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TECU® CLASSIC
TEXT AND INFORMATION: NATIONAL HERITAGE MUSEUM
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Signal in the landscape
Is it a dinosaur egg or a boulder, millions of years old? Or perhaps it is a futuristic, strange creature, put here by a man in the moon? In front of the new entrance to the National Heritage Museum in Arnhem, the Netherlands, lies a mysterious object of monumental size, partly sunk into the ground. You can't get in. In order to enter, you have to pass through a gateway in the straight, 143 metre long wall. But you want to have a good look at that wall first, feel it and experience the love of craftsmanship it radiates. The wall celebrates the Dutch river landscape. The sluggishly flowing rivers deposit clay and this clay has determined the appearance of the Netherlands: brick, brick and brick once more, in many colours, sizes and textures.
And do not forget the enourmous richness of brick patterns and ways of pointing a wall, such as handmade bricks which are placed standing up in a wall of horizontal bricks with a convex joint; blue-glazed bricks in a fantasy pattern with an abliquely sunk joint; blended stones in a half-brick pattern with cuts in the joints; bricks of clustered clay in a haphazard pattern. You meet Dudok, Berlage and Mecanoo, but also anonymous architects throughout the centuries. The brick wall, product of our river landscape, cuts through the Waterberg and makes the softly undulating wood landscape, north of Arnhem, perceptible.
Meadow
Behind the wall, the National Heritage Museum unfolds. A large meadow is encircled by beautiful trees; far off stands a Delft flourmill built in 1700; close by is a small Gelderland farm, dating back to 1771, with a splendid blueish-white front façade; and behind the lane of oak trees, the 17th and 18th century Zaan district is dimly visible. This long lane of oak trees follows the shape of the meadow, cuts through the pavilion and determines the place of the gateway in the wall. The paved path continues literally through the building. On the inside of the pavilion, the walls have been finished with pure loam. This symbolises the durable techniques, often applied in old Dutch traditional farms.
Pavilion
The pavilion is a beautiful, peaceful elongated hall, 50 metres wide and 60 metres long; it follows the differences in level of the area. Two wooden boxes organise the space. One float above the visitor's head and contains the museum shop administration departement; the other one is planted on the ground und hides the service spaces and the kitchen, which are necessary for the functioning of the restaurant and auditorium. The hall is a large, manipulatable space, which can handle high quantities of people (on busy days). It can also provide intimacy at more quiet times and function as lecture hall as well. The museum shop display an the counters are set up on frameworks on wheels. Ultimately, everthing can be folded into a compact box. The visitor can sit down at the large, red reading table with books and computers to pore over the mueseum's collection.
Technical Data:
Architects
Mecanoo architecten b.v.
Prof. ir. F.M.J Houben
Installer
Loodgietersbedrijf C.J. Ockeloen VOF, Amsterdam
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Contact:
KME Germany AG
Klosterstrasse 29
D-49074 Osnabrück
GERMANY
Phone + 49 (0) 5 41 / 3 21-43 23
Fax + 49 (0) 5 41 / 3 21-40 30
info-tecu@kme.com
www.tecu.com
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