The dynamics of the place, which is changing its character, and the immediate vicinity of the sea and the Turk castle make the design task complex. The building must therefore operate at the edge of many challenges, meanings and notions. Consequently, the concept oscillates around three main ideas. The first is to tell history of the place. Linnanniemi’s driver for years was mainly the shipyard and the port. The life of the district revolved around these functions. The presence of horizontal ships with their vertical masts is hence an inherent feature of the place. The building’s form refers to this geometry, dominated by horizontality combined with vertical accents. The rhythm of the façade is also taken from industrial, port compositions.

The second one is urban creation in real time. This aspect is present by fitting into the urban framework of the context – continuing the building line and giving primacy to the Turek Castle in the city panorama, as well as maximizing the activation of the external space. The city-side functions open through terraces and a flower meadow towards the public, while the entire exhibition space is open to the sea. The third is to stoke the future. Modern aesthetic and technical solutions are stimulating the imagination of the users. Massive timber columns and thin steel truss sections create compositional tension, supported by the contrast of sublime sharp glass and soft textiles. These invite us to create the future together. In this way, the museum becomes a perennial place, as it talks yesterday, operates today and creates tomorrow.

Cityscape

The building respectfully occupies the land within the frame of the urban structure context. Properly distributed functions made the building compact and efficient – the footprint beneficial to the environmental aspects and the height to expose the Turku Castle panorama. The aim is to gently fulfil the urban void, in other words – as the museum would be one of the ships that just arrived in the harbour. The intention of shifting the position of the Museum to the closest proximity of the shoreline is to generate urban plaza on the city-side. This enriches and creates the interior program of the Museum. The open functions get active and full of life while exhibition facilities stay in direct and contemplating contact with the sea. The framed gradient of usage typologies diversifies the visitors’ experience, crossing the paths from dynamic city life to the pure nature.

Site

The urban plaza is a welcoming, green and multifunctional space. Surrounded by the soon-to-be housing area, the Seaport Hotel and The Museum creates a sequence of nearly interior spaces, full of flora and urban life extension of the building. By its topographical shape it helps to reach the ground level of the building from every corner of the plot using curved journey-like pathways or short and simple ramps – this takes care of disabled and old people. The public meadow is composed by fully native species, flowers, grasses, shrubs and trees. Within its area parking places for bikes, e-scooters and cars are provided. The storm water tank is located on the east side of the building. On this side potential extension of the building is foreseen to happen.

The top level of the plaza is the layer of the terraces. The edge of these is shaped in a way it blends with the topography and refers to rock. What is provided thanks to the terraces is that everyone can walk around the building and enter the rooms directly, while the rooms can extend towards exterior during summer. So, the workshop exterior space is located in the frontal west corner, partners functions – the restaurant and the cafe terrraces are placed in the middle part, while the central element is a subtle ramp to the main entrance. The frontal east side is to be used as an event space. Nonetheless, the south of the Museum – exhibitions rooms have the possibility to fully open and become integrated with the exterior space of the sea promenade.

Architecture and program

Clear order has to be implemented in the functional scheme of the Museum. There are three main layers of the program – urban one, which opens to the plaza, service one, which contains hall and auxiliary facilities, exhibition one, which blends with the sea. The main lobby connects partners’ functions – restaurant, cafe and coworking on the one side and auditorium, event space and diy room on the other side. However, it stays in direct connection with exhibition rooms, which open to the seaside. This makes the lobby central part and main node. Building is completely transversal, transparent and dual-aspect.

Both of the vertical cores symmetrically placed on the ends of hall lead to the level occupied by diy and coworking areas, which are also interconnected by the bridge crossing the lobby. On top of it technical rooms are located. This mezzanine level exists because of the diversity of program heights, and its efficient distribution. While the operational system refers to the typology of the longhouse, where everyone gathered under one common roof had equal importance and orthogonal rooms create sequence, the architectural language alludes to the historical places of the ship industry area, speaking to it by suspended on vertical wires canopies, rhythmic aesthetic and harmonious absolute form.

Economy, Structure and Systems

The height is limited also due to the economical and environmental reasons – smaller volume requires less energy. The structure is fully modular, so that it is efficient, prefabricated and makes the future extension optimised and feasible. The building is designed in a way it gathers the heat in the day and exhausts it over the night, minimising the use of mechanical systems. Due to the unstable soil conditions the structure of the building is based on piles foundations. These hold the plinth based on timber beams. Each of the spans is composed of two massive timber columns which support the primary and secondary steel trusses. This solution places columns on the external perimeter of the building liberating the rooms.

Partition walls are designed in the framed timber structure which lays in the orthogonal structural grid. Facade is, in a classical way, designed in three layers. Bottom one – angled glass panels are referring to the sea waves, the middle one – glass brick wall, and the top one – roof finished by patterned steel plate. In the building highly efficient and ecological systems were used, such as passive cooling, grey water systems and heat recovery. The solutions will perform in a way to lower the carbon footprint.