☉ Skogfinsk Museum is a proposal by Opposite Office for The National Association of Norwegian Architects in 2018. It is located in Svullrya Norway in a forest and riverside setting. Its scale is medium with a surface of 2.200 sqm. Key material is wood. Review the 7 proposals for the same competition.
Metsäkoti (Finnish for „forest home“) tells the story of a forgotten Finish-native Norwegian minority of Finnskogen.
The museum project depicts the opposite phenomenon of tradition and modernity, mysticism and rationality, origin and affiliation and thus tries to approach the close-to-nature ethnic group of the «forest Finns». The project investigates the question of identity, migration, and affiliation. It seeks to capture the mystical culture of their lives in nature and forest.
In the 17th century, the forest fins come to Norway. They set fire to the forest to use the area for agriculture. They themselves live in the forest and build their simple wooden huts between the trees. Today, the forest fins live as farmers, foresters or lumberjacks.
In their own museum, they want to show their tradition and their culture and keep it alive. They take their axes and knock down the branches of the trees around their huts. They use the tree trunks as supports and build a large roof structure around their small houses. Now the museum is finished and the forest fins are looking forward to the visitors.