Cube

Cube, one of the three attractions of Museumplein Limburg, is a design museum. The museum is aimed at an international audience interested in the process of designing. Simultaneously it functions as a permanent laboratory where students and designers co-create together with the public.

Cube is draped in a reflective curtain of coated steel that emphasizes the vertical character of the museum. The curtain effect is obtained by the random placement of vertical profiles of three varying folds that each reflect the light differently. The facade is cut open by two identical windows: one vertical that reveals the stacked exhibition floors, and one horizontal that provides the multifunctional space on the top floor with a panoramic view over the Limburg landscape.

The museum is housed in a perfect cube measuring 21x21x21 meters. A glass plinth creates the illusion of a volume floating above the red underground landscape. Together with the patio, this plinth allows for natural light and views into the space underneath where the design labs are situated. True to their programmatic role as interface of the museum with the outside world of regional education centers, business and manufacturers, the design labs form the showcase of Cube towards the public space of the city.

Cube is organized as a vertical exhibition machine with identical floors, creating space for an ever changing set of exhibitions. Each floor is divided between a „servant“ core (containing utilities, technical spaces and circulation) and a „served“ open space. This exhibition space is dark, generic and its prefab concrete structure is left unfinished. This gives curators and exhibition designers maximum freedom and flexibility to appropriate it according to any given theme.

The only specifically shaped element in Cube’s interior is the main staircase that links all gallery spaces of this vertical museum. It is made of identical straight flights which are variously rotated, creating the effect of a cascade falling down a 25 meters high void. Its generous dimensions allow it to function besides as circulation space as an extension of the exhibition spaces.

The top floor offers a multifunctional event space that can be partitioned in many different ways by means of a curved curtain system.