Ice lady: Sogn & Fjordane Art Museum by C. F. Møller.
Photos: Oddleiv Apneseth, Stein Sandemose Bårdsen.
Having the largest glacier in Europe nested in the mountains just outside town, has become a cultural reference point for the small Norwegian settlement of Førde. C. F. Møller took the glacier, Jostedalsbreen as it is known locally, as inspiration when designing the town's new art museum.
Sogn og Fjordane Kunstmuseum is intended to recall a fractured block of ice. The museum sits by the water like an iceberg poised to enter. Clad in white glass the building façade has lines in it that recall ice fractures. At night, these are illuminated creating an abstract advertisement for the town's cultural haven.
The museum is the result of a competition win in 2006 and has just recently been completed. Inside there are four floors of exhibition space arranged around a top-lit atrium that is triangular in plan. Sculpturally animating this central space is the circulation route. Painted green, it appears to bounce around the atrium as it winds up to the top of the building, and a roof deck with spectacular views of the mountains that surround the town. This outdoor space can also be adapted for events such as theatre performances. Internally, the atrium has white walls, and blonde wood ceilings with, what appear to be, polished concrete floors. The defuse northern light gives a sense of serenity to the space despite the dynamic forms. The galleries are shown in these images as black boxes and can be adapted to best suit the exhibition or event.
