New National Gallery
BIG

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Located on a steep slope overlooking the most beautiful of Greenland's fjords, the new National Gallery will serve as a cultural and architectural icon for the people of Greenland, combining the country's historical and contemporary art in one dynamic institution.

BIG + TNT Nuuk + Ramboll Nuuk + Arkitekti were selected as the winning team to design the new National Gallery of Greenland in the country's capital Nuuk.

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

As a projection of a geometrically perfect circle on to the steep slope, the new gallery is conceived as a courtyard building that combines a pure geometrical layout with a sensitive adaption to the landscape. The three‐dimensional imprint of the landscape creates a protective ring around the museum's focal point, the sculpture garden where visitors, personnel, exhibition merge with culture and nature, inside and outside.

The slope opens up the sculpture garden towards the city and the view, framing both the sculpture garden and museum functions. A rough looking external facade of white concrete will patinate over time and adjust to the local weather, while the circular inner glass facade will consist of a simple and refined frame which contrasts the rough nature and compliments the beautiful view.


Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Image courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The circular shape of the gallery enables a flexible division of the exhibition into different shapes and sizes, creating a unique framework for the museum's art. Visitor access to the exhibition happens through a covered opening created by a slight lift in the facade into a lobby with a 180 degree panorama view towards the sculpture garden and the fjord as well as access to the common museum functions, including ticket counters, wardrobe, boutique and a café.


Model photo courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Model photo courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

Model photo courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group

The Danish functionalistic architecture in Nuuk is typically square boxes which ignore the unique nature of Greenland. We therefore propose a national gallery which is both physically and visually in harmony with the dramatic nature, just like life in Greenland is a symbiosis of the nature. We have created a simple, functional and symbolic shape, where the perfect circle is supplied by the local topography which creates a unique hybrid between the abstract shape and the specific location./Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Partner, BIG

Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.


Drawing courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels GroupAxonometric Diagram

Drawing courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels GroupAxonometric Diagram

Drawing courtesy BIG-Bjarke Ingels GroupAxonometric Diagram