“In the late 1990s architecten van Mourik designed the new housing for the ‘Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten’ (KABK, Royal Academy of Fine Arts) in The Hague city centre.
Two national listed buildings were renovated, extended and merged to form one single location. In 2010, architecten van Mourik were commissioned to design a new plan for extension.
The design of the rooftop construction on top of one of the national monuments was the first step. The rooftop construction is an entirely transparent volume, which is made up of steel and glass.
The storey-high windows offer a view of the ministries, The Hague historical centre and the art academy’s courtyard.
The use of smart installation-engineering and moveable walls renders the interior flexible in terms of usage for various functions (education, exhibitions of students’ work, office spaces).
Furthermore, the construction is designed to be light and reversible, which means the rooftop construction could be dismantled in future without it affecting the national monument.” Description of Van Mourik.
Location: Den Haag, Holland
Architect: Van Mourik
Project Team: Piet Grouls, Klaas van der Molen, Martijn van den Ban, Romke de Haan, Pascal Tetteroo, Max van Steen
Floor Area: 1.000 m2
Client: Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK)
Year: 2010 – 2012