<Hedge House>

Wiel Arets proposed a formally and typologically unconventional museum in Wijlre, near the Dutch-German border. The building is also located in the garden of a historical castle complex surrounded by a water ditch. Neither the architect nor the heritage conservationists felt the need to conceal the new structure or dramatically adapt it to its surroundings. The museum typology, complete with its own chicken coop and greenhouse, has yet to find other followers among architects. (pš)

The gallery was designed for a private art collection. The building also includes a café, two greenhouses, a tool storage area, and a chicken coop. It is situated within the grounds of a romantic garden belonging to the water castle Wijlre. The elongated exhibition space winds through a hedge, offering the largest possible wall area designated for exhibitions, and creates interesting exterior spaces between the hedge and the building. The route through the exhibition area has become part of the park paths. The museum has an entrance at each end: one from the public area and the other from the private part of the gardens.
The tall fence, along with the layered program, creates an intimate, enclosed exhibition space in the basement. Above it lies a layer of café, greenhouse, and poultry area, which are oriented outward. These variously high upper rooms shape the ceiling of the exhibition space below them. Their position also defines where daylight will flow down. Upper, side, or indirect rays illuminating the collection come from the gaps between the exhibition spaces and the remaining functions of the house. The choice of materials inside the building (with the exception of the gallery) was limited to glass and exposed concrete. The walls of the exhibition rooms are plastered.