Drents Museum addition offers new gardens and natural light

The Drents Museum in the Netherlands is scheduled to re-open this November 16^th with a new wing designed by Erick van Egeraat Architects. The unique new galleries are located below ground and topped with an undulating organic roof that provides new public park space for the people of Assen.
The expansion offers an additional 2,000 square meters of exhibition space, accessed via the pre-existing historic coach house above, which now serves as the museum’s main entrance. Though the original façade has been preserved, the house has been raised on a glass plinth one meter above the ground. This allows natural light to flood the galleries below during the day, while the artificial lighting casts a soft glow from within when night falls.

From the coach house, visitors proceed to a mezzanine and then descend a spiral staircase to the sublevel galleries. Wooden beams support the ceilings, which in turn support the garden pathways above. Skylights cut into the ground allow more natural light to penetrate, minimizing the need for artificial illumination during the daytime.
 Above the galleries, a hilly landscape with a planted garden and paths leading to the nearby city allow the museum to blend into its surroundings. The end result is a balance of buildings, landscape and water which makes this museum so unique.
 

---

GALLERY