‘I felt a passion for beautiful display cases’

After completing the refurbishment of the Dutch Fortress Museum with SDB’s new museum display cases, the biggest challenge had been overcome for director Pieter Koudijs. After all, that was the renovation. He left through the front door on 1 June and became project manager at the Jewish Cultural Quarter. Despite the move, Pieter is happy to talk about the project at his former employer.

“Why am I still happy to talk about it?” says Pieter. “Well, the collaboration was so enjoyable. It started with the pleasant communication with Eric van de Vliet in the preliminary phase. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience, thinks things through well and, as the owner, can make decisions straight away. And I have nothing but praise for the staff too. The way they worked on the end result as meticulous, dedicated professionals: I could just feel their love for beautiful display cases.”

 

Casemates

The Dutch Fortifications Museum is situated on one of Naarden’s six bastions. During the ‘modernisation’ of the fortifications in 1685, the first casemates were constructed here. “These are bomb-proof structures built into the ground,” explains Pieter. “Their walls are sometimes as thick as two metres, and on top of that there’s another three to four metres of earth, so that soldiers could take shelter safely. The newest casemate was built in 1877; it was later converted into an exhibition space.”

 

“SDB completed the project in three months: that’s very quick”

 

Twenty display cases

When the Netherlands was gripped by the coronavirus in 2020, it became apparent that the exhibition space did not meet the guidelines. According to Pieter, modifications were necessary. “We made the best of a bad situation: the casemate has been restored to its original condition and refurbished. It now features twenty new museum display cases for the collection, which includes weapons, archaeological finds and heavy sculptures.”

“The preservation and presentation of those items were a key part of the brief,” he continues. “But so was a short turnaround time. SDB completed the project in three months: that’s very fast. As a result, visitors didn’t have to wait long before we reopened.”

 

Standard and bespoke

According to Pieter, SDB’s strength lies in a winning combination: speed thanks to a range of standard products, and the knowledge and expertise to add bespoke solutions. “The end result is certainly impressive,” concludes Pieter. “And that in a strange, narrow location where staff sometimes had to crawl and squeeze through to install the museum display cases. Hats off to them!”