Our Competition Proposal
In 2020, the Sara Hildén Art Museum launched an open international architectural competition for the design of their new building in the Finlayson area in Tampere. We very much enjoyed working on our proposal, which draws upon our extensive experience of designing art galleries, as well as responding to the unique qualities of the proposed site.
It was our ambition that the new Art Museum should announce itself as a building of significance, yet it must also be subtly integrated into the fabric of Tampere city. We determined that the placement and presence of the museum within the city must be the starting point of the design.
The site sits at a critical urban junction between the substantial brick mills of Tampere’s industrial past and the landscaped parklands which belonged to the villas near the shores of the lake. Mediating between these two conditions, our proposal begins in the southeast corner as an urban gesture, with the museum building defining a new public square; then, the building form transitions through a curving façade which envelopes the trees to become a pavilion-like object in the park.
On the ground floor, the generous foyer, café, and multipurpose space are glazed to give views of neighbouring historic landmarks and out across open parkland. These are active spaces, open and accessible to any passer-by. In the summer, with the benefit of its own park-side entrance, the café can spill out into the park, becoming a vibrant meeting place.
With the intention of creating outstanding and inspiring art spaces that can be adapted easily to the full spectrum of art practice, we designed a framework that offers immense adaptability; from exhibiting large-scale works, showing video or interactive art to configuring rooms-within-rooms for shows that concentrate on more intimate works. The entire second floor is covered with a field of rooflights, which can shift at the flick of a switch from controlled daylight to complete black-out, and every lux level in-between.
Woven fabric may be soft, but it has strength and flexibility. Fabric in bulk, on a roll, creates wonderful curves and folds. The new building folds softly around the trees; its façade at the upper levels is formed of pleated ceramic tiles; the adjacent street is paved in a geometric pattern which evokes the weaving process and fabric folds. These are gentle references to the textile industry as well as to Sara Hildèn’s craft as a garment-maker.