Time Odyssey: Turku Museum of History and the Future

Time Odyssey: Turku Museum of History and the Future
A Dual Museum Narrative
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. " Roy Batty played by Rutger Hauer, Scott, R. (Director). (1982). Blade Runner

The resurgence of interest in museums globally marks a compelling shift in this historically rooted institution. Over the last centuries, museums have transcended their traditional role as artifact repositories, evolving into dynamic hubs, educational resources, and community centers. This transformative evolution underscores the necessity for all the new design museums to be provocatively open to continuous change and also signifies a new phase in the museum’s existence, emphasizing its dynamic and engaging role in today’s cultural landscape. In this proposal, the museum is composed with a clear understanding of its role as an open public institution dedicated to promoting social cohesion. We explored the idea of the museum as a complementary, interconnected duality; the museum as an open, transparent institution developed at the city level housing all the public programmatic functions, and the museum as an introvert translucent volume emerging from the city level and housing all the required exhibition facilities. Thus, the proposed museum is conceived in four distinct synthetic
gestures:

  1. A monolithic granite plinth refers to the site’s historical roots and defines the museum’s relationship with the city, the sea, and the park.
  2. Three glass volumes in C typology house all the public programmatic functions, defining the main entrances of the museum and creating an extensive indoor plaza.
  3. A radiant timber canopy covers and unifies all the public areas, service zones, and the indoor plaza, maximizing daylight in daily life.
  4. An introverted-translucent marble volume houses flexible exhibition spaces and creates a poetic connection between the present, past, and future through a spiral ramp toward history and light. The duality of the museum as an open institution and as an introverted volume unfolds a rich narrative, weaving together the threads of our past, present, and future. The propoesed museum is not aiming to be a static structure; it seeks to emerge as a living institution, a vibrant hub fostering engagement, and a timeless testament to the ever-evolving narratives of our collective heritage.

    THE GRANITE PLINTH, THE GLASS VOLUMES & THE TIMBER CANOPY

    Granite Plinth
    The proposal features a locally quarried granite plinth spanning the site and elevated to +3.00m above sea level. Engaging with history and surrounding landscapes, it forms an elevated plaza connecting the museum, city, and sea. This synthetic gesture harmonizes with varying landscape heights, blurring museum-community boundaries. It creates a serene transitional zone, organizing flows, addressing future climatic changes, and meeting functional requirements for service zones.

    Glass Volumes
    The transparent glass volumes, thoughtfully structured, encapsulate the museum’s public and supplementary services. Organized into three autonomous sections in a “C” layout, they shape a protected indoor plaza overlooking the sea. Each section uniquely aligns with the sea, park, and city, featuring enclosed cores at the edges for service zones. Entrances, strategically placed in voids, lead to the central plaza. Meticulously designed layouts minimize partitions, dedicating space to the indoor plaza, the extensive lobby of the museum and a vibrant core for Turku City’s waterfront. This dynamic and versatile space, with no assigned programmatic uses, looks toward the sea, collecting flows from the three entrances and serving as the vibrant heart of the museum as a public and educational institution.

    Timber Canopy
    A radiant timber canopy crowns the plinth and glass volumes, enveloping the indoor plaza in natural light and unifying all museum public and service functions, emphasizing the waterfront’s linearity. The canopy features an innovative pine timber trabecular (lamellae) ceiling that diffuses light throughout the museum’s interior. Drawing inspiration from Finnish shipbuilding traditions, the canopy is made of prefabricated glulam pine parts, forming two levels of dense, laterally connected beams. The canopy slides in relation to the granite plinth towards the park, creating a curated landscape with a film of water at the northern boundary of the plot. While curving towards the center, it creates a gentle slope towards the museum volume, while its edges remain straight, forming a simple linear radiant facade towards the city and the waterfront. This gesture directs increased daylight towards the indoor plaza/lobby, transforming it into a bright and welcoming space capable of facilitating indoor trees and plantation, turning it into a warm winter garden.

Architects: P4architecture

Design Team: Alkiviadis Pyliotis, Chara Kaika, Evangelos Fokialis, Konstantinos Pyliotis

Contributor: Panayiota Kyriakou

Interior Design Consultant: Andreas Petropoulos

Civil Engineers Consultants: Skalos EPE

3D Visualization: Michalis Meggios

Project Type: International Competition

Project Year: 2024