The Gulating Museum proposal by LETH & GORI is a design for a new museum building for the historic Viking thingstead Gulating in Norway. The museum building is situated in the middle of the grandiose mountainous landscape as a natural portal for visiting the historic site. The circular building provides an overview of the area and information about the rich history and culture of Gulating. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The new museum building is shaped like a perfect circle 33 meters in diameter. The building is built into the sloping landscape half visible, half hidden. The circular outline of the building frames the program distributed on three floors. The top floor accommodates a café and roof terrace with spectacular views to the sea and landscape. The middle floor contains a reception area, culture workshops, exhibitions and an auditorium. The lower floor is dedicated to exhibition spaces and storage.
Gulating Museum is a meeting place between people, nature, culture and history. This meeting is emphasised in the spatial flow of the building where the border between interior and exterior and public and private is constantly challenged. An example of this is the public path that penetrates the museum providing visitors a direct link to the historic park and free views into the museum.
