Espacio Fluido. Gestos de Transformación del Rijksmuseum

The Rijksmuseum, operating for more than 125 years, is one of the most visited art museums in the Netherlands. The reading of Cruz and Ortiz's intervention in the Rijksmuseum, analyzes the intentions and interventions that took place and how these respond to the existing building, the traces of the past and the needs’ of the society of the 21st century. Over time, the concept of museum space changes: it goes from being a container of works of art to being a catalyst that creates experiences and spaces for social and urban relations. Five main architectural gestures are recognized in the proposed transformation of the work: two exterior and three interior. The conservation of the framework, the addition of new pavilions, the urban passage, the twin courtyards and the gallery with the sharp contrast between the language of Cuypers and that of Cruz y Ortiz become the central nucleus of the museum and the concept of the design process that relates the new intervention and the old typology of the building. In the Rijksmuseum, the architectural object and its transformation do not simply speak of space, but also of time. The intervention in the historic building reads the past, and designs in the present for the future.