22.2.2011
BIG wins the Competition to design Greenland’s New National Gallery
BIG + TNT + Ramboll Nuuk Nuuk + Arkitekti es el equipo ganador del concurso para el diseño de la nueva Galería Nacional de Groenlandia en Nuuk, capital del país. Situado en una ladera escarpada, con vistas a los más bellos fiordos de Groenlandia, el nuevo mueso de 3000 m2 combinará el arte histórico y contemporáneo del país en una institución dinámica y se convertirá en un ícono cultural y arquitectónico para sus habitantes. A partir de la proyección de un círculo geométricamente perfecto sobre la fuerte pendiente del terreno, la nueva galería se concibe como un edificio con patio que combina un diseño puro que se acopla de manera sensible con el paisaje. La impresión tridimensional del paisaje crea un anillo de protección alrededor del punto central del museo, el jardín de las esculturas, donde los visitantes, el personal y la exposición se funden adentro y fuera con la cultura y la naturaleza. "Típicamente, la arquitectura funcionalista danesa en Nuuk es de cajas cuadradas que ignoran la naturaleza única de Groenlandia. Por lo tanto, proponemos una galería que esté tanto física como visualmente en armonía con su fantástica naturaleza... Hemos creado una forma simple, funcional y simbólica, donde el círculo perfecto al apoyarse sobre la topografía local, que crea un híbrido singular entre una forma abstracta y su ubicación específica", comenta Bjarke Ingels, fundador y socio de BIG. La forma circular de la galería permite una división flexible de la exposición en diferentes formas y tamaños... El acceso de los visitantes se produce a través de una abertura cubierta creada por una leve elevación de la fachada en el vestíbulo, con vistas panorámicas de 180 grados hacia el jardín de las esculturas y los fiordos.
BIG + TNT Nuuk + Ramboll Nuuk + Arkitekti is the winning team to design the new National Gallery of Greenland in the country’s capital Nuuk, among invited proposals totaling 6 Nordic architects.
Located on a steep slope overlooking the most beautiful of Greenland’s fjords, the 3000 m2 National Gallery will serve as a cultural and architectural icon for the people of Greenland. The new museum will combine historical and contemporary art of the country in one dynamic institution The winning proposal was selected by a unanimous museum board among 6 proposals, including Norwegian Snøhetta, Finnish Heikkinen‐Komonen, Islandic Studio Granda and Greenlandic Tegnestuen Nuuk. “The Board has a clear vision: to work for the establishment of an internationally oriented highly professional institution that communicates the continuous project of documenting and developing the Greenlandic national identity through art and culture. Our dream is a national gallery where historic and contemporary art meets circumpolar pieces, Nordic and world art in general. Our dream is an institution that stimulates our curiosity, awake our excitement with its thought‐provoking design and where we all feel at home. Selecting a prominent architect as BIG, I am sure that our chances of realizing that dream are good”, Tuusi Josef Motzfeldt, Greenland’s National Gallery of Art.
As a projection of a geometrically perfect circle on to the steep slope, the new gallery is conceived as a courtyard building that combines a pure geometrical layout with a sensitive adaption to the landscape. The three‐dimensional imprint of the landscape creates a protective ring around the museum’s focal point, the sculpture garden where visitors, personnel, exhibition merge with culture and nature, inside and outside. «The Danish functionalistic architecture in Nuuk is typically square boxes which ignore the unique nature of Greenland. We therefore propose a national gallery which is both physically and visually in harmony with the dramatic nature, just like life in Greenland is a symbiosis of the nature. We have created a simple, functional and symbolic shape, where the perfect circle is supplied by the local topography which creates a unique hybrid between the abstract shape and the specific location”, Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Partner, BIG. The slope opens up the sculpture garden towards the city and the view, framing both the sculpture garden and museum functions. A rough looking external façade of white concrete will patina over time and adjust to the local weather, while the circular inner glass façade will consist of a simple and refined frame which contrasts the rough nature and compliments the beautiful view. «The building will with its simplistic coarseness and harmony with the landscape become a symbol of the current independent Greenlandic artistic and architectural expression.”, Andreas Klok Pedersen, Partner & Project Leader, BIG.
The circular shape of the gallery enables a flexible division of the exhibition into different shapes and sizes, creating a unique framework for the museum’s art. Visitor access to the exhibition happens through a covered opening created by a slight lift in the façade into a lobby with a 180 degree panorama view towards the sculpture garden and the fjord as well as access to the common museum functions, including ticket counters, wardrobe, boutique and a café. The new gallery will create more activity at the waterfront by attracting the whole area is interconnected by a path which like the museum, forms after the shifting inclinations of the terrain. The locals and visitors will be able to admire the clear shape of the gallery which appears as a sculpture or a piece of land‐art. “Greenland National Gallery for Art will play a significant role for the citizens of Greenland and the inhabitants of Nuuk as a cultural, social, political, urban and architectural focal point that opens towards the city and the world through its perfect circular geometry and shape”, Bjarke Ingels, Stifter & Partner, BIG.