Waalwijk, The Netherlands
Civic Architects’ Schoenenkwartier Shoe Museum project, in Waalwijk, is hosting an innovative knowledge center for shoe design and production in the historic building by architect Alexander Kropholler.
The project has been awarded a 2023 International Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
The Schoenenkwartier Museum is a new and innovative knowledge center for shoe design, shoe production, and shoe fashion in the center of Waalwijk, the Dutch leather and shoe city.
It is housed in a listed building complex from the 1930s, by architect Alexander Kropholler, which has been partly renovated, transformed, and expanded.
The buildings now house a collection of 12,000 objects, several permanent exhibitions, a knowledge center with a research library, workshop space and auditorium, a museum café, and laboratories for design and prototyping.
Both the planning and design of the building and its interior map out a new inspiring future for the industry, the city, and the community, built on the values of the past.
The building is a combination of a museum and an innovation center, interwoven into one living entity.
A research library is located between the exhibition rooms, there are several innovation and design labs for education and artists in residence and various possibilities for conferences and company presentations.
The Shoe Museum has brought regional shoe craftsmanship back to where it started, the city is once again becoming an international destination for experts and innovators, and the cultural history of the local community is shown and enhanced.
The collection is an endless source of inspiration in all this.
In addition to being a museum and innovation center, the Shoe Museum is a welcoming place for the community.
The hospitable public atmosphere is also noticeable when you enter the building through the historic arcades with generous pivoting and sliding doors.
The entrance area is completely open and in the center of the building runs an inner pavement with a cobble pattern, reminiscent of a covered city square.
Project: Schoenenkwartier Shoe Museum
Architects: Civic Architects
Lead Architect: Gert Kwekkeboom
Design Team: Ingrid van der Heijden, Rick ten Doeschate, and Jan Lebbink
Interior Designers: Planemos, Cor Unum Ceramics, Lensvelt
General Contractor: WAM&VanDuren
Client: Municipality of Waalwijk
Photographers: Stijn Bollaert
