Chabotmuseum Rotterdam
The white villa on the corner of the villa quarter opposite the Bojmans Van Beuningen museum used to have peeling plaster, leaking windows, and water seeping into its tile-work. The glass bricks in the ceiling of the long canopy over the rounded balcony had been plastered over and were leaking. In 2005 we were awarded the contract to renovate the façade and remedy these problems.
The villa was designed by architect G.W. Baas and was built between 1938 and 1939. Like the Sonneveld House at Jongkindstraat 12, it was originally one of the residences of the Kraaijeveld family, and part of the former Dijkzicht Park. It was converted into an office around 1970, when a transparent steel-framed roof-pavilion was added by Groosman Partners. The building received its current use as a museum in 1993, and was given listed status seven years later.
A monolithic concrete structure, the villa originally had two floors between the basement and the roof terrace. The living and working areas were situated on the ground floor, while the second floor accommodated the bedrooms and guest rooms. The villa’s location in a spacious garden, and also its white plaster façade with steel-framed windows, rounded balcony and canopy are all characteristic of the architectural style, so-called New Objectivity.
When renovating the façade and resolving the problems of humidity, leaking and cracking, we wished to respect the various phases of the building’s history. Our client had chosen to rebuild the characteristic canopy over the balcony, to restore the original plain detailing, and to incorporate thermally insulated glass into the original steel-framed windows. This enabled us to retain the composition of lines, planes and volumes, restoring it where necessary. To meet the museum’s need for UV filtering and burglar-proofing, we used a modern glass whose effect was as close as possible to that of the original single glazing.
Project information
client
Stichting Hendrik Chabot / familie Grootveld
location
Museumpark 11, Rotterdam
completion
2006-2007 ©Molenaar & Van Winden architecten
completed at
Huurman, Delft
photography by
Jannes Linders, Massimilliano Mura