Architect Wim Quist (1930-2022) established his reputation at a young age with his Brutalist design for the Beerenplaat water purification plant and he went on to design a varied body of work that ranged from bridges and shipyard structures to commercial premises, offices and cultural buildings, including many museums. In the 1980s, Quist played a key role in shaping the new Rotterdam, with works that included the Maritime Museum (1986), the theatre (1988) and Willemswerf office building (1989).

His designs are well-thought-out from start to finish ‘Everything about a building has to be exactly right. (…) So you spend quite a while puzzling it out.’ A feature of Quist’s architecture was his search for an essence and an aversion to passing trends. He created coherent forms out of straight-forward and simple materials. That is illustrated by the Maritime Museum, where he succeeded in accommodating a complex programme in a triangular main form.

He elaborated his design for the Maritime Museum on grid paper, which helped determine the column grid. The seemingly simple building features protruding and recessed elements, with arcades, windows and a roof terrace, offering surprising views of the city and port. Routes through the museum weave together open and closed spaces, taking visitors past vistas via voids and ramps. 

Now, 40 years after its completion, there are new plans for the Maritime Museum. The previous extension was completed in 2004 by Quist Wintermans, in the style of the existing building. In 2021, the original pavilions on the quay have been demolished and replaced by a new one by MoederscheimMoonen. The same year, the museum together with the municipality presented  three design studies for the future of the museum.Quist Wintermans has drawn up a document setting preconditions for its future transformation.

Extensions to and transformations of buildings are of all times. In the 1970s, for example, architect Wim Quist  himself added a new wing to the Kröller-Müller Museum and minimalist cubes to the Laurenskerk in Rotterdam. Both additions contrast starkly with the existing buildings. While the former was highly praised, the latter was sharply criticized.

Many of Quist’s buildings have undergone refurbishment. Quist had strong views about what people do with his buildings; he is critical of poorly considered alterations whereby users pay scant attention to the essence of his designs. That occurred at the Schouwburg theatre under the pretext that ‘renovation is not architecture; it is interior architecture’.

At the age of 90, he is objecting to the new head offices designed by V8 architects on the site of the Kralingen water purification plant. He was not consulted about this design. First he offered alternative solutions, unsuccessfully. He initiated legal proceedings that temporarily halted construction, after which Quist could think along. One of his variants eventually forms the basis for the new design.