Astruptunet Visitors Centre

CULTURAL LANDSCAPE

The sublime qualities and the grandeur of the natural landscape around Jølstravatnet are highlighted by the delicate shapes and limited size of the local buildings. Together they create cultural landscape, which inspired Nikolai Astrup and which attracts nowadays visitors of area. Our design proposal of the visitor’s center aims to respect this harmonious coexsistence of fragmented human habitats and untamed but beautiful nature.

FRAGMENTATION

The visitor center aims to provide comfortable and functional spaces for exploring Astrup`s art and enjoying the landscape and the nature without competing or overshadowing the historical Astruptunet. The building’s required volume is broken to a series of smaller objects located on the slope and facing the lake. Object’s sizes, shapes and materiality reflects that of the buildings in the surrounding cultural historical landscape, while the design of their elements and details is minimalistic and contemporary.

WINDOWS AS PAINTINGS

Individual volumes are dedicated to a specific program. Each part is carefully oriented in relation to the hill and towards the view over the lake. Each part of the building interior is visually connected with the landscape of the artist. Windows are conceived as paintings with the lake and the surrounding cultural landscape being the main actor.

APPROACHES AND LOCATION

The proposal respects the selected site on the northern slope facing the lake. New visitors center can be approached both from Nikolai Astrups road and the forest rode in the hill. The partial insertion of the buildings into the slope reduces the visual obstacles on the site and supports its natural character.

LANDSCAPE

While the landscape of the Astruptunet can be understood as a settlement landscape, where individual houses are surrounded by lawns and small gardens with crops and ornamental plants are grown,

the landscape of the visitor center is conceived as a niche at the foot of the mountain. It is covered with forest and the use of plants here is based purely on the natural species of the local area.

SUSTAINABILITY AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT

The building will harness geothermal heat pumps to provide efficient heating and cooling, capitalizing on the consistent temperatures underground. This will be facilitated through concrete core activation, which enhances energy efficiency by allowing the concrete structure itself to store and radiate heat and coolness as needed. A ventilation system with heat recuperation will be employed to maintain a stable indoor environment by efficiently recovering and reusing heat from exhaust air.

While the underground structure has to be constructed from concrete, the project will explore more environmentally friendly approaches, such as recycled aggregate concrete, ferrock or ashcrete, which utilizes recycled materials and lower embodied CO2 footprint. Above ground, the cultural center will feature locally sourced wood, minimizing transportation emissions.

STRUCTURE AND MATERIALS

Structural proposal of the building is a result of its partial insertion into the slope. The underground structural elements of the building, the foundations and the retaining walls are proposed from concrete, while the above the ground parts are designed as a wooden frame construction. The design presents an optimization of two opposing efforts to minimize the use of concrete and hence the underground construction and to limit the size of the above the ground volumes in order to fit within the surrounding cultural landscape. Wood, concrete as well as neutral white surfaces are dominant in the interior spaces.

The outside materiality is dominated by weathered wooden facade and green roofs. On general level this material solution reflects the established and historical building materials in the area, while minimalistic and precise design of the details reflects their contemporary character.

PROGRAM, SPACES AND CIRCULATION

Vertical composition of the visitor center uses several levels, terraced on the slope and connects with a spiral staircase and an elevator. Bottom level, accessible from the main road and from the bus, incorporates entrance and its supplementing spaces as well as technical areas. Above it is located the level of the cafe, with main rooms partly cantilevering above the terrain. Upwards visitors will arrive to the exhibition level. Northern daylight provides ambient and neutral illumination to the exhibition spaces and painting-like windows are conceived as a parallel to the art of Nikolai Astrup. Skylight highlights the foreroom to the exhibition space. The floor also includes the spaces for the workshop, storages and office spaces. The supplementary character of those spaces in relation to the gallery is highlighted through the use of lower and less exposed volumes. The highest level incorporates the entrance from the top road and the car parking, as well as the supporting facilities.