Marzee

Nijmegen
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Gallery Marzee and the apartment building de Schil form a double project in the Waalkade in Nijmegen. Project de Schil consists of a restaurant on the ground floor plus apartments over three storeys. A three-sided orientation is produced by the formal ending of the lancet shaped building in the Waalkade. The jewellery and applied art gallery is housed in an old, early 20th century grain store. diedereendirrix used a radical revival of the original building structure as the basis for their renovation. The old beams were given new floors and glass plates were used to replace the wooden parts which had originally filled the facade openings. The rough, no nonsense result is in stark contrast to the fine and delicate jewellery. The house which had previously existed next door was replaced by an abstract interpretation of its original outline. The result is a city showcase made of glass for exhibitions and installations and a fittingly extravert introduction to the gallery. The glass extension of the gallery has allowed a hybrid, architectural composition to be realised. The deliberate revision of the building’s mass and the subtle deformation of the flat facade on the square individualises both the apartments and the restaurant and results in a harmonious coherent “world within a world”.