Location: Den Haag, Netherlands.

Architect: Hans van Heeswijk Architects.

The Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis, a 17th-century Dutch and Flemish painting collection, has undergone a renovation that includes an underground solution to create new public facilities for visitors. The expansion includes a new entrance, museum shop, restaurant, cloakroom, educational spaces, a library, an exhibition hall for temporary exhibitions, a lecture hall, and offices. The two historic buildings, completely different in age, structure, and prestige, are welded together by a foyer 6m below ground level. The expansion is characterized by an introverted brightness that knits the three styles together. The lobby provides a peaceful transition between classicism and Art Deco. The daylight flooding the underground square is the central theme of the design. The biggest surprise is the generous amount of natural light penetrating the space from all sides. To achieve maximum transparency, a lift that is entirely made of structural glass, both shaft and cabin, without the support of a steel structure was devised. The monumental doorway of the Mauritshuis is only used for special events or to carry huge paintings in or out, because the rest of the former palace is a climate-controlled space. Placing a lift in the central hall of the Mauritshuis itself was not allowed, so the recessed, fully transparent glass lift in the vestibule of the main entrance is an alternative solution. The Mauritshuis renovation won the National Dutch Renovation Award Gulden Feniks 2015. The renovation is a showcase of craftsmanship and a topper as a museum. The detailing is superb, as is the combination of renovation of the old building with daring technical innovation. Architect Hans van Heeswijk dares to make brilliant modern interventions with a good sense of the quality of old buildings.

Photo credit: Luuk Kramer