Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB - The Universeum

Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB
The Universeum
Göteborg, Sweden

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The Universeum is located on a a steep slope adjacent to an amusement park on the fringe of Göteborg City Center.
The design brief called for a Science Center with an aquarium and a rain forest as an integral part of the learning process. The Universeum's mission is to stimulate young people's thirst for knowledge and encourage them to get actively involved in science and technology.

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The main materials are wood, glass and concrete; all chosen with future recycling in mind. The building is to act as a model of good environmental practice in every possible way; its energy consumption is low and the energy used in its day-to-day running is, as far as possible, to be harnessed in the building itself.

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The entrance building is a modern barn, "the wooden ship", with free spanning gluelam beams providing an uninterrupted floorplate of 800 square meters with a free height of 4 meters and 1 meter installation zone.

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

It is a highly flexible space where most of the hands on experiments of the science center are located.The all-wooden structure provides pinewood floor,whitewashed pine walls and the gluelam primary and secondary structure concentrating all vertical forces in 8 gluelam pillars. Installations will be easily accessible by drilling holes through the floor and everything is designed robustly so it can cope with nails etc.
The building relies on natural ventilation and daylight for all the main areas (not in all aquariums).

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The exterior perimeter of "the Wooden Ship" is an opaque glass skin admitting daylight while taking away some of the heat load. The cavity between the glass and the thermal wall is used for incoming air which in summertime will be misted to lower the temperature to 4 degrees centigrade. The "Big Glass Structure" will provide openings on the leeside of generally occurring winds (it is in a valley) and is designed with 70 square m of sun chimney providing extra draft.

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The building is accessed mainly from the north where the two projecting exhibition levels of the wooden ship provides expressionistic shape allowing glimpses into the dynamics of the hands on experiments, the children, while allowing the building a certain dynamic implying the ascent of the mountain which is hidden from direct view.

Photo: Åke E:son Lindman

The vertical joints of the opaque glass screen are covered with wooden frames making the building appear all wood from the main approach.The other parts of the building are less visually important since they merge with the landscape.Still they are designed to melt with the greenery and eventually be overtaken by it (the stone- and peat-gabions).

Model photo courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S

Elevation Drawings courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S

There's a drop of 40 meters from the Swedish mountain at the top of the building to the anaconda swamp in the rain forest at the bottom!

"We climbed the slope with a pair of inclined elevators making the visit a stroll downwards through the ecosystems of Scandinavia (under a triangular "shed-roof" with peat walls),through the North Sea,The Atlantic and the major river systems of Earth (the "stonecage",a closed concrete box covered with gabions with the very stone from the blasted site) through a rain forest moved from a mountain in Costa Rica and applied to the steep slope (this was in a "big glass structure" with a great north facing glass wall cut into a slot of the actual granite mountain and covered by a symbolic tree canopy structure of gluelam beams carrying glass facing north and solar panels facing south) making a descent of some 20 meters in a 30 m high rain forest."

Entrance Level Plan courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S

Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S
Competition: 1997
Design: 1997-2000
Construction: 1999 -2001

Gross Area 11 000 square m
Completion: June 2001

Project Team
Gert Wingårdh
Thomas Hansen
Gunilla Murnieks
Ulrika Davidsson
Dan Danielsson
Johan Eklund
Jacob Sahlkvist
Jannicke Wirstad
Birgitta Andersson
Trung Ngyuen Viet
Fredrik Gullberg
PŒl Ericksson
Charlotta Belin
David Schofield

Statics: Flygfältsbyrån
Mechanicals: RNK
Electrilcals: KM-elteknikn
Landscape: Landskapsgruppen

09.09.2001

About: Gert Wingårdh

Wingårdh arcspace features





				Features
		Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB The Universeum Göteborg, Sweden Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The Universeum is located on a a steep slope adjacent to an amusement park on the fringe of Göteborg City Center. The design brief called for a Science Center with an aquarium and a rain forest as an integral part of the learning process. The Universeum's mission is to stimulate young people's thirst for knowledge and encourage them to get actively involved in science and technology. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The main materials are wood, glass and concrete; all chosen with future recycling in mind. The building is to act as a model of good environmental practice in every possible way; its energy consumption is low and the energy used in its day-to-day running is, as far as possible, to be harnessed in the building itself. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The entrance building is a modern barn, "the wooden ship", with free spanning gluelam beams providing an uninterrupted floorplate of 800 square meters with a free height of 4 meters and 1 meter installation zone. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman It is a highly flexible space where most of the hands on experiments of the science center are located.The all-wooden structure provides pinewood floor,whitewashed pine walls and the gluelam primary and secondary structure concentrating all vertical forces in 8 gluelam pillars. Installations will be easily accessible by drilling holes through the floor and everything is designed robustly so it can cope with nails etc. The building relies on natural ventilation and daylight for all the main areas (not in all aquariums). Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The exterior perimeter of "the Wooden Ship" is an opaque glass skin admitting daylight while taking away some of the heat load. The cavity between the glass and the thermal wall is used for incoming air which in summertime will be misted to lower the temperature to 4 degrees centigrade. The "Big Glass Structure" will provide openings on the leeside of generally occurring winds (it is in a valley) and is designed with 70 square m of sun chimney providing extra draft. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The building is accessed mainly from the north where the two projecting exhibition levels of the wooden ship provides expressionistic shape allowing glimpses into the dynamics of the hands on experiments, the children, while allowing the building a certain dynamic implying the ascent of the mountain which is hidden from direct view. Photo: Åke E:son Lindman Photo: Åke E:son Lindman The vertical joints of the opaque glass screen are covered with wooden frames making the building appear all wood from the main approach.The other parts of the building are less visually important since they merge with the landscape.Still they are designed to melt with the greenery and eventually be overtaken by it (the stone- and peat-gabions). Model photo courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S Elevation Drawings courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S There's a drop of 40 meters from the Swedish mountain at the top of the building to the anaconda swamp in the rain forest at the bottom! "We climbed the slope with a pair of inclined elevators making the visit a stroll downwards through the ecosystems of Scandinavia (under a triangular "shed-roof" with peat walls),through the North Sea,The Atlantic and the major river systems of Earth (the "stonecage",a closed concrete box covered with gabions with the very stone from the blasted site) through a rain forest moved from a mountain in Costa Rica and applied to the steep slope (this was in a "big glass structure" with a great north facing glass wall cut into a slot of the actual granite mountain and covered by a symbolic tree canopy structure of gluelam beams carrying glass facing north and solar panels facing south) making a descent of some 20 meters in a 30 m high rain forest." Entrance Level Plan courtesy Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S Wingårdh Arkitektkontor A/S Competition: 1997 Design: 1997-2000 Construction: 1999 -2001 Gross Area 11 000 square m Completion: June 2001 Project Team Gert Wingårdh Thomas Hansen Gunilla Murnieks Ulrika Davidsson Dan Danielsson Johan Eklund Jacob Sahlkvist Jannicke Wirstad Birgitta Andersson Trung Ngyuen Viet Fredrik Gullberg PŒl Ericksson Charlotta Belin David Schofield Statics: Flygfältsbyrån Mechanicals: RNK Electrilcals: KM-elteknikn Landscape: Landskapsgruppen 09.09.2001 About: Gert Wingårdh Wingårdh arcspace features