LAYERS 
It  is  needed  to increase  the museum  area, emphasizing its best qualities. The church section shows us three different parts, which are counterpart to the division in frames of the city: canals, public space and roofscape. These three levels will be the source and the solution of the project.

 

- 4.00M
The new underground access that connects the vertical communications core with the old building, houses part of the package of new services that require a  XX century museum: administration, toilets, reception, lockers, etc. This new entrance preserves the secrecy inherent to the church in the attic. 

 

+-0.00M
One of the main decisions in the beginning was to empty the solar. This operation allowed the opening of the internal space of the block to the street, discovering a small brewery remained hidden. Making a small nod to the PLAYGROUNDS of Aldo van Eyck, this action also allows showing the side facade of the museum and shortens the length of the alley.

 

+14.00M
At the upper level we find a fantastic ‘land’, which is as beautiful as complex: the ROOFS’ LANDSCAPE.  It is needed to draw out a detailed topographic survey, to study roofs’ uses and dimensions to proceed to intervene. When the environment permits, glass cubes delve into the landscape filling gaps. The vertical communication cores are hidden between the dividing walls of the alley’s houses. Volumes are distributed into two zones connected with independent access. The museum nearest area houses a new exhibition area, the museum shop and the church exit. On the far side is located the public part of the project, which includes a small auditorium, a cafe and toilets.

 

GLASS + STELL
The structural scheme and the materiality are defined attending to the intervention levels features. The underground world is completely tectonic, with reinforced concrete, seems like a cave, darkness. Volumes  are  hanging through steel cables  from   a  steel structure that cross the roofscape. All the clading and the floor is made by glass, so it allows permeability, lightness. 

 

CONTRAST 
A large underground access introduces visitors to the secrecy. Several glass volumes float over the Red Light District. Nothing in the ground floor apart from the illuminated access. The contrast between the buried underground access and volatile performance on roofs, is the main feature of the travel experience. The result of all this, is an intervention to see and be seen. By day it is camouflaged while the city landscape is shown through the volumes. At night the cubes become lanterns that illuminate the city while the church is still hidden.