The architectural firm Robbrecht en Daem is going to court now that the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam plans to demolish their extension wing dating from 2003.
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The Boijmans Van Beuningen museum has been closed since 2019 and is preparing a thorough renovation. The plans do not run smoothly. The costs are rising sharply and the design of bureau Mecanoo recently had to be adjusted because it took too little account of the protected cityscape in Rotterdam.
NRC has now announced that Robbrecht and Daem want to challenge the renovation in court. The Ghent office added an extension with large glass sections to the museum in 2003, a renovation that cost 17 million euros. The wing must disappear in the new plans in order to free up the original architecture. Paul Robbrecht disputes that.
On NRC he said that the entrance adds an extra layer and that ‘the history of the museum building is one of layering’. The plan for the demolition has been circulating for two years, but was confirmed this week in a letter from the Rotterdam alderman for Building. Robbrecht regrets that the museum never gave a satisfactory explanation or considered an alternative.
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