Mecanoo architecten

Maritime & Jutters Museum . Oudeschild

Mecanoo architecten

The village of Oudeschild on the island of Texel attracts many tourists. One of the crowd attractors is the Maritime and Jutter Museum with about 70,000 visitors annually. A new entrance building will further increase the capacity to accommodate the visitors to the large scale model of the 'Reede of Texel, the discoveries from underwater archaeology and a space where the public is taken back to Oudeschild in the time of the Dutch East India Trading Company.

Characteristic
The expansion is contextual in form and scale to the existing building and has a roof typical of the island architecture. The new entrance of the museum is located on the Heemskerck Street. To limit the above grade building to two layers the construction of an underground basement was chosen, where the underwater archaeology, cinema/conference facility and a number of areas are located. A main route through the museum links Heemskerck Street to the museum area. The museum cafe is located next to the entrance on the ground floor and offers views of the activities that take place in the museum. The Treasure room which displays the model is located in the basement. On the 1st floor is an open exhibition space below the ceiling of connected pointed roofs. The sloping roof surface can be used as exhibition space. High skylights invite natural light inside. Good lighting and dimming increase the ways the exhibition space can be used.

wood and glass
The wooden facade cladding in front of the glass façades strengthen the identity of the museum: the wood refers to the wooden houses and barns on the island and the relationship between land and water. A game of transparency, colour, shadow, views and topography is the result.