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The museum entrance hall, featuring an original 19th-century mosaic. Photo: Sebastian van Damme.

“Extra-large paintings, taller than the already high doors, can travel from the depot through one of the original 19th-century hatches to the upper floors”. Photo: Karin Borghouts.

19th-century museum exhibition halls. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

Extra-large paintings travel from the depot through an original 19th-century hatch to the upper floors. From this position and following a specific route, a track of slender vertical hatches can bring the paintings to the contiguous halls. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

After winning an international competition in 2003 commissioned by the Flemish Government, Dutch architecture office KAAN Architecten has completed the complex, 100 million euro masterplan, renovation and extension of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, also known as KMSKA, bringing contemporary allure to a glorious, overlooked beauty of the 19th-century.

In addition to being one of the last examples of bold neoclassical architecture in the city of Antwerp, the museum houses a rich art collection that embraces seven centuries of art: from Flemish Primitives to expressionists, from paintings to drawings and sculptures. Rising above the remains of the 16th-century citadel and intertwined within the remarkable star-shaped urban fabric, the museum was originally designed in the 19th-century by architects Jacob Winders and Frans van Dyck. It opened to the public in 1890.

KMSKA was conceived as a daylight museum, where visitors would enjoy a promenade surrounded by stunning artworks as well as the external landscape. One of KAAN Architecten’s most intrepid initiatives was to completely conceal the extension of the museum within its existing inner structure — the new addition is not visible from the outside — in order to highlight the heritage value and the resilience of the outstanding 19th-century building, nestled in this fast-changing district. The extension co-exists with the powerful historical structure without diluting its monumental character.

Related: De Bank: KAAN Architecten’s New Office in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

21st-century museum exhibition halls. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

21st-century exhibition hall featuring a monumental staircase leading to the upper exhibition spaces. Above, one of the four large lightwells vertically connecting the space to the 3rd level and the skylights. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

One of the lightwells seen from the first level. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

The lightwell as seen from the dark cabinets. This space will be dedicated to the display of delicate artworks. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

21st-century museum exhibition hall. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

KMSKA is now divided into three realms: a public entrance area (feel), central exhibition spaces (see) and offices (work) at the rear side of the building.

The entrance hall leads to the majestic de Keyserzaal (named after artist Nicaise de Keyser), which serves the pivotal role of introducing the visitors to two different routes and experiences: one, going up the grand staircase, leads to the main floor of the renovated 19th-century museum; the other, continuing straight ahead, leads visitors to the new 21st-century museum.

While visiting the historical museum, guests walk through an enfilade of exhibition rooms tinted in dark pink, green and red; oak doors, tall columns and ceiling ornaments in plasterwork collectively convey a feeling of ancient grandeur. The colour palette chosen during the renovation process directly relates to the museum’s original colours. On the first floor, large windows visually connect the bright yet modest interiors with the surroundings, while on the second floor, the main halls are lit by wide glass canopies and equipped with elegant sofas for those enjoying the art masters. The impressive Rubens and Van Dyck halls will host some of the highlights of the collection and are therefore positioned at the very core of the building.

Related: Changjiang Art Museum in Taiyuan, China by Vector Architects.

21st-century museum, detail of one of the lightwells. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

“The 5,5 x 9 meters pivoting wall on the first floor can rotate to facilitate logistic flows and to allow artworks or large objects to access the wide art-elevator”. Photo: Stijn Bollaert.

Continuing their journey through the museum, visitors approach the new 21st-century exhibition space, a completely autonomous venue, built within the four original patios and wisely unfolding at the heart of the museum’s structure. These spaces consist of bright white exhibition halls, where daylight beams in from 198 triple triangulated north-facing roof elements located on the top hall and flooding through four large light wells, measuring up to 23 metres floor-to-ceiling.

Where the new extension ‘cuts’ the museum’s solid mass, subtle marble inlays have been added, echoing the elegant 19th-century museum’s materiality. A long, impressive linear staircase connects the new exhibition halls on the first floor to those located on the top floor.

KAAN Architecten’s architectural concept for KMSKA takes the form of an enchanting journey where visitors explore the two contrasting museums in dialogue, which unveil themselves little by little. The experience is never predictable yet always in balance: both routes are challenging and designed to serve the art.

| The article Epic Renovation of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp by KAAN Architecten. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/kmska-royal-museum-of-fine-arts-antwerp-kaan-architecten/

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With immense pleasure, giddy excitement, and an enormous sense of pride, I share our Melbourne Design Week 2021 video highlights with you. Simply put – this event was an experience like no other and for a couple of reasons.

It was my first time attending Melbourne Design Week. Historically, I was entirely preoccupied with our trips to Milan and the subsequent epic coverage of Salone and Design Week at this time of year. I could never make it down to Melbourne in late March/ early April to witness the design event that’s steadily been building into something quite remarkable over the last five years.

Then there’s the good ol’ pandemic. Although Australia is killing it by global standards regarding the state of our public health, the pandemic has left lasting effects on us all. Especially for Melbournians who endured a gruelling 112-day lockdown. I honestly don’t think any of us truly realised just how much we missed being able to connect with our peers and the greater design community in person – just being together, having a chat, a laugh, a hug. Oh, the hugs!

Related: “Future Inheritance” Curated by Marsha Golemac at Melbourne Design Week 2021.

If there’s one thing I will remember about MDW21, it’s the enormously powerful collective sense of renewed purpose and meaningful conversations.

Everyone’s smiles were wider, hearts much softer, hugs substantially tighter, eyes a bit tearier. But perhaps that’s just me.

I hope you enjoy this special spotlight on our wonderful Australian design community and some of their thoughts on this event and also what’s ahead. I mean, talk about major VIBES! 💘

Related: After Hours at Volker Haug Studio during Melbourne Design Week 2021.

I want to thank all the designers, curators and artists for welcoming us with so much love and enthusiasm this year, and to NGV for having us do what we do best (even if I say so myself). This trip honestly felt like a homecoming and a much-needed dose of design and inspiration.

This may have been my first ever visit to Melbourne for Design Week, but it’s safe to say it won’t be my last.

By the way, keep an eye out for a separate, more in-depth dive into MDW21 very soon.

Always, Mama Yellowtrace xx

Related: The Nature of an Island by Dale Hardiman & James Lemon at Melbourne Design Week 2021.

 

This Yellowtrace Promotion is proudly supported by NGV. Like everything we do, our partner content is carefully curated and produced to maintain the utmost relevance to our readers. Thank you for supporting the brands that support Yellowtrace. 

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[Video by Tommy Devy.]

| The article The Good, The Inspiring & The Talented: Melbourne Design Week 2021 Video Highlights. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/melbourne-design-week-2021-video-highlights/

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Waves roll into sand dunes on the northern tip of South Stradbroke Island in Queensland, Australia. The island is long and narrow — 13 miles (21 km) by 1.6 miles (2.5 km) — and lies just meters off the mainland in the Coral Sea. It is covered by sand dunes, palm rainforest and wetlands, and is home to hundreds of wild wallabies.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3uLHAWz

-27.750034°, 153.450350°

Source imagery: Nearmap

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/648371617634926592

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Aperitivo hour just got saucier with Maurice Terzini’s latest outpost, CicciaBella Parramatta, designed by Fiona Lynch. Located at the base of the progressive Parramatta Square development, the largest office tower in Australia, this conceptual trattoria is flanked by a public courtyard making it an ideal spot for that after-work spritz.

A lofty brutalist drama unfolds within the space with references to traditional Trattoria’s, plucked from Terzini’s own theatrical memories of growing up in Italy – materials like plush fabrics, natural stone and timber and leather are paired with a sleek, stripped back ethos consistent with Terzini’s various venues seen throughout Sydney. Besser blocks, concrete and steel articulate the cavernous space’s hard angles and dove grey tones while kinetic elements, bursts of colour and supple suede banquet seating with raw, open seams unstitch the severity of the architectural fabric. The result is a contemporary classic, melding theatrical drama with polished urban grit.

Organic glossy jade green wall tiles, an olive velvet curtain and complimentary blonde European oak floorboards balance the crushed cardboard cladding and steely tones of the aluminium sconces.

Tie-dye cotton banners by the artist Benzo hang from the ceiling, repurposed from electronic music promotions for European clubs they add warm merlot splashes to the interior that are reminiscent of football flags draped over fixtures in local Italian bars. An unfurling lighting cord in Aperol spritz orange adds a slick tonal outpouring to liven up the industrial look and feel of the uniform muted forms.

Concrete columns etched with graffiti, also by Benzo, feature the initials of those involved in the creation of the space. Their textural kinks complement the scuffed finish of the galvanised steel walls and dense caramel coir matting used as carpet forming a settled patina akin to a traditional trattoria.

A collaborative effort between The Fiona Lynch office and Terzini from its inception, the genre-bending fit-out is singularly unique to Terzini’s design aesthetic. The space captures the libidinally charged energy synonymous with the prominent hospitality figure while respecting the urbanity of the city of Parramatta.

| The article Maurice Terzini’s CicciaBella Parramatta by Fiona Lynch. appeared first on Yellowtrace. |

https://www.yellowtrace.com.au/fiona-lynch-maurice-terzini-ciccia-bella-parramatta-sydney-restaurants/

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Casablanca is the largest city in Morocco with roughly 3.8 million residents, accounting for 11% of the entire country’s population. Many officials believe these figures are underestimated and the total population is actually somewhere between 5 and 6 million. The Cite Djemaa neighborhood, located in the southeast of the city, is seen here.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3dZfQH1

33.548213°, -7.574324°

Source imagery: Maxar

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/648284847360655360

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The post Maybe Social Media Isn’t Making Teens Depressed, After All. And Here’s What Likely Is. appeared first on Nir and Far.

https://www.nirandfar.com/social-media-and-teens/

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Deforestation of the rainforest is visible in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Deforestation in the country has primarily been driven by the expansion of mechanized agriculture and cattle ranching. This Overview highlights the country’s struggle to expand food production in order to meet the needs of its growing population, and the sacrificial destruction of its forests that has taken place to do so.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3mxEPFv

-17.387750°, -60.562131°

Source imagery: Maxar

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/648019219876872192

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Salina is the second largest of the Aeolian Islands, a volcanic archipelago north of Sicily, Italy. Its 10 square miles (27 square km) of surface area are primarily composed of six volcanoes. Two of its most prominent peaks — Monte dei Porri (bottom) and Monte Fossa delle Felci (top) — are seen here. The island is home to approximately 2,600 people.

See more here: https://bit.ly/3s5RjFo

38.565278°, 14.833333°

Source imagery: Airbus Space
© CNES 2020, Distribution Airbus DS

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/647920486276366336

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The U.S. / Mexico border wall that separates San Diego from Tijuana stretches for 14 miles (22.5 km) and doesn’t end where the land meets the water – it extends several hundred feet into the Pacific Ocean. While the north side of the border is primarily barren hillsides, the city of Tijuana stacks up against the southern border, its Plaza Monumental bullfighting ring a vestige of the Spanish that once ruled both sides of the border.

This Overview is featured in our newest story ‘Border Lines’, which offers a high-level look at the situation along the U.S. / Mexico border. Visit over-view.com/stories/border-lines to read the full piece.

32.533883°, -117.119563°

Source imagery: Maxar

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/647824956504326144

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We just posted our newest story about the U.S. / Mexico Border on our website. Visit over-view.com/stories/border-lines to read the full piece.

A series of border barriers draws a stark line between Yuma, Arizona (top) and San Luis Río Colorado in Sonora, Mexico (bottom). San Luis Río Colorado has exploded into a city of nearly 200,000 people thanks to its booming maquila factories. These factories manufacture large quantities of goods at cut-rate prices for established American companies. In contrast, Yuma is home to just 96,000 residents.

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Source imagery: Maxar

https://dailyoverview.tumblr.com/post/647739452236644352