Elding Oscarson builds rough yet refined museum extension
LUND – Founded in 1934 as the Museum of Artistic Process and Public Art, the Skissernas Museum in Lund, Sweden, features an archive that documents the artistic process and holds the world’s largest collection of sketches, templates and models. In its 70-year history, the building has seen countless visitors and exhibitions, plus a handful of architectural renovations, the most recent of which was realized earlier this year by Stockholm-based Elding Oscarson, a firm led by Jonas Elding and Johan Oscarson.
It is the first time that the museum has incorporated separate facilities – foyer, restaurant, shop and multifunctional hall – for purposes other than exhibiting art. With the new extension, the architects hope to increase public interest in the museum as an attractive meeting place.
‘Skissernas used to be the kind of museum that many people knew about and had visited once, but not the kind where you would go repeatedly,’ says Elding. ‘It was rather dormant, so to speak.’ The addition’s rough façade, clad in Corten-steel panelling that gives the overall surface a slightly convex curve, timelessly complements the previous extension’s brutalist concrete appearance. The architects selected Corten steel because it enabled the creation of sharply detailed panelling, a result quite unlike anything achievable in concrete.
Visitors entering the building find a smooth skin of birch plywood that makes for a soft warm contrast. ‘The wooden interior matches the outside in its detailing,’ says Elding. ‘It speaks a similar language, as well as emphasizing the presence of the outdoors inside the building.’
External walls are interspersed with windows that suggest random placement. In fact, their carefully calculated positions offer specific views of the surrounding landscape and open sightlines throughout the building, providing a level of transparency without resorting to conventional curtain glazing.
This project is featured in Mark #69. Get your copy here.
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