Danish architects Bjarke Ingels Group have won a competition to design the new National Gallery of Greenland in the country's capital city, Nuuk.
The building will form a ring round a central glazed courtyard.
Its roofline and internal paths will follow the shape of the sloping site, which overlooks a fjord.
The gallery will display both historical and contemporary art.
BIG won the commission in collaboration with local firms TNT Nuuk, Ramboll Nuuk and Inge Bisgaard of Arkitekti.
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The information that follows is from BIG:
BIG WINS THE COMPETITION TO DESIGN GREENLAND’S NEW NATIONAL GALLERY
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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“The Danish functionalistic architecture in Nuuk is typically square boxes which ignore the unique nature of Greenland.
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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.
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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.
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The slope opens up the sculpture garden towards the city and the view, framing both the sculpture garden and museum functions.
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A rough looking external façade of white concrete will patinate 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.
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” 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
PROJECT: Greenland National Gallery
CLIENT: Nunatta Eqqumiitsulianik Saqqummersitsivia
SIZE: 3000 m2
LOCATION: Nuuk, Greenland
COLLABORATION: TNT Nuuk, Rambøll Nuuk, Arkitekti, MIR, Glessner Group
PARTNER IN CHARGE: Bjarke Ingels, Andreas Pedersen
PROJECT LEADER: Jakob Henke
TEAM: Daniel Selensky, Ji –young Yoon, Gul Ertekin, Aleksander Tokarz, Alessio Zenaro, Johan Cool Nicklas Antoni Rasch
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Maybe a good place for sculptures, but not for pictures…
kind of an reinterpretation of the white u from toyo ito. but is see a lot of workshop rooms without daylight and even without any windows – i dont think the people wanÄt to work in such an situation.
Simple. And pretty.
Daylight? It's Greenland, isn't it dark anyway half of the year?
touché
Nope, not quite, Nuuk its south the "Polar Circle".
Form over function?
Another mausoleum, not an art gallery.
More walls, less light…
like HJI said… not much light for half the year.
Paintings, drawings and ART that are light/heat sensitive will be put away for half of the year, limiting the exhibition schedule as well as loans of work and travelling exhibitions from other institutions.
Fun project + nice model, but the BIG formula is getting worn out. Yet another finite architectural object "acting-out" its generic program.
The only reason this formula gets worn out is because we exist within a paradigm which favors rapid change and rapid evolution; which, when you look at BIG's early work to what they do now, they have evolved and changed and continue to do so. They are about an architecture of diagram, and they do it well, much better than most. They have continued and elaborated on what Koolhaas and OMA set forth. Sites like these (Dezeen, ArchDaily, Archspace, etc) give us images, or eye candy, from such a variety of firms and individuals, that we (designers, artists, casual connoisseurs and enthusiasts) expect every thing to be more new and exiting than the last post from 15 minutes ago. BIG does not fail to meet or beat expectations. Michelangelo had a very distinct style, Palladio had a very distinct style, Bernini, Borrominni, Adolph Loos, Garret Rietvelt, Le Corbusier, Mies, Wright, The Eames', Schindler, Picasso, Degas, Van Gogh, Duchamp, Warhol, Lichtenstein, Pollock, and on, and on, and on… They all had distinct styles, driven by an idea, or philosophical approach, they pursued and developed through their work. BIG has been around since 2006, they haven't had time to wear out. In fact, as with many firms this complaint gets dropped on, you get to watch them evolve in real time; which is quite refreshing
I totally agree with you Bjarke. And I don't believe you're in the same league as those mentioned in your post. Your philosophy ; "Yes is more!" LOLZ.
its exciting to see a circular circulation like this in a museum again, like in the hirshorn. among the library, pavilion, and now this museum, big has really been embracing the continuous loop concept over the past two years. all with pretty exciting results.
ooooh gosh, sanaa's rolex centre remixed with the danish pavilion?!
This is the first ever BIG project that makes sense to me. Their other work is generally so gimmicky – this project is at once more subtle and compelling.
Well shoot, someone has got to do something more interesting then all of the average architectural trash being littered throughout the world. The only problem with BIG is that they are getting all of the attention… They could use some peer competition and so far no one is stepping up. Lady gaga has russel Brandt and linddsay Lohan and snookie to fight for attention, bjarke has…
agreed BIG seems to be getting most of the limelight these days, hence the 'haters' have started to appear as well.
good on em' i say!
What have you done for architecture?
This project is about BIG, not Greenland.
It would be nice if you could look out at the fjord from the central courtyard. As it is I wouldn't spend long sitting there.
or simplified reinterpretation of Rolex learning center by SANAA.
stop hating, at least he brings something inspiring to the world!
I think it is rather good actually! Beautiful form like a left over fragment of ice. Lovely process drawings that are actually based on solving simple pragmatic problems! Poetic & Pragmatic….look around guys not just the gems but the bigger picture we are surrounded by crap.
must be awesome to be there! the artpieces competing against the nature…we'll see who wins.
I think it's a really nice project…very interesting one…and every one can easily find something interesting in it… and even this makes this architecture – real architecture..and it has its depth…and a meaning…I would say it's not simple in its meaning…philosophy…
This is the kind of museum I'd want to find in a remote place like Greenland. A place where one can breathe and be part of nature. Space for paintings as well as sculpture? Of course! In any museum all is possible; that's why they have exhibition materials.
I agree with Lucien: "just what I'd want to find in a remote place like Greenland.."
Beautiful, in my view.
I kind of like it. It reminds me on my Student project i did in 2003, very similar idea in the similar environment. Didn't go well with professors at that time :)
Subtle gesture.