If you are a car enthusiast, you must definitely make it a point to visit the Louwman Museum in The Hague. The museum that recently opened to the public boasts of the world’s largest automotive art collection. Home to the private collector Evert Louwman’s (now you know where the museum gets its name) extensive range of over 230 historic cars, it is like a shrine for automobile enthusiasts. American architect Michael Graves designs the museum strove to give the structure identity of its own. The museum’s design incorporates Dutch elements alongside modern elements. The bricks in the facades have been laid in a special woven pattern while the roof is slate-tiled. The Great Hall forms an east-west backbone through the building, distinguishing the lofty exhibition rooms from the smaller, public rooms by the main entrance. An octagonal pavilion at the rear of the structure that functions as an exhibition area connects the structure beautifully with its surrounding landscape.
Landscape architect Lodewijk Baljon can be credited for designing the lush park that surrounds this automobile museum. Looking more like a majestic estate than a museum, this monumental structure is as much a showstopper as its occupants.
[World architecture news]
