Shoe Museum

The Shoe Museum is a new and innovative knowledge centre for shoe design, shoe production and shoe fashion in the centre 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 centre with research library, workshop space and auditorium, 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.

Revitalising the city centre

The Shoe Museum is located in the heart of the historic city centre, on the Raadhuisplein. In the last century, the town hall and the city hall were housed here, but now this is less active. The realisation of the museum at this location will give an impulse to the inner city, also due to the design choices. The general functions of the museum, such as the work café with the open work labs and in the old kiosk, are directly visible from the square and are also open to the public, even for people not visiting the exhibitions. The entrance area is open and centrally, through the building, an inviting interior street with a herringbone pattern of large bricks connects the various features.

A museum for everyone

The building has been designed in such a way that everyone can determine their own way and pace. The spectacular new round openings of about five metres, cut out of the stripped-down old façade of the office wing from the 1980s, give you a glimpse of the exhibitions. Cleverly placed staircases and routes make it possible to take shortcuts and only go past the highlights or walk the entire route. The tone in the complex is set by familiar materials such as brick, steel, concrete and wood. They reinforce the atmosphere of the collection and of the historic building, thus forming one collective artwork. At the same time, this ensures that even people who don’t visit museums on a weekly basis feel familiar and welcome here.

Life story of the monument

The “Raadhuis ensemble” is one of Alexander Kropholler's most important works, built in phases in the 1930s and expanded in the 1980s. The buildings were adapted, renovated and extended with the new garden with a clear end façade to the square, in accordance with the logic of the ensemble. The large-format bricks and the diagonally staggered, roughly jointed brickwork build on the existing shapes and details. At the same time, we applied subtly subversive design details to nuance Alexander Kropholler's overly restrictive and rigid architectural views, such as the fully-rounded brick openings and the staggered construction rhythm. As such, the addition is not a fashionable or contradictory icon, but a fresh new chapter in the historically layered story of the building.

Testing ground for circular techniques and crafts

The Shoe Museum offers designers room to experiment with new circular techniques and crafts. The building and interior itself set a good example for this. For example, by preserving and rigorously cutting open the stuffy office wing for the museum rooms. In addition, the central multifunctional counter in the entrance area is made of limestone hemp, stamped on site, with ceilings made of synthetic felt from recycled PET bottles. Finally, a ceramic tile wall was developed in the entrance area in cooperation with the agency La-Di-Da. This combines ceramic craftsmanship with innovation and sustainability, thanks to the special shape of the 3D printed moulds, the use of waste from other glazing processes and production by professionals from the region with a distance to the labour market.