Serlachius Museum | Emanuele Fidone

The project is based on architectonic solution’s addressed to highlight the relationship between the pre-existing historical architecture of the Serlachius Museum Gösta, seen within its extraordinary environment, coupled with the Gösta extension which is permeated throughout the idea of simple and functional interventions.

The relationship between the pre-existing Serlachius Museum Gösta and its extension is resolved through the concept of “double” which is generated by reflection; as in the Greek myth of Narcissus, it is created by germination of a new building which is a copy of itself, his “twin”. In this light the new building is conceived as a reflection as well as a memory of the older museum: it takes up the same shape with a simplified structure.

The design of the new extension building hasn’t a thick consistency, but it is planned as a great display-case made of transparent wood–glass composite structure that keeps inside the most important section: the new exhibition hall. The main principles related to environmental aspects are strictly connected to the dimensional and functional relationship of the two buildings: the pre-existence and its “replica”.

The main technical functions required by the competition have been located in a lower homogenous podium connecting the two main buildings and their adjacent areas by different paths designed as a continuous rhythmic series of laminated wood elements. The choice of detaching the museum complex from the vehicular entrance using a fence of shrubs and trees along with the idea of dislocation of the pedestrian access down near the parking area, allows us to conceive a museum which is entirely immersed in its natural environment also opened to the lake and the facing island.

The lack of closed walls, which are replaced by wooden frames coupled with double layers of laminated glass, allows for a whole transparency between interior and exterior, also suggesting an osmosis perception between architecture and nature. The lightness and transparency of the new structure is emphasised by the choice of adding up, whenever possible, different technical functions which were located in the basement and are naturally lightened and ventilated by skylights and small patios.

The integration of the older Museum with the new extension is visually assured, on the surface, by the continuous wooden-glass frame structure,