News
Architects of interventions route Museumpark announced!
Impressie van Pergola in Rozentuin - Studio Inscape
In less than a month’s time, the largest architecture festival in the Netherlands will burst into life again: Rotterdam Architecture Month. This year, the festival heart is descending on Museumpark, where visitors can follow a special route past various architectural interventions by a new generation of Rotterdam-based designers.
A zig-zag route through time
The interventions tell stories about the past, present and future of the park and allow visitors to experience the area in a different way. In this way, RA Month lets visitors rediscover Museumpark. The walking route connects cultural institutions, special places and inspiring stories, taking visitors past architecture, nature and visual arts. The concept and development of this route with interventions was devised by OMI – Office for Metropolitan Information and AIR – Architecture Institute Rotterdam.
Temporary interventions by a new generation of designers
One of the eye-catchers is the ‘Time Tower’ by architect Alexandra Sonnemans in the garden of Huis Sonneveld. This vantage point and exhibition space in one takes visitors on a journey through the rich history of the area: from the Land of Hoboken, an open polder plain, through football pitches and Floriade 1960 to today’s Museumpark. The route continues straight through Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and its exhibition Longing for Boijmans, where various artists’ interventions bring the empty building to life. Through the museum’s side entrance, visitors enter the Henket Pavilion, which focuses on the history of the museum building. On display are models of the classic Van der Steur design, as well as the equally important additions by Bodon, Henket, and Robbrecht and Daem. What the future plans will look like is not known (yet), but one thing is certain: the museum building is constantly evolving.
Bridge connects Museum Garden and Rose Garden
From the Henket Pavilion, visitors will simply walk across a bridge designed by DaF-architecten that creates a temporary connection between the Museum Garden and the Rose Garden. The bridge’s design fits seamlessly into a rich tradition of bridges in Museumpark, while at the same time bringing a piece of wilderness into the middle of the city. For the Rose Garden itself, Studio Inscape have designed a summer house, which simultaneously serves as the RA Month visitor centre. Visitors can walk right through this intervention and discover everything there about the soil, plants and animals in the park and also about the regenerative urban-garden theme. In the passageway between Erasmus MC and Museumpark, Atelier Tomas Dirrix and Chantal Schoenmakers have designed a modular exhibition about the green future of the city. Featuring work by some 20 different designers, the exhibition explores this RA Month’s theme with four sections: The City’s Garden.
Practical information
When: RA Month takes place for the whole month of June 2024. Longing for Boijmans runs for an extra week.
Where: the festival heart is at Museumpark, but the entire programme consists of some 140 events spread over more than 50 locations.
Admission: RA Month is free to visit unless stated otherwise.
- Buy a Museumpark route map at the RA Month Kiosk for €2.50, and get a free treasure hunt with it.
- Rotterdampas holders can pick up this route map and treasure hunt free.
- To visit Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, book a ticket via www.boijmans.nl
Rotterdam Architecture Month is organized by AIR. This year’s festival heart is being realized in collaboration with Office for Metropolitan Information (OMI), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the Municipality of Rotterdam and the Nieuwe Instituut.
Longing for Boijmans is currently waiting for a final go-ahead from the Rotterdam-Rijnmond Safety Region. This means that any changes to the route and programme can still take place.
