Located in Rotterdam’s Museum Park, this warehouse offers a fresh experience for museum visitors. It houses a vast collection of 151,000 artworks, all accessible to the public. The spacious facility accommodates the museum’s remarkable art and design collections, several exhibition halls, a restaurant, and an award-winning rooftop garden. Following the building’s completion, interior work will continue alongside the relocation of the entire museum collection to this new storage space.
The Depot, a public art warehouse, rises 39.5 meters high and features a distinctive bowl shape while occupying a relatively small footprint. Its tapering downward design ensures clear sightlines and smooth pedestrian flow through the Museum Park at ground level, minimizing its effect on the groundwater buffer zone. The expansive rooftop includes a restaurant open to visitors, offering stunning views of Rotterdam’s city skyline.
The building’s reflective façade spans 6,609 square meters, composed of 1,664 mirrored glass panels. This surface mirrors its diverse surroundings—the passing pedestrians, the tree-lined museum park, drifting clouds, and Rotterdam’s vibrant skyline. Though the Depot’s footprint is modest, its total floor area reaches 15,000 square meters. The reflective design allows the structure to seamlessly blend into its environment, enlivening the area while fostering a close connection with neighboring buildings.
The Depot organizes and displays its art collections based on climate requirements rather than traditional categorizations by genre or era. Each storage area is climate-controlled and divided into five distinct climate zones. Artworks are further grouped according to material types such as metal, plastic, organic/inorganic substances, photography, and more.
The interior design highlights include staggered staircases within the atrium and suspended glass display cases showcasing curated exhibits. Visitors will gain insight into the behind-the-scenes care and preservation efforts of the renowned Boymans van Beuningen Museum’s collection. From the ground floor lobby to the rooftop restaurant, artworks are exhibited throughout the building. Outside the rooftop restaurant, a 35-meter-high forested park with 75 tall, lush birch trees forms a striking landscape feature. Guests can take an express elevator directly from the ground floor to the rooftop to enjoy breathtaking views of Rotterdam.
Project Information
Project Type: Museum
Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands
Architect: MVRDV
Year Completed: 2020
Photographers: Ossip van Duivenpole, Rob Galastra
Lead Architect: Winy Maas
Partner: Fokke Moerel
Design Team: Sanne van der Burgh, Arjen Ketting, Gerard Heerink, Jason Slabbynck, Rico van de Gevel, Marjolein Marijnissen, Remco de Haan
Competition Team: Sanne van der Burgh, Marta Pozo, Gerard Heerink, Elien Deceuninck, Saimon Gomez Idiakez, Jose Ignacio Velasco Martin, Jason Slabbynck, Mariya Gyaurova, Lukasz Brzozowski
Strategy & Development: Jan Knikker, Irene Start
Visual Design: Antonio Luca Coco, Matteo Article, Carlo Cattó
Contractor: BAM
Structural Consultant: IMd Raadgevend Ingenieurs
Cost Consultant: BBN
Technical Consultant: RHDHV
Facade Consultant: ABT
Architectural Physics: Peutz
Sustainability Goal: BREEAM Excellent
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