After more than a year of moving in, minister of Education, Culture and Science Ingrid van Engelshoven has opened the new CollectionCentre Netherlands (CC NL) in Amsersfoort. The non-permanently exhibited art and heritage pieces of the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands Open Air Museum, Paleis Het Loo and the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands are brought together in the CC NL. cepezed and cepezed interior designed the building, in close collaboration with ABT for the constructions, Valstar Simonis for the installations and Peutz for building physics and sustainability.
500,000 objects
The CC NL stores approximately half a million objects. These range from paintings to sculptures, jewellery, clothing, clocks, furniture and other objects of crafts and use. They come from all over Dutch history and from all walks of life. Examples are royal thrones and furniture from noble families, but also merry-go-round horses, historic bicycles, sleighs and a steam engine weighing more than 7,000 kilos. Together, the collections form “the physical memory of the Netherlands”. In total, it took 869 truck journeys to move the collections of the four institutions to CC NL, a process that Rijksmuseum location director Wim Hoeben has experienced as "a party that lasts for a year".
unique repository
The Collection Center Netherlands is a unique repository in many respects. Both organizationally and in terms of contents, the four institutions work together in a way that has not been seen before. For example, the objects are not stored and classified per institution, but more according to, for example, nature, type and date. This way, the collections show striking connections. The CC NL also offers unique facilities for the Netherlands that benefit the entire cultural sector. For example, for the first time in the Netherlands, there are special quarantine rooms in which museum pieces can be rid of harmful insects and fungi by means of freezing cold or oxygen extraction. In addition, the building includes a photo studio and an X-ray room. It also contains two large restoration studios that can also be used by other cultural institutions. With a super functional design and lots of light, air and spaciousness, it is also a very pleasant place to work. Restorer Maranthe Lamers says: “To be able to work here is a really nice experience. It is very light here, it is spacious, it is large and that is great.”
optimal sustainability
The CollectionCentre Netherlands is also very sustainable: with five stars, it has been certified BREEAM Outstanding. With a score of 91.62%, it is in the 15th place of most sustainable buildings in the Netherlands. The climate control of the depot area is special. The roof and the facades together form a highly insulating shell, while the ground floor remains uninsulated and is in direct contact with the underlying ground, which acts as a temperature buffer. This means that only an absolute minimum of installation is required for air conditioning with a constant temperature between 12 and 15 degrees. This is not only energy efficient, but also contributes significantly to the safety of the collections. After all, fewer installations also mean that fewer installations can fail. More than 3,600 m2 of solar panels have been installed on the roof. The building is energy neutral and almost zero-energy with regard to use related energy. The site layout designed by Ruijzenaars Landscapes is also completely focused on sustainability. Among other things, it contributes well to the development of the local flora and fauna; for example, rabbits and foxes have already been spotted around the building on a number of occasions. A wadi, a natural water basin that collects rainwater and also functions as an infiltration facility for the surrounding vegetation, is part of both the ecological landscape design and the security measures.
collection centre netherlands officially opened!
