Museum Maluku

Since 1986, the Museum of Moluccan Culture in Utrecht collected and presented the cultural heritage of the Moluccan community in the Netherlands. In addition to exhibition spaces, the museum housed a knowledge centre, a music theatre and a Moluccan culinary café.

Before renovation, the museum’s layout was fragmented, with its functions scattered across several adjoining buildings. In 2010, Serge Schoemaker Architects was commissioned to reorganize the layout, provide a clear structure, and design a proper entrance and foyer.

The proposal connected and structured the museum’s activities around a new central focus. An extension replaced part of a 1980s addition and utilized the previously unused central courtyard. A strategically placed volume containing the shop and kitchen divided the new building into two distinct zones: a spacious foyer with a larger café, and an additional exhibition hall for temporary shows.

Light played a key role in shaping the character of these new spaces. The foyer and café, adjoining the terrace and garden, were designed to be open and bright, with daylight flooding in through extensive glazed facades. In contrast, the enclosed exhibition hall, surrounded by the historic nineteenth-century buildings on Biltstraat and Kruisstraat, was illuminated by an impressive opaque glass roof light, providing ideal conditions for displaying art. White walls and oak flooring created a serene yet warm atmosphere.

Despite these ambitious plans, the Museum Maluku was forced to close in October 2012 due to insufficient financial resources and the discontinuation of essential subsidies. The collection, formerly on display in Utrecht, is currently in storage, with the long-term goal of making it accessible to the public again in the future.