Grand Museumpark
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Location | Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Year | 2014
Client | The New Institute (Het Nieuwe Instituut)
Collaboration | Observatorium, Yasser Ballemans, Maurice Meewisse, Daan Draait
Status | Temporary installation Museum Night + Initiative
Grand Museumpark (Groot Museumpark) stands for the extension of the existing Museumpark by radically greening the streets of Museumpark and Jongkindstraat, so that the park extends to the Westersingel, Mathenesserlaan and Rochussenstraat. This will bring the Museum Park closer to the center of Rotterdam and increase accessibility.
Grand Museumpark offers visitors a view of how the park could be extended and how the cultural institutes could be set IN rather than NEXT TO the park. The Museumpark could become a central place of interaction and a greener and friendlier destination. During Museum Night we offered a seductive foretaste of an enlarged Museumpark with two temporary gardens: one filled with swaying reeds as a new entrance to the park from Westersingel, and the other a circle of stone around a big fire as a place of encounter in the park. The positive reactions from visitors inspired us to explore how to continue the project.
From 1900 the park is getting smaller, so it’s time for the grand museumpark
Grand Museumpark, a green core within the city
Grand Museumpark offers visitors a place to learn new stories. During Museum Night birdcalls filled the air around the spire of Arminius, fitted with nesting boxes for swifts. From the entrance garden visitors climbed the tower to view the city from the perspective of the bird that even sleeps in the air. As they enjoyed warm milk around a big fire on the central asphalted area, they listened to an audio play full of stories about the surrounding institutes. This was once the Melkkoppad, a path to a farm where the Rotterdam people gathered to buy milk and cream and meet one another. Now it’s a place where the people of the city can learn about one another and where the worlds of art, education, health and science awaken temporarily.
The Entrance Garden Photograph: Ossip van Duivenbode
The meeting place Photograph: Fred Ernst
Museum night Photograph: Fred Ernst
Museum Night Photograph: Fred Ernst
The day after Photograph: De Urbanisten
Grand Museumpark offers visitors a place to learn new stories. During Museum Night birdcalls filled the air around the spire of Arminius, fitted with nesting boxes for swifts. From the entrance garden visitors climbed the tower to view the city from the perspective of the bird that even sleeps in the air. As they enjoyed warm milk around a big fire on the central asphalted area, they listened to an audio play full of stories about the surrounding institutes. This was once the Melkkoppad, a path to a farm where the Rotterdam people gathered to buy milk and cream and meet one another. Now it’s a place where the people of the city can learn about one another and where the worlds of art, education, health and science awaken temporarily.
Museumpark street, existing situation
Here could be the future entrance
The museumpark at distance
Here could be the future meeting place
