Forest Finn Museum in Norway by Lipinski Lasovsky Johansson

A team of young architects based in Copenhagen has with their proposal ‘Finnskogens Hus’ won the first prize in the international architecture competition for a new Museum of Forest Finn Culture in Svullrya, Norway.

Architect: Lipinski Lasovsky Johansson
Client: Norsk Skogfinsk Museum
Location: Svullrya, Norway
Year: 2018
Size: 2,000 sqm
Team: Juras Lasovsky, Hanna Johansson, Filip Lipinski
Visualisations: Aesthetica Studio

From the architect: With the proposal ‘Finnskogens Hus’ a team of young architects has been selected as winner in the open competition for a new Museum of Forest Finn Culture, in Svullrya Norway. With 203 proposals it is the fourth largest architectural competition in Norway.

Finnskogens Hus is a museum in the forest, relating to its close context as a transition between inside and outside. Surrounded by a forest of columns it evokes curiosity and attracts visitors to interact with the building and the surrounding landscape. The new museum creates a new framework where to present and educate about the rich history of the Forest Finns*.

The museum is characterized by the large roof and the forest of columns; creating a symbiosis between the nature and the building, between inside and outside. The playful column facade gives the building an unique expression, especially during the dark hours of the day when the light from the inside will trickle through the column forest and light up the surrounding landscape. When you approach the building the entrance will appear as a glade through the forest and lead you into the reception area, café and library. Once inside the museum the columns are still present and light is filtered through the ceiling, a reference to the Forest Finns building technique where smoke was ventilated out through a smoke hatch.

Finnskogens Hus is a simple building that in many ways are relating to the Forest Finn culture. Wood is present in both structural elements and interior spaces, where for example burnt wood is present to tell a story about the slash-and-burn cultivation in the Forest Finn Culture. It has a clear and simple plan layout to ensure flexibility between the museums different functions and to have the possibility to extend the building through a second building phase.

The international team is based in Copenhagen and is made of architects Juráš Lasovský (Czech Republic), Filip Lipinski (Sweden), Hanna Johansson (Sweden) and Andrea Baresi (Italy)

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