A new museum dedicated to paper arts will launch in the North Jutland region of Denmark in the coming years with an adaptive reuse design from Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The concept renderings for the reimagined new home of the six-year-old Museum for Paper Art were unveiled today along with an endorsement from its founder, the psaligrapher Bit Vejle.
The project converts a former supermarket building by extending its footprint to almost 25,000 square feet and adding a roof canopy resembling a single sheet of folded paper that sweeps down to cover glass-enclosed public areas lining the perimeter.
Paper and its source combine to drape the structure's interior surfaces and Ingels’ team has said the exterior of the market building also will be covered by a new acoustics-regulating origami-inspired paper art commissioned from local Danish artists in deference to the medium’s importance to the history of the Nordic region. A small café is also included. BIG's project announcement says it will achieve a DGNB Gold or Platinum certification.
"Paper art is about creating three-dimensional shapes and complex images from a monochromatic two-dimensional material - a sheet of paper," BIG's founder said, speaking to the conceptual simplicity. "By treating the roof surface as such - a single sheet of folded paper - existing and new functions are brought together in one unifying gesture. The expressive is accentuated by the clear, complexity arises from simplicity."
BIG partner David Zahle says it is a "unified space inspired by paper and crafted in wood." He added: "In this way, the old and new are connected under one roof. In the foyer and assembly space, the old structure is clearly felt within the new one."
The firm also recently designed the new LUGT Refugee Museum further south in Oksbøl, Denmark, and announced major projects in Las Vegas and at the United Nations campus in New York City.
8 Comments
Guess their mood board was Ishigami.
did they program a sunken ampitheater just to maintain usable space under the low point of the gutterless roof that deposits all the storm runoff into a pond?
A great re-use project. Its very much in the same character as the white-architecture clique of Japan (as opposed to the red-architects, for those who may not know there is more from Japan than Sejima). But somehow reads as Western rather than a knock-off. A bit less human oriented than in Japan, perhaps. The keeping-it-real vibe in Japan is strong among architects and hard to emulate. Even so, this is stunning. A surprising project from BIG.
It's interesting you say that. I also agree the project does gives off some Japanese circa 2010 vibes. I think the roof geometry is beautiful, and the finish material is subtle and calming. But if you look at SANAA's work as of late, it has significantly diverged from their ethereal / invisible aesthetic of the past.
This might sound a bit harsh, but I think this project will actually be quite boring on the interior compared to the stronger gestural moves you find by the likes of Ishigami or Nakamura (NAP). The scale of the roof is so large that the only natural light you experience is on the perimeter. But the rendering uses so much "bloom" effect it makes you think the entire space is filled with ambient light, which is a lie.
I think a more successful version of a project with a gently sweeping roof is Nishizawa's Hiroshi Senju Museum. Great play of interior and exterior while being conceptually pure.
Hiroshi Senju Museum Karuizawa, Nagano - Office of Ryue Nishizawa | Arquitectura Viva
As a a side note, I worked in Japan for a couple years and what I find so interesting is that lot's of Japanese architects references lot's of western architects, but for very specific precedent analysis like façade details or sections. Sometimes they straight up copy certain aspects, but people are so enamored by anything Japanese they sometimes get a pass at directly copying western examples.
I also get Dulles Airport vibes from Saarinen, who also had some quite gestural works of architecture.
I dont know that SANAA was ever ethereal or invisible. Their work is refined and straight, but also extremely human scaled and human oriented. It is not what they talk about really, but the point comes across pretty strong when Iwan Baan takes pictures of homes with all the daily life strung out on display and it STILL feels minimal. That is a super-power.
Very few architects can pull that off. Usually the way to make something look simple is to demand the people who live in a home keep everything tidy and possibly change their wardrobe to an all greyscale collection. With Sejima and Nishizawa that isn't needed. BIG is not working at that end of the spectrum yet. It does not seem to be so important for the office.
Hiroshi Senju museum is brilliant. I just went to visit it last month. By chance it is only an hour from my family home in the countryside. It remains a masterpiece among a large collection of impressive buildings by Nishizawa. He has something going on that is so difficult to copy. Also amazing clients.
Well, it looks like a sheet of folded paper. . . .
yeah it is not a big conceptual leap. Or rather it is exactly a BIG concept. Pretty straight ahead and easy reading. Not that I have a problem with that at all, personally.
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