Mirror, mirror is the wall

03/09/2021 | Print view

The mirrored facade reflects the environs of the building and makes the surrounding buildings look larger than they are. - © Jansen AG / Ossip Duivenbode — © Jansen AG / Ossip Duivenbode

The mirrored facade reflects the environs of the building and makes the surrounding buildings look larger than they are.

The Boijmans von Beuningen show depot holds a mirror to its surroundings: Find out why the Jansen VISS SG facade in RC4 class was chosen for the installation of the curved mirror panels.

The Schaudepot Boijmans von Beuningen is a building that holds up a mirror to its surroundings - giving it a mostly restrained appearance. For the installation of the double, partly triple curved mirror panels, MVRDV architects opted for the system solution Jansen VISS SG Fassade with the requirement of burglar resistance in class RC4. The seamlessly integrated automatic sliding doors in the entrance areas are also special solutions based on a steel profile system from Jansen Stahlsysteme.

What does the architect say about the Jansen facade with its 1664 mirrors?

"We had in mind a building that would enrich this neighbourhood without pushing itself to the fore," explains Winy Maas of MVRDV Architekten. "That's how the round shape came about, without a clearly defined front or back. This resulted in the upward-growing perimeter of the building, which gets wider, from 40 metres in diameter on the ground floor to 60 metres on the top floor. In addition, the idea came up to mirror the facade so that it reflected the neighbouring buildings, the park or simply the sky."

The total of 1664 mirrors, distributed over 26 circumferential rows of 64 mirrors each, were manufactured in China and installed on site in a VISS SG facade with the requirement of class RC4 burglar resistance. The fastening of the double, partly triple curved panels by means of specially calculated anchors required extensive engineering both on the part of the system provider Jansen and their Dutch sales partner ODS, and on the part of the facade builder Intal Producties Zuid, Horst.

What was the challenge for the automatic sliding doors from the Jansen Stahlsysteme system?

One of the biggest challenges for the Jansen systems was in the entrance areas, where automatically opening sliding doors had to be seamlessly integrated into the facade construction. Sorba Projects bv, Winterswijk, developed these sliding doors, some of which are 3.80 metres high, in collaboration with Intal. Because these doors are also mirrored, the visitor's reflection splits as soon as he or she approaches the door. The challenge was to integrate these sliding doors seamlessly into the facade, which was achieved using the Jansen Stahlsysteme system as a custom construction.

What part does the VISS facade play on the roof?

The VISS facades of the roof structure, which houses a restaurant among other things, comply with burglar resistance RC2. From RC4 to RC3 to RC2: The advantage of the system solution with the Jansen VISS steel profile system is that differentiated solutions can be realised in a uniform look, and further requirements - in this case fire protection in different ratings - can also be integrated invisibly.

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A visually striking effect results from the fact that the curved mirrors on the facade distort the mirror image, making the Rotterdam skyline appear higher than it is. Thus, the facade has already become a popular place for taking selfies long before the opening of the depot (which is planned for September 2021).

The 1664 mirrors, by the way, are a kind of "memorial wall": they each bear the name of their donors: 35 private investors together provided 92 million euros so that the dream of a publicly accessible art depot could become reality. The result is a building that is also a work of art in itself.

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