For many years, the Muziekgebouw and Bimhuis have been the cultural and musical heart of the IJ. With various tenants and many changing users, all with individual access rights, implementing a safe and user-friendly access control plan for the building is a challenging task. Together with DOM Netherlands, the Foundation for the Management of the Muziekgebouw/Bimhuis Facilities found a secure, flexible, and user-friendly solution.

The building on the Piet Heinkade has been using an electronic access control system for quite some time. “Two years ago, the supplier announced that the system would soon no longer be supported or sold. That prompted us to look for an alternative solution,” says Leo Kruse, technical manager from the Foundation for the Management of the Muziekgebouw/Bimhuis (BAMB).

Experiences Lead to a Wish List
Before exploring the market, Kruse and his colleagues first created a wish list. “For that list, we mainly looked at the system we were using and thought about what could be improved or simplified. We wanted more flexibility in assigning access rights. Under the old system, the supplier managed all access rights and could see who had which access. We barely had an overview, which made access management chaotic. We wanted to handle everything ourselves to be more flexible and have optimal control.”
Programming changes was also challenging with the old system, Kruse explains. “After a change, we had to manually visit all doors to update the locks with new access rights. That took a lot of time.”



Experiencing the System with Demo Units
After determining their requirements and conditions for the new access control system, Kruse contacted Melvin de Wever, Account Manager at DOM Netherlands. “For such a complex and multifunctional building, our digital DOM ENiQ® system offers a safe and flexible solution. With DOM ENiQ, we could meet all the requirements,” says De Wever.
It was decided to test the system with demonstration units for two months, placed in Kruse’s and his maintenance team’s workspace. “Thanks to these demo units, we could experience how electronic locking works using the electronic door fittings. Seeing and feeling how it works. We also gained hands-on experience assigning access rights to tags for staff and users during this period,” says Kruse.



Wide Front Plate Covers Existing Holes
The test period led to ongoing collaboration, with the interior doors of the Muziekgebouw now equipped with the digital DOM ENiQ® Guard door fittings. By choosing the Wideline variant with a wide front plate, installation was made easier. Kruse explains, “Many doors used fittings with rosettes, but the wide front plate of the DOM ENiQ® Guard door fittings allowed us to cover those holes easily. Additionally, the sleek design of the fittings provides an aesthetic finish, enhancing the appearance of the doors.”
With an outer shell of the building open for most of the day, security and access control remain essential. Only at night are the two revolving doors of the main entrance locked. To prevent unauthorized access to spaces or offices during the day and evening, all doors are equipped with either electronic DOM ENiQ® Guard locks or electronic ENiQ cylinder locks by the management foundation.



Access Control Fully Self-Managed
Assigning and managing access rights is now handled directly by Muziekgebouw staff. “This allows us to respond quickly when necessary. That’s important for a multifunctional building like ours,” says Kruse, who highlights some challenges. “The building has elevators shared by various users, each only allowed access to their designated areas. The offices, occupied by different tenants across three floors, are in a separate wing. Employees restricted to that area don’t have rights to other floors. If they occasionally need access elsewhere, it can be adjusted quickly and easily.”
De Wever adds, “With this data-on-card setup, access rights are stored on the tag. By placing the tag near an update point, any newly assigned rights are automatically updated on the tag.” This flexibility is also essential for granting temporary access, such as allowing an artist’s technician limited access to a control room.



Data Stored Locally
After a brief adjustment period, Kruse and his team now experience only advantages with the switch. “The software we use to manage access rights is very user-friendly. Compared to the previous system, this is a huge improvement for us. We now have over 300 tags in circulation across different user groups, but it remains easy to manage. Additionally, we find the price-quality ratio very favorable.”
The software data and tag access rights are stored locally on a server. De Wever explains, “This is a stand-alone solution where all data is stored on a local server. Backups are also stored locally. This ensures that, in this case, BAMB always owns and controls its data. None of this data is shared with us.”

For more information about DOM ENiQ Digital Access Control.