Fiber façade wraps a Dutch master museum

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, the Netherlands, a municipal modern art museum, closed in 2008 to launch a major makeover—including a futuristic building extension built from hybrid para-aramid and carbon fibers. Teijin Twaron, a member of the Teijin Group located in Amsterdam, sponsored the new extension. “Donating a structure made of Teijin’s leading-edge materials to the Stedelijk Museum is a wonderful marriage of Dutch culture and Teijin technology,” says Teijin Ltd. President and CEO Toru Nagashima.

The design involves an eight-layer construction of strong Twaron para-aramid and carbon fiber from Toho Tenax, a Teijin Group subsidiary in Germany. The total extension surface is approximately 3,000m², a total of 24,000m² of composite material. Amsterdam architects Benthem Crouwel chose the technology because of its strength, stability in fluctuating temperatures and ability to form one seamless surface. The museum will re-open next year.