MVRDV's reflective bowl-shaped public art depot has topped out in Museumpark Rotterdam, as the full form of the building is nearing completion. Started construction in 2017, the building will reach 40-meter-high when built. 

First construction images have been revealed by Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, official website of the project, and it documents the construction process in its website. 

The Public Art Depot is a new building typology located on the northern edge of Rotterdam's Museumpark, the heart of the city’s cultural campus. 

MVRDV's new Public Art Depot, covering a 15,000 square-metre area, will store the esteemed collection of 70,000 art and design objects amassed from 1849 till the present combined with restoration facilities, exhibition spaces, offices, logistics, a bar, restaurant, public roof terrace, and private collectors facilities.

As the building takes shape every day, Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot makes detailed documentation for the construction to show what kind of a technique is used in the first phase of the project.

The building will be wrapped by 1,664 mirrors and the first mirror panels have been implemented on the facade. The progress is clearly visible for passers-by from the event area at the Museum Park.

Image © MVRDV 

"The Boijmans Van Beuningen Depot is a constructive masterpiece, absolute craftsmanship. Nowhere else in the world can you find a similar construction," said Hans Polderman, Project Director BAM Construction and Technology.

During the realization of the Depot, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen will also publish 6 journals in which you can find everything about the Depot. You can read the journals by clicking here. 

MVRDV won a competition to design a Public Art Depot in 2014. A mirrored-bowl-shaped art store has been designed as a new addition to the existing museum and will become a new cultural landmark for Rotterdam, alongside world-class institutions that are already in the area including Kunsthal, Het Nieuwe Instituut, Chabot Museum and Sonneveld House. 

The 90% of the building will be open to public including artworks in storage. It is also intended that collection display changes bi-annual based on themes.

Led by Winy Maas, principal architect and co-founder of MVRDV, Maas said: "It is fantastic that the public art depot will be realised. In this way the entire population can share something that is normally hidden behind closed doors."

Image © Rob Glastra, courtesy of Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is the first depot in the world that offers access to a complete collection without the intervention of a curator. The Public Art Depot is scheduled to be completed this year and expected to be opened to the public in the first half quarter of 2021.

All images courtesy of Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen unless otherwise stated.

> via Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen