Situated at the edge of the glacier ridge, offering sweeping views over the Rhine, Museum Arnhem has reopened after an ambitious renovation and expansion. This renowned museum for 20th-century realistic art, contemporary jewellery, and design now offers a renewed architectural experience that harmonizes with its scenic surroundings. With a clear and elegant architectural concept, the expansion provides space for a growing collection, striking exhibitions, and a vibrant cultural programme. Museum Arnhem constantly seeks connection—with its visitors, the city, and the present. This spirit of connection is reflected throughout the museum’s programming and inviting spaces, making Museum Arnhem not just a place to see art, but to experience it deeply and meaningfully.

In 2015, the municipality of Arnhem commissioned Karres en Brands to carry out an urban-landscape analysis of the development potential for its city museum and contemporary art gallery. The museum is a popular destination, located close to the city centre and perched high on a lateral moraine overlooking the Rhine River. It is a beautiful, historic building in a green setting. Despite its distinctive location, the museum was not visually well connected to the city; the sculpture garden entrance was difficult to find, and the grounds were poorly accessible. As a result, the uniquely situated building and the museum park were underused.

This analysis of the buildings, garden, and context resulted in a series of principles to strengthen the museum and garden’s spatial qualities and programme, and to better connect the museum park with the city centre and Rhine riverbank—ultimately ensuring the museum site is fully integrated into Arnhem’s cultural, recreational, and park frameworks. Karres en Brands, alongside Benthem Crouwel Architects, then continued as part of the design team to implement these principles, planning and overseeing the renovation of the museum park and building, as well as the addition of a new museum wing. This work was completed in 2022, and the museum and sculpture garden were reopened to the public.

The starting point for the museum renovation was to create a seamless connection from the city itself, through the museum spaces to the sculpture park, and vice versa. The result is an interconnected and immersive museum experience, from public to green to interior spaces, via a layered and scenic routing network that offers multiple moments of interaction—with art, the building, nature, and fellow museum visitors.

Critical to this experience—and as a venue for interaction—is the welcoming sculpture garden that surrounds the museum and is freely accessible to the public. Designed as a public outdoor room for the museum and a green forecourt for the city, the sculpture garden provides space for both existing and new artworks, while also serving as a platform for performances and activities. The design is contemporary, yet sensitive to the traditional park structure that once covered the entire lateral moraine. Winding paths continually surprise visitors with unexpected encounters—artworks and framed views of the river landscape.

Integral to the park garden and activation of the museum’s outdoor spaces is a characteristic, wide public staircase that connects the garden to the museum and guides visitors through the building to a terrace framing panoramic views of the river and floodplain. This creates a physical and visual connection between the city and its surrounding landscapes—via the museum park and exhibition spaces. This public interstitial space and its landing podium also serve as a grandstand and venue for public performances and events now held in the museum garden.

At Museum Arnhem, public and private spaces, interior and exterior rooms, civic and exhibition programmes, cultural and everyday interactions all intersect—providing the city with an accessible cultural and green hub, deeply connected to both its urban and landscape contexts.

• Architecture offices involved in the design:
Benthem Crouwel Architects

• Other credits:
Client: Museum Arnhem / Gemeente Arnhem
Copyright images: Karres en Brands / Jannes Linders / Eva Broekema

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