luca poian's museum for oulu, finland draped in a pleated brick skin

reinventing the industrial fabric of oulu, finland

With its latest competition entry, Luca Poian Forms looks to the coastal city of Oulu, Finland. The proposed Oulu Museum & Science Center is designed to emerge as an iconic monolith among the city’s Myllytulli district, creating a new focal point for the once-industrial urban context. Overall, the project is envisioned with a simple and legible massing which responds appropriately to the scale and materiality of its nineteenth century-built neighbors.

Thus, the building is wrapped in a facade of red brickwork, reinventing the familiar material as a rippling ‘urban-scale curtain.’ The unique strategy serves to harmonize the building with its surroundings while introducing a unique and contemporary icon for the city.

images © filippo bolognese images | @filippobolognese

the structural brick veil by luca poian forms

The Oulu Museum & Science Center proposal by Luca Poian Forms is recognized by its textural brick veil, which gently pleats and parts to reveal luminous interiors and a spiral stair. This ‘urban-scale curtain’ has become a recurring theme in much of the architect‘s work, and was proposed for both a museum in Tampere, Finland (see here) and a mosque in Preston, England (see here).

The bold volume contrasts the delicate yet self-supporting brick veil. The team notes that the facade’s varying degrees of transparency and opacity create ‘a protective enclosure that safeguards the exhibitions whilst providing carefully curated views of the surroundings.’

This undulating effect is created by corrugations which lend an inherent structural stiffness, allowing the skin to stand as an independent system. The architects comment: ‘This independent relationship between volume and skin means that the structure is unencumbered by the weight of a heavy brick facade.’

inside the proposed museum

Behind the structural brick veil, Luca Poian Form’s Oulu Museum & Science Center contains flexible exhibition spaces, with a fully-transparent volume hosting the new visitors’ entrance. These spaces are organized with a highly rational layout to ensure a clear route throughout the building, prioritizing both the visitor experience and operational efficiency. A spiral staircase provides access to all five stories of the new addition, as well as to the pre-existing building.

Along the uppermost level, a ‘hyper-flexible sky-lit exhibition hall,’ makes use of the structure itself as a canvas for reconfigurable partitions. ‘Unencumbered by vertical structural elements, this floor is suitable for a wide range of media and events, allowing the building to host exhibitions of widely varied nature and scale,’ The team explains. ‘Here the museum experience extends onto the roof of the former Power station, which is accessed via an opening through the new building’s facade, just above the bridge connection.’

the modern extension is connected to the original building by a multi-story glass box
a sky-lit exhibition space occupies the uppermost level