Museum De Lakenhal A Portrait

Museum De Lakenhal A Portrait

Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Julian Harrap Architects

nai010 publishers

Museum De Lakenhal A Portrait

Contents

Memento of now

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Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity Meta Knol Masquerades, metamorphoses and puzzle pieces Koen van Synghel

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Museum De Lakenhal: A Portrait Karin Borghouts Documentation

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View of the opened-up Achterplaats, just before restoration works started, showing remnants of 375 years of building history.

Memento of now

Since the reopening on 19 June, people frequently remark that we must be proud. Often in combination with an encouraging slap on the back. But when the museum was returned to the public, we were overcome not so much by a feeling of pride as a sense of relief. The kind of relief that goes hand in hand with confidence.

For six years our thoughts were with the museum buildings. Historical and structural research, design and discussion alternated continuously during the first year. The museum architecture gave the impression of a dizzying and incoherent multiplicity of architectural, historical and museological qualities. An accumulated history that resisted unravelling because it was also cherished.

With respect for that cherishing and the tenacity of a future-oriented gaze, the weak points were identified. And thus renewal became possible. In the three years that followed, we compiled an architectural dossier in which the restoration and extension were based firmly on the distinctive character of the existing buildings.

This dossier represented the promise of a new museum that would become a reality during the two-year construction period. The museum complex was dismantled and stripped of the ballast of pragmatic, ad hoc modifications and useless embellishments from the last one hundred years. Stripped back to its core, the museum looked fragile. Karin Borghouts recorded that moment for the museum, a permanent X-ray portrayal of its current countenance.

The craftsmanship of many hands transformed the museum from fragile to self-standing. It was at that point that the idea for this book originated. A portrait is a simple, two-dimensional representation of reality, at the instant of making. If you are prepared to look carefully, however, it makes you curious to know more – about the background, the life, the soul. Karin photographed the museum for us at full strength. It became an architectural portrait that captured the soul of the building. This book will forever be a memento of now.

Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Julian Harrap Architects 9

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Susanna van Steenwijck-Gaspoel View of the Laecken-Halle in Leiden, 1642 Collection Museum De Lakenhal

Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity 1

1 This statement by Simone Weil is from First and Last Notebooks, Oxford University Press, 1970.

Weil (1909-1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist.

2 In the forecourt there are two stone tablets, on either side of the entrance. The left one states, disguised in a rebus, the year 1639 and the names of the clients. On the right one it is possible to decipher the date of the laying of the foundation stone on 20 June of that year, together with the name of the architect.

On 19 June 2019 King Willem-Alexander opened the regenerated Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. That was exactly one day before the 380th anniversary of the historical Laecken-Halle (Cloth Hall), which was designed in the year 1639 by the then still youthful architect Arent van ’s-Gravesande.2 On the building’s anniversary, at exactly ten o’clock in the morning, the black iron bolt of the monumental entrance gate was drawn back and the museum was reopened to the public. The waiting visitors poured into the 17th-century forecourt and in so doing stepped back in time. An immensely satisfying moment to experience.

The historical Laecken-Halle is an especially fine city mansion in Dutch classical style. It was here that for centuries the high-quality woollen fabric known as ‘Leiden cloth’ was inspected prior to being shipped to customers around the world. Since 1874 the building has housed Leiden’s municipal museum and its outstanding collection of art, crafts and historical artefacts dating from 1300 to the present day. Last extended in 1920, the museum had in recent decades suffered the effects of long-overdue maintenance. The royal reopening capped off seventy-plus years of discussion about the muchneeded restoration of the 17th-century building and the ardently desired addition of a new exhibition wing.

As the museum’s director, I have overseen a comprehensive, contentdriven renewal process involving not just the building, but every aspect of the museum – from the collection and the internal organisation to exhibition policy and visitor strategy. Today in Museum De Lakenhal our aim is to enable as wide a range of people as possible to look at Leiden’s history with new eyes. We do this by moving back and forth along the axis between the present and the past, between classical and bold, between contemporary and historical. We make Leiden’s history tangible, but we also look to the future. Our ambition is to be as facilitatory as possible for our visitors.

This means creating conditions for a highly personal museum experience whereby people discover, do and learn things for themselves. Because that is the best way to ensure that our visitors enjoy a rich and meaningful interaction with our collection while at the same time doing justice to the many perspectives and stories it contains, and thus bringing the art and history of Leiden to life.

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It has been a privilege for me to oversee the restoration and extension of the museum from the perspective of that mission. It all began with the architect selection procedure in 2012. I remember it well. We had endeavoured to formulate the criteria in such a way that even young architectural firms could submit a design, and to ensure that we could select on the basis of quality and a detailed vision. Of the 47 international entries, that from the combination of Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven and London-based Julian Harrap Architects was the clear winner. Three young, unknown Dutch architects had taken the plunge and persuaded one of the most renowned European restoration practices to collaborate with them. It is an initiative that attests to courage and respect for quality. Even at this early stage, this team alone had a crystal-clear understanding of the task and immediately offered solutions for the puzzle concealed within the selection documents.3 We are now able to look back on the process that followed. Together we embarked on a remarkable journey that has seen the museum magnificently restored and extended.

The task was by no means simple. Over the course of decades all sense of logic in the museum complex had been lost. Ad hoc solutions, achieved with a good deal of skilful juggling, had produced a confusing and incoherent whole. As a temporary measure, the ticket counter, museum shop, cloakroom and coffee machine had been housed beneath the glazed roof installed above the 17th-century forecourt in 1992, an unauthorised architectural intervention to which a blind eye had been turned for more than 25 years. For school classes and other groups there was no place in the museum.

With every new exhibition, part of the collection had to be sent to storage, while shipping crates containing art objects were unceremoniously deposited in the public area upon arrival. Employees were scattered over six different locations around the museum and the air-conditioning system had not functioned properly for over twenty years. A great deal needed to be done. In summary, the task was fourfold: the restoration of the 17th-century LaeckenHalle, the creation of space within the building for first-rate visitor facilities, the addition of a new exhibition wing, and the behind-the-scenes provision of necessary logistics, building services and staff workspace.

The process was unique. An intensive, editorial collaboration evolved with the architects – an inspiring give-and-take in which an integrated vision

3 The functional programme did not fit within the available spatial volume. We were curious to see whether entrants would notice this inconsistency and if so, how they would resolve it.

of the building was developed and elaborated, step by step. Each proposal, whether it concerned a major decision or a seemingly insignificant detail, a radical new architectural intervention or an impassioned plea for the retention of existing fabric, was critically weighed, tested and analysed by the architects and the museum team. Over time an exceedingly strong pact was forged. In light of this shared vision, it was only logical to commission the architects to design all the furniture. Even the series of art commissions initiated by the museum was meticulously coordinated. It is an approach that suits the present age: collaborating rather than soloing. Sensitively embracing the existing rather than wanting to overwrite it with a grand gesture.

Creating conditions rather than imposing formats. Being mindful of the sustainability, craftsmanship and sensuality of the materials to be used, with a sensitivity to the human dimension. And also: developing integrated concepts by not isolating specialist processes during work meetings, but actually coordinating them. Achieving all this demands professionalism, perseverance, transparency and trust, because everything must be up for discussion.

Every problem encountered along the way has to be tackled together. That is no easy task, because change provokes resistance. In addition, most participating professionals are disinclined to look beyond their own discipline.

We reached agreement in a series of binding premises that can be summed up in six principles. The first three are architectural, the last three museological. First of all, the building complex was conceived as a showcase of time periods, from the 17th century to the present day. In rendering these time periods visible and legible, past and present were ingeniously interwoven by the architects. It was a process that demanded a good deal of attention and precision. The building was edited as if it were a text: instead of being erased, traces of earlier and later modifications were allowed to become part of an essential architectural-historical patina. That ‘legible history’ adds something special to the museum experience, because in such detailed and layered surroundings every observant visitor automatically becomes a time traveller.

Secondly, the idea of unity in diversity was applied to the four parts of the museum complex, which is made up of the Laecken-Halle (1640), the Hartevelt Gallery (1890), the Pape Wing (1921) and the new Van Steijn

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Plaster model of the museum in its urban context, with the existing museum buildings of different periods coloured in brown shades and the new extension in white.

Masquerades, metamorphoses and puzzle pieces The timeless game of architecture in Museum De Lakenhal

If we want everything to remain as it is, everything must change.

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in The Leopard

It seems as if with every new building the definition of architecture is rewritten. Architecture touches on so many matters that the simple formulation ‘architecture is the art of building’ proves inadequate. The renovation and extension of Museum De Lakenhal concerns a building complex with a long and rich history that was written, crossed out and rewritten in different time periods. Building is rather like writing, if only because they both develop linearly in time. And writing takes many forms, such as prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction… nuances, styles and scripts, which ultimately find expression in architecture.

Architecture may be the art of building, but its primary task is to create space and shelter. If there is one area where architecture differs from writing and stories, it is in its concrete substance and the way in which materials are shaped. Thus, a stone step from 1600, a window frame from 1700, or a brick made from different kinds of clay, are direct and tangible witnesses to a specific bygone age. When a material has withstood time and countless passersby have touched that material, the result is a ‘living substance’ that is able to transport you, in a quasi-physical sense, back to episodes from the past. It is precisely this attention, care, and the sensual pleasure of dealing with all these aspects, that makes architecture.

These somewhat theoretical preliminary reflections on architecture are an attempt to sketch the complex field in which Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven and Julian Harrap Architects operated in transforming Museum De Lakenhal into a new, high-performing museum. Naturally, importance also lay in strategies in the fields of technology and budget management, and the challenge of ensuring that the building complied with current comfort, energy and safety requirements. With the reinvented museum the architects not only honoured history but also cleared the way for an innovative, futureoriented architecture.

Museum De Lakenhal did not become a museum for the arts, crafts and history of the city of Leiden overnight. In light of the various extensions and renovations carried out between 1640 – the year in which the Laecken-Halle was built as an inspection hall for woollen cloth – and the reopening in 2019, the building itself can safely be regarded as an ‘architecture museum’. Every past century left its mark. It is consequently quite unlike the St Martin church

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Museum De Lakenhal A Portrait Karin Borghouts

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Oude Singel Facade Section Forecourt Section Vestibule

LAECKEN - HALLE M. DC. XL.

LAECKEN - HALLE M. DC. XL.

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Section Achterplaats Section Van Steijn Building Lammermarkt Facade

H A R T E V E LT Z A A L

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Colophon

Publication Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven, Rotterdam Julian Harrap Architects, London Authors Meta Knol, Leiden Koen van Synghel, Brussels Translations Robyn De Jong-Dalziel, Melbourne Editing Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Bart van der Zalm Photography Karin Borghouts, Kalmthout Photos on pages 56-57, 116-123

by Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Drawings Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Design Reynoud Homan, Muiderberg Lithography Marc Gijzen, Voorburg Printing Lenoir Schuring, Wormerveer Binding Van Waarden, Zaandam Typeface dtl Haarlemmer Paper Lessebo Design Smooth Š 2019 Meta Knol, Leiden Karin Borghouts, Kalmthout Koen van Synghel, Brussels Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven, Rotterdam Julian Harrap Architects, London nai010 publishers, Rotterdam

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

For works of visual artists affiliated with a cisac-organization the copyrights have been settled with Pictoright in Amsterdam. Š 2019, c/o Pictoright Amsterdam Every effort was made to find the copyright holders for the illustrations used. Interested parties are requested to contact nai010 publishers, Korte Hoogstraat 31, 3011 gk Rotterdam, the Netherlands. nai010 publishers is an internationally orientated publisher specialized in developing, producing and distributing books in the fields of architecture, urbanism, art and design. nai010 books are available internationally at selected bookstores and from the following distribution partners: North, Central and South America: Artbook | d.a.p., New York, usa, dap@dapinc.com Rest of the world: Idea Books, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, idea@ideabooks.nl For general questions, please contact nai010 publishers directly at sales@nai010.com or visit our website www.nai010.com for further information.

Printed and bound in the Netherlands isbn 978 94 6208 541 1 nur 648 bisac arc 011000, arc 006000 www.nai010.com

The benefits of the Archtectenweb Award Architect of the Year have been used to make this publication possible.

In addition, generous support has been received from: Municipality of Leiden Petersen Tegl Dietiker Kawneer Eterno Minerals of the world keim Webbers Bouwmanagement Van Rossum Raadgevende Ingenieurs Koninklijke Woudenberg

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Happel Cornelisse Verhoeven Julian Harrap Architects