The Rijksmuseum Restoration & Renovation , Amsterdam, Holland

Architect	Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz
Date Built	2013
Location	Museumplien
Description
The Rijksmuseum has occupied the original buildings on this site since 1885. It will come as no surprise that its architect was the same person who designed Amsterdam Central Station, Pierre Cuypers. In December of 2003 the Main Building of the museum closed for renovation and restoration, a process that was to take 10 years and cost €375 million. This page will look at some aspects of that work. The Grand Hall Cruz y Ortiz explain that, “... A passage from North to South divides the building in two parts, forcing it to have two entrances, two staircases and provoking an interruption in floor plan between the east and west flanks on both the ground floor as well as the basement level. .... .... This logistic incommodity is one of the main design challenges in the renovation project of Cruz y Ortiz. .... The proposal of Cruz y Ortiz tries to correct these problems by making the access to the building coincide with the public passage. Two open staircases will lead the visitor to a great central hall connected under the street level by means of which the basement level has found an essential connection and continuity between east and west. This delicate intervention provides the museum a new public square underneath its own roof containing all new public functions like grand café, information desks, ticket booths, a shop and access to the new underground auditorium and meeting rooms.” ************** The Asian Pavillion The Asian Pavilion occupies a part of the garden defined on one side by the Phillips Wing and on two others by the main building. It has an irregular floor plan partly to make full use of the available space and to relate to the adjacent facades. The building has two floors, one above ground and the other below. It is clad with the same stone used in the Great Hall and the Entrance Building *************** The Entrance Building Located within the museum garden and linked to the adjacent Teekenschool, the Entrance Building, "... incorporates all logistical entries of the complex: museum staff, loading area facilities and even access to the neighbouring building, the Teekenschool.