This museum building is to house the collections of two existing museums, the G.M. Kam archaeological museum and the Commanderie van Sint-Jan. The new-build is attached to the Valkhof Park, which will remain open to the public. Its architecture has been kept subdued out of respect for the monumental remains of the ancient Valkhof castle. Both park and castle have then been enhanced by partially digging away the ground outside the castle walls. From inside the museum the castle acts as a point of orientation with around it the galleries containing the permanent collection. The museum sits on a public thoroughfare that leads visitors along the old castle wall. The mainstay of the project is the so-called cleft, the space between the museum and the castle. We regard this cleft as the 'memory' - the past articulated by way of the present. Our aim is to bring the old and new to a synthesis, a single architectural entity. The museum 'embraces' the remains of the Valkhof castle so that the now dilapidated fragments can live on in the mind.

Place of education: Groningen
Specialization: architectuur/architecture
Tutors: Henri Ciriani, Hugo de Clerq & Jurgen van der Ploeg