Three floors of historic automobiles and automobilia:The Louwman Museum open to the public
The Hague, July 2, 2010 – From Saturday 3 July, one of the world’s largest and most famous collections of historic automobiles will be on public display in the new Louwman Museum in The Hague. The museum building, which was designed by American architect Michael Graves, not only houses over 230 historic cars, but is also home to the world’s largest collection of automotive art.
The museum contains the private collection of Dutch car importer Evert Louwman, which experts have described as unique. The museum aims to provide the clearest and most fascinating illustration possible of the development of the automobile since 1886, when the very first car was built. Pioneering automobiles from the late nineteenth century sit alongside racing cars, sports cars and luxury limousines.
The collection contains a broad spectrum of automobiles
In the Louwman Museum almost all the vehicles, most of which are rare examples, are preserved in their original, often unrestored state. A prime example is the second-oldest automobile in the world – a De Dion Bouton & Trépardoux from 1887 – complete with original signs of wear. The contrasts between the magnificent luxury cars of the 1920s and 30s and some of the first attempts at affordable family cars are stark, as are the differences between the American, Japanese and national European cultures and the cars to which they gave rise.
The collection also contains a broad spectrum of other vehicles, including bubble cars, steam cars, electric cars and historic racing cars driven by such legends as Tazio Nuvolari. Other noteworthy vehicles include the eccentric Swan Car from 1910, a hybrid Woods from 1917, the Jaguar D-type 1957 Le Mans winner and James Bond's original Aston Martin DB5.
Dutch motoring heritage is, of course, exceptionally well-represented. The Louwman Museum boasts the world’s largest collection of Spykers, as well as the last surviving Eysink from Amersfoort and a DAF 600 prototype from 1957. The collection includes other cars with a Dutch background story, such as the Ferrari that belonged to HRH Prince Bernhard and the orange racing Porsche owned by Esquire Carel Godin de Beaufort.
The museum contains more than just cars. The collection of automotive art, which includes paintings, sculptures and posters, forms an additional and unique attraction. This collection of automotive art, the largest in the world, has never before been on public display and is being exhibited in a specially-designed room.
Piet Louwman, the father of the present owner, began building the collection in 1934. The first automobile was a 1914 Dodge, which still has pride of place in the collection. In 1968, the museum opened in Leidschendam and was known as the Nationaal Automobiel Museum (Dutch National Motor Museum), but moved to Raamsdonksveer in 1981. The Hague was chosen as the site of the new museum as the city constitutes a prestige location that befits this unique and world-famous collection.
The striking museum building has three floors and over 10,000 m2 of exhibition space. It was designed by the American architects Michael Graves and his associate Gary Lapera. Landscape architect Lodewijk Baljon designed the layout of the park that surrounds the building.
- Landscape
Celebrated landscape architect Baljon designs Louwman Museum park
The Hague, July 2, 2010 – Landscape architect Lodewijk Baljon, who has won many international accolades, designed the park that surrounds the new Louwman Museum. Housed in a monumental building with its own surrounding parkland, the new Louwman Museum has the look and feel of a grand estate.
The new Louwman Museum in The Hague, which opens to the public on Saturday 3 July, occupies an enviable location in a line of beautiful estates that fringe the A44, near Wassenaar. Both the architecture and surrounding park had to reflect this stately location. The firm of LODEWIJK BALJON, landscape architects from Amsterdam, was commissioned with this task.
One of their architects, Robert van der Horst, produced a contemporary design for the park which incorporates elements of our cultural history. The landscape that has been created ensures that the new museum building sits harmoniously alongside the adjacent Marlot and Reigersbergen estates. The lines and proportions of the gardens and building reinforce the architectural design of the whole, says Van der Horst.
Majestic trees and extensive hedges have been planted, forming a frame for the Louwman Museum that will mature with the passage of time. The banks and flower-strewn lawns that form part of the design provide a nature-friendly habitat that will enable the flora and fauna seen in the parkland surrounding Marlot and Reigersbergen to thrive in the grounds of the museum as well.
LODEWIJK BALJON landscape architects is based in Amsterdam, where a team of 10 designers work on a wide variety of design and research projects for private and public-sector clients. The role of cultural history in shaping the future is a strong theme in the projects they undertake.
Baljon has received many awards, including the Nederlandse Tuinenprijs (Dutch Gardens Award), the Dutch Design Award, theOmgevingsarchitectuurprijs (Environmental Architecture Prize), two ASLA Awards (American Society of Landscape Architects), the Nederlandse Bouwprijs integraal ontwerpen (Dutch Construction Award in the “integral design” category) and the German Design Prize.
- Building
Architect Graves: “I am both proud and grateful”
The Hague, July 2, 2010 – We are very proud to have collaborated with the design of the Louwman Museum. For an architect, designing a museum is one of the most rewarding assignments, because museums contribute to our cultural history and help shape the collective perception of the public.
In designing the Louwman Museum, we drew much of our inspiration from the historical and physical context and strove to give the new museum an identity of its own within its surroundings.
The location, in a magnificent park adjacent to the Royal Palace, a residential district and a historic indoor tennis court, is enclosed by a canal and a carefully thought-out landscape architecture, screening it from the surrounding buildings.
The museum building incorporates a large space for displaying Evert Louwman's outstanding collection of historic automobiles, yet remains in harmony with the smaller-scale, historically-sensitive architectural context. The Great Hall, with its huge, arched timber roof, forms an east-west backbone through the building, which distinguishes the lofty exhibition rooms from the smaller, public rooms by the main entrance, such as the museum shop and the access to the theatre. With the steep, peaked roofs that are typical of Dutch architecture, the exterior of this section of the museum is reminiscent of a coach house. This makes the building as a whole appear smaller, so that it blends sympathetically with buildings in the surrounding area.
The design incorporates modern details alongside distinctive Dutch elements. The bricks in the facades have been laid in a special woven pattern, forming a stark contrast to the other, more understated surfaces. It is complemented by quarry stone details and a slate-tiled roof. As well as serving as a special exhibition space, an octagonal pavilion at the rear of the building has been positioned in line with an existing avenue of trees, connecting the building with the landscape.
Michael Graves
Michael Graves & Associates, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
