PstvR0J0qo

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/08/depot-boijmans-van-beuningen-rotterdam-mvrdv/

Details

Building or project owner : Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, De Verre Bergen Foundation, Municipality of Rotterdam

Architecture : MVRDV

Project artist/ concept/ design/ planning : MVRDV

Structural engineering : IMd Raadgevend Ingenieurs, Rotterdam

Facade design : ABT, Delft

Facade construction : Sorba, Winterswijk

Display content/ visuals/ showreel : Pipilotti Rist (exterior light show)

Descriptions

Facade type and geometry (structure) : Sorba used a precise 3D BIM model to manage the complex geometry, guiding the positioning of anchor rods and aluminum adapter frames, and enabling early coordination with main contractor BAM. Glass panels were gravity-bent, laminated safety glass with the reflective coating applied to the interlayer. Transparent double-curved insulated glass units are used for windows. Panels are mounted on hook plates within aluminum frames, secured with full-perimeter structural glazing and mechanical clamps, forming a ventilated cavity insulated with laser-cut mineral wool. Counterweight lifting beams were used to install the curved panels accurately. The workflow — from 3D modeling and panel fabrication to mounting — ensured precise alignment, structural safety, and a seamless mirrored surface.

Kind of light creation : Depot's unique reflective façade and bowl-shaped design make the building invisible during the day, creating flowing stories on the architecture with dynamic urban sceneries of people and nature. At night, Pipilotti Rist uses light projections to turn the building into a fairy tale wonderland – the lights and shadows “atomise” the building and its surroundings, creating a bright, hypnotic, pulsating layer overlaid upon the solid building, in which people can “float” and sense the evolution of the space.

Participatory architecture & urban interaction

Mediacredits

Ossip van Duivenbode

Ossip van Duivenbode

Ossip van Duivenbode

Ossip van Duivenbode

Ossip van Duivenbode

Aad Hoogendoorn

Ossip van Duivenbode