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Client(s)Umicore Precious Metals Refining
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Construction siteAntwerp
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Project architectEdwin Remmerie
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Main contractorVooruitzicht
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Competition2010
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Year2010-2011
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StatusRealised
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PhotographyBINST ARCHITECTS
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The story of the many valuable objects exhibited by the Silver Museum begins with what usually appears worthless, namely waste. Instead of disposing of discarded objects, or burning them, they are considered as ore containing raw materials. Whereas in the past these raw materials had to be mined deep underground, today ‘urban mining’ can achieve the same result by means of a clean and high-tech process. The silver recovered in this way can be worked into one of the many objects in the Silver Museum’s collection.
In the design for the MAS by Neutelings Riedijk, the four pavilions were kept as transparent as possible. The concept by Binst Architects retains and reinforces this transparency by grouping the various pieces in a number of elongated showcases, which are positioned parallel to the current lines of sight.
The exhibition objects not only contain the pieces from the Silver Museum, but are also made up of the raw material from which Umicore extracts silver: e-scrap, electronic waste. The relationships between raw material and object, between high-tech and craftsmanship and between Umicore and the Silver Museum are thus reflected in the structure of the exhibition.
