Location: Kerkrade, Netherlands.

Architect: Shift architecture urbanism.

Museumplein Limburg, designed by Shift architecture urbanism, has been completed in Kerkrade, the Netherlands. The complex includes two new public facilities, Cube and Columbus, which have been added to the existing Discovery Centre Continium. The design creates a trinity of complimentary museums: Continium, Cube and Columbus, combining technology, science and design in one museum district. The complex is defined by clearly recognizable volumes, all connected by an elaborate underground public space. The underground space hosts a central entrance hall, a restaurant, an enclosed patio and two tunnels connecting to Cube and Columbus. Cube is a design museum consisting of design expos and exploratory labs, while Columbus houses a unique Earth Theatre shaped as an inverse planetarium and a 3D cinema conceived in partnership with National Geographic. The communal functions in Museumplein Limburg are located in the 80-meter-long rectangular volume, a beam hovering above the sunken entrance zone. The new sunken museum square forms the heart of Museumplein Limburg. It extends seamlessly underneath the floating beam that hovers above the double height entrance hall. The public walkways crossing through Museumplein Limburg firmly embed the museum district into the public space of Kerkrade. The combination of public space and public transport with the museum district fits perfectly with the ambition of a “museum without boundaries”: even passers-by become participants.

Photo credit: René de Wit.