The project was proposed for the international project competition held for the construction of a “Museum of World Culture” in the Swedish city of Göteborg in 1999. The competition property extends parallel to Södra Vagen Boulevard, on the skirts of a hill between the Museum of Science and the Liseburg Amusement Park on the periphery of the city’s historical center. The aim of the proposal was the interpretation of the universal theme of the competition within the framework of local and environmental factors. The target was the integration of the structure with urban elements on its immediate surroundings; its affinity with the natural topography, climate and flora, as well as expressing its universal property with an ecological approach, outside the context of an exhibition program.
The museum mass has taken shape through the arrangement of the exhibition functions in the program and of social spaces, with reference to the conditions of the terrain. The entrance area positioned in the direction of the square was rendered different as a mass, with main circulation areas remaining behind glass facades extending parallel to Södra Vagen Boulevard; circulation which has been emphasized at the entrance area with sharp cornered eaves, has been integrated into the flow of the city in the direction of the boulevard. Behind the front mass are spaces consisting of permanent exhibition halls and social functions spread on to two floors in conformity with the inclination of the terrain.
The roof of this section, reached through ramps from the direction of the square and the entrance, was designed as a city terrace providing connection to the Museum of Science on an upper level; proposed as a roof garden in the continuation of the park, courtyards providing natural light and ventilation to the museum spaces were positioned on this terrace. These courtyards are also connected to a system recycling rain and snow water accumulating on the roof. The ecological emphasis of the project was consolidated with the designing of the glass facades covering the circulation areas in the southwesterly direction, as surfaces providing passive solar energy.
Museum spaces were created behind the circulation axis and by courtyards designed as a two story gallery by sub scale divisions enabling different forms of exhibition. The city terrace on the roof is a part of the museum program with open-air light and sound performances. Platforms sliding over the circulation mass along the boulevard, and mobile panels placed over them were proposed as elements reflecting the contents of the museum to be perceived from the direction of both the park and of city circulation. These sliding panels also bear analogical reference to the seafaring past of Göteborg and of Swedish history and to its place within the world culture.
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