The Room to FORESEE

Abstract

Architectural submission to international competition Helsinki Finland.

the Conceptual approach was to invoke a room to FORESEE where objects could be cast, experiences could be carved, and artifacts composed. The focus of this proposal for the Wirkkala-Bryk Archive was to create a new relationship between the physical archive and the public.

The archive space is split into three exhibition areas - Cast, Carve, and Compose - inspired directly by the design processes of Tapio Wirkkala and Rut Bryk. Each area provides a different context for the visitor to relate to and interact with the physical collection. If the visitor chooses, they can simply move around the edges of the exhibition and observe the finished artifacts like a conventional museum.

The more interested visitor can explore a multi sensory interactive display to discover more about the inspiration behind and design processes for the objects on display. Finally the visitor has an opportunity to explore their own relationship with design in the central Create space, where they can share their experiences with other visitors as well as create designs of their own.

CAST: The Projective Frame. Enter and Discover
Inspired by the process of casting, this area of the exhibition comprises an outer surface of display walls with rooms on the inside. Windows and openings encourage the visitor to penetrate this display edge and enter the spaces behind. In these rooms visitors can discover more about design and development processes that went into creating the artifacts.

CARVE: The Ingrained sculpture. Peel and Explore
Positioned as objects in space, this area of the exhibition has a number of large display cabinets that visitors move around and between. These cabinets have a series of doors, drawers and hatches that visitors can open and explore. In this way the outer surfaces are peeled away to reveal the history and inspiration behind objects displayed, mimicking the process of carving.

COMPOSE: The Contested Pattern. Position and Compare
Moveable and interchangeable, the smaller cabinets in this area can be relocated and juxtaposed to form different compositions. Visitors can physically interact with the exhibit by moving the objects themselves to compare, contrast and explore relationships that may not be apparent at first glance. With the exhibit in constant flux, every visitor inherits the layout left to them by their predecessor.

Additionally, a conservation area was integrated: to Conserve – protect and reveal.
Rather than an off-site repository, the proposal houses the archive in an environmentally controlled glazed box
suspended from the ceiling. This c-shaped repository above the heads of visitors becomes part of the exhibition by allowing oblique views of archive artifacts. Archive racks slide out over the central space, enabling easy access to individual objects for the renewing of the display and for research purposes.