Lipinski Lasovsky Johansson wins competition for Forest Finn Museum
The young architecture firm Lipinski Lasovsky Johansson has won the competition for the Forest Finn Museum in Norway. In their design, the architecture merges with its surroundings: an exciting example of how architecture and landscape can go hand in hand.
In terms of content, the museum focuses on the so-called ‘Skogfinner‘: these were farmers who moved from eastern Finland to the forest regions of Sweden and Norway in the 16th and 17th centuries and converted forest areas into farmland by slash-and-burn. As the forest Finns burned down large areas of forest and thus came into conflict with the growing industry, which in turn increasingly needed charcoal, the state was initially ambivalent about the immigrants. Until the 20th century, the Forest Finns had their own culture and language, until they became increasingly integrated into Norwegian and Swedish society. The Forest Finn Museum now aims to show the history of this minority.
Situated between a forest and a river, the common thread is also the forest in architectural terms. The building’s structure is reminiscent of a primitive hut thanks to the simple green gabled roof and the vertical wooden pillars. As the load-bearing wooden pillars support the roof, the glass façade can wrap around the interior like a ribbon without taking on any static functions. In the architects’ visualizations, it seems as if the forest extends into the interior. The seemingly randomly arranged wooden pillars break through the entire interior. The floor plan does not guide visitors through the exhibition space, but invites them to lose themselves and wander around.
Visual axes
Within the glass band, Lipinski Lasovsky Johanson have placed the exhibition spaces in square rooms. The arrangement of the cuboids keeps the visual axes between the forest and the nearby river clear. The result is an almost transparent building that blends into the forest landscape without blocking the view. Architecture and landscape seem to merge into one another.
The young architects have delivered a site-specific design that not only responds to the immediate surroundings, but also reflects the content of the museum to the outside. This turns the museum into a place that arouses curiosity, invites visitors to discover and playfully explore the contents.
The small town of Svullrya is a two-hour drive from Oslo. If you want to visit the museum, a road leads from the small village past the Finnetunet open-air museum across the river. You walk along the river and enter a small wooded area. After a few meters, the museum peeks out through the trees in a clearing.
