The Elephant in Opmeer (that nobody wants to talk about)

It’s incredible how the ‘global recession’ has impacted on Architecture throughout Europe and the UK. One aspect I find interesting, and perversely magnificent, is the existence of half built projects that have halted as a result of funding being pulled from under their feet.

During my placement year as a Part 1 Architect I spent some time in The Netherlands working for a company called Dok Architecten. Shortly after I arrived at Dok I was informed that our team, Dok 1, would be attending a ceremony that takes place at the beginning of most important construction projects in The Netherlands. This celebration was called the ‘Eerste Paal’ or ‘First Pole’, the foundation element required in most Dutch projects, known to us as the simple Pile. It certainly was a prestigious event, with bands playing and balloons flying. This project would be the ill fated Scheringa Museum.

Over my time at Dok I had the opportunity to work on the Scheringa Museum, be it through interior model making to constriction detailing. The design Architect for this project was Herman Zeinstra, one the great Dutch Architects who, for some reason, does not hold the fame of some of his peers outside The Netherlands. It was a beautifully detailed project, as was the nature of Hermans Architecture, with a mix of classical extravagance and modern minimalism. The client for this grand project was the Dutch tycoon, sports enthusiast and art collector, Dirk Scheringa.

Dirk Scheringa, as well as owning the already existing Scheringa museum, also owned a Dutch soccer team, AZ (Alkmaar Zaanstreek), and his own bank DSB. It was reported that Scheringa had used the art collection already existing in the museum to get a mortgage to build the new 32milion Euro museum in Opmeer.

When the financial crisis continued at full wrath, it became clear that Scheringa was unable to payback the loans given by another larger Dutch bank, ABN Amro. In October of 2009 ABN Amro sent the heavies round to confiscate the art from the existing museum. As a refusal to lay back, the staff of the museum decided to keep the museum open with what remained of the collection, offering customers, who now entered free of charge, to pick up felt pens as they entered the museum, and encouraged them to write messages on the walls where the art once resided.

So what does all this mean for the mighty new museum, standing large in a field in the town of Opmeer? For now, who knows? The disaster was brought to my attention when contacting a friend, Steve Reid of Joustra Reid Architects, back in November last year. In an email Steve said, “Now there’s a half finished beast standing in the middle of nowhere… not sure what they’re going to put in it.”

Putting aside my feelings towards capitalist excess, for Herman's sake I hope this project gets finished. If this trend continues for years to come, archaeologists may be uncovering skeletal structures in 2000 years from now, wondering why the screed of this magnificent building had never been laid.

Roy Fitzpatrick - 6th Year MArch Student

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