Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen reveals the name of its restaurant

Rotterdam, 30 September 2021: We are pleased to announce the names of the restaurant and events space on the uppermost floor of Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. Alderman Said Kasmi, whose portfolio includes Hospitality and Culture, unveiled the Renilde restaurant and Coert events space under the attentive eye of the culinary press. Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is set to open its doors to the public on 6 November, thus adding 500 square metres of hospitality space to Rotterdam’s already varied menu. The names are a tribute to the history of the Rotterdam museum: as a Boijmans curator in the 1960s and ’70s, Renilde Hammacher was the instigator of the museum’s world-famous collection of modern art, someone who could boast Dalí among her friends; Coert Ebbinge Wubben, the museum’s director at the time, was responsible for acquiring the collection of D.G. van Beuningen and secured two long-term bequests. Executive chef Jim de Jong is taking charge of Renilde, where guests can enjoy coffee, lunch, drinks and canapés or dinner. The Amsterdam-based architecture firm Concrete designed the interiors for Renilde and Coert. The outcome is a combination of two flexible spaces: Coert is available for receptions and events; Renilde with tables that can ingeniously be folded up and integrated into the architecture.

Restaurant Renilde

Renilde Hammacher-van den Brande was a curator at Museum Boijmans from 1962 to 1978. She established the basis of one of the most important museum collections of modern art in the Netherlands. Renilde acquired work by Dalí, Magritte, Man Ray and other 20th-century masters, including our treasured Rothko. She also curated major exhibitions, such as the legendary Dalí presentation in 1970, which was opened by the Master of Surrealism himself. Renilde Hammacher died in 2014, at the grand old age of 101.

Coert events space

Coert Ebbinge Wubben began working at Boijmans in 1941, was appointed as interim director in May 1945 and served as director from 1950 to 1978. Under his leadership the museum acquired the collection of D.G. van Beuningen, with masterpieces by Van Eyck, Bruegel, Titian and others, in 1958, the year in which Van Beuningen was duly appended to the museum’s name. In tandem with Renilde Hammacher, Wubben devoted plenty of space to modern art and took the initiative to expand the museum with the Bodon Wing. He secured two major bequests, which are still active as important funds for acquisitions: Stichting Lucas van Leyden and Stichting Fonds Van Rede. Coert Ebbinge Wubben died in 2014, aged 99.

Concrete Amsterdam

The Amsterdam-based architecture firm Concrete devised the interiors for both spaces on the sixth floor. It was important to design Renilde and Coert so that they would possess an autonomous but complementary allure, wholly flexible yet sufficiently distinctive to retain their own identity within the building’s distinctive architecture.

This has been translated into an innovative table arrangement: Separate tables usually have to be shifted aside to create space, but in Renilde there are ten long, permanent tables, wholly of wood, with the special characteristic that they can be folded away. When flipped up, the table leaves turn into vertical wall partitions that conjoin perfectly with the floor and ceiling, which are also made of wood. This results in an empty, flexible hall with a succession of five encasements, framing the view to the rooftop garden and the city of Rotterdam like a work of art. For Coert, Concrete has introduced large wooden folding doors, which function as moveable partitions. When the doors are open they integrate with the wooden floor and lighting rails in the mirrored ceiling.

Restaurant Renilde and Coert events space

· Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen is the world’s first art depot that is fully accessible to the public and is set to open to visitors on 6 November. Ticket sales have already commenced: Click here for tickets and information.

· Renilde and Coert are situated on the depot’s uppermost floor, at a height of 34 metres. Surrounding the restaurant and events space is a tree-shaded rooftop terrace with a breathtaking vista across the city.

· Renilde can seat 120 people, while Coert can accommodate events for up to 170 people.

· During the day Renilde is open to depot visitors with a ticket and can be reached by lift or via the impressive glass atrium. The depot’s visitors can enjoy a simple lunch with a focus on seasonal products.

· From 17:00 the entire sixth floor is accessible to the general public via an express lift. Guests can enjoy a dinner created by executive chef Jim de Jong in the dynamic interior designed by Concrete. Reservations can be made from the middle of October.

· For its afternoon as well as evening menus the restaurant works with products from local suppliers. We are offering a special depot beer produced by Brouwerij Noordt and chef Jim de Jong works with produce from the Landzicht organic farm and Lindenhoff farm.

· Coert provides a space of more than 200 square metres for hosting events, but thanks to the surroundings it retains a certain intimacy, ideal for welcoming guests and introducing them to the depot. Installations for sound, a daylight beamer and audio amplification are available.

· If you are interested in hosting an event at Coert, please contact Annemieke Okkema or Judith van de Vliert via evenementen@boijmans.nl.

Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen

The depot’s bowl-like design by architecture bureau MVRDV means that the building has a small ground-level footprint but as large a rooftop surface as possible. The mirrored edifice consists of 6,609 squares metres of glazing, subdivided into 1,664 panels that ensure the building is absorbed into its surroundings. The rooftop garden is populated by 75 towering, specially cultivated multi-stemmed birch trees and 25 pine trees. From a bird’s-eye perspective, the greenery of the depot’s rooftop garden converges with the green surroundings of the Museumpark.

The Asahi Shimbun

The realisation of the Coert events space was made possible thanks to the generous support of The Asahi Shimbun of Japan.

The Asahi Shimbun was established in 1879 and ranks amongst the most important media conglomerates in Japan. The publishing concern is the driving force behind major cultural events and works in conjunction with the leading museums in Japan. The concern has made a generous financial contribution to the depot and is therefore one of the building’s founders.