MX_SI

Gösta Serlachius Contemporary Art Museum . Mänttä

MX_SI . photos: © Pedro Pegenaute . + wallpaper

The site is understood as a green plateau where the manor’s monolithic figure stands imposingly along a landscape axis, sloping gently to the banks of Lake Melasjärvi.
The strategy consists in placing the building out of the zone in between the manor, the plateau-park and the Taavetinsaari island, in mimicking the new building within the forest, and finally in respecting the recently renovated park, as well as the formal garden design.

The new premises are located in parallel to the access, manor and garden axis, on the west side of the principal axis. It uses the parameters of topography and distance to accommodate the program. In this sense the Joenniemi Manor keeps being the dominant built structure of the area.
The location of the new entrance reinforces the existing spacious access yard as access plaza of the whole intervention.
The outside spatial quality is brought inside the new building. The heart of the building - foyer and restaurant - have the best view towards the lake and the island similar to the existing house main areas.
The simple horizontal body of the extension building gathers all main areas in one great plateau: entrance, foyer, connection and exhibitions which facilitates visitors’ orientation.
The new building is organized by a spacious foyer, placed at the same level of the ground floor of the manor. This space obtains visual continuity between outside and inside by introducing incisions of landscape to the main building body.
To allow flexibility of exhibitions layout, the structure of the building is part of the façade liberating the whole space. All walls in the exhibition zone can be used for exposing.
The project as a densified abstract forest.
The forest in the placement where the new building will be constructed is conceptually transformed in an abstract way of parallel frames. In one hand they define the overall geometry of the new building, but at the same time they also allow transversal permeability. The result is that the parallel pattern of the structural frames is maintained from outside and inside structuring the whole building. The use of wood is a reference to the local industry’s history.

Competition 1st. prize, June 2011
Location: Mänttä, Finland
Client: Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation
Budget: EUR 15,000,000.00
Area: 4,500sqm
Construction Estimated date 2013-2014
Architect: Boris Bezan + Héctor Mendoza + Mara Partida