Spanish studio MX_SI added vertical wooden mullions to the exterior of this museum extension in Mänttä, Finland, to evoke the trunks of trees in the surrounding park .
MX_SI won a competition in 2011 to design a new wing for the Contemporary Art Museum Gösta Serlachius with a proposal for abuilding with a timber frame and wooden cladding, intended to blend in with its setting in a forested park.
Related story: Controversial Helsinki Guggenheim competition attracts record number of entrants Situated next to the Joennimei Manor, a residence constructed in 1935 that previously housedthe museum, the extension provides additional spacefor the expanding collection and for temporary exhibitions.
Thebuilding's long and narrow plan isarranged parallel to the axis between the existing house, its garden and a nearby lake. This frames a new plaza at one end, providing accessto the houseand the extension.
A curving roofline dips down soasnot to obstruct views to and from the manor, but sweeps upwards to form a more prominent facade at one end, where the landscape descendstowards the lake.
Locally sourced spruce was laminated to create a structural framework that issurrounded by vertical mullions, with strips of twisted spruce placed in between them. This provides a textural surface that varies over the length of the facades.
"The project isconceptualised asan abstract and denseforest,"said the architects in a statement, "a forest that represents and translates into a series of parallel wooden frames that define the geometry and structure of the new building."
Various openings and angular incisions interrupt the elongated elevations, featuring reflective glazing to break up the otherwise homogenous wooden facades and increase the connection with the surrounding landscape.
"To reduce the visual impact of a building in sucha sensitive environment, the building seeksto decompose into smaller fragments,"said the architects.
"The result of these incisions isthe perception of spacesof infinite mirrors – doors or forest walkways optically subdividing the building transversely."
Theincisions into the facades introduce variety to the route through the building, allowing natural light to enter and offering views from the galleries, foyer and cafeteria.
"These invasions transform what would have been a linear path into an emotional one, thanks to the rhythm of the constant repetition of the structural frames and interruptions that allow external spacesto penetrate inside the building,"added the architects.
平顶梁被暴露在展厅和公共空间内，以强调建筑的屋顶曲线，并强调了整个建筑对于木材料的应用。
Ceiling beams have been left exposed inside the galleries and public spacesto emphasise the curving form of the roof and to highlight the useof wood throughout the entire project.
MX_SI was also responsible for improvements to the landscape around the buildings, which provides a site for outdoor artworks including sculptures by Finnish artist Harry Kivijärvi.
Part of the task involved the introduction of a bridge linking the park with a small island on the site of a crossing that had collapsed decadespreviously.
Thenew structure connects the gently sloping shore of the park with a higher bank on the island and istherefore angled slightly.
Thelower end emerges from the ground before ascending to a narrower point that appears to balance on the island's rocky shore.
Thebridge ismade from weathered steel sheeting. This material was bent in four places to create a structural section that supports a balustrade on one side and a larch wood surface on the other, which alters along its length to form a bench in the centre.
