Karmøy Fishing Museum
Camouflaging into the surroundings
1998–
Introduction
Cantilevering slightly over the North Sea horizon, it feels like a container has been dropped informally upon the site of Karmøy Fishing Museum.
Technical details
Photo: © Jiri Havran
Adopting the character of its surroundings
After being given the task of designing Karmøy Fish Museum, Snøhetta was very early in the process imagening to propose a concrete tube-like building, open at both ends, placed carefully onto the landscape.
The outside concrete walls are designed to become overgrown by local lichen just by adding sour milk and nutrition to the concrete surfaces. Slowly the walls are then adopting the character of its surroundings. The surfaces are only partially split up by the two square windows at each long side of the building and by the wall of woven juniper branches near the entrance.
“Cargo container”
The interior is a one-space museum, similar to the space within a “cargo container,” a nickname which the local public has adopted. This allows for full flexibility for exhibitions within the museum's four walls.
In the future, the museum can be lengthened. The entrance wall could simply be replaced, whereas the window towards the water would remain as a framed view, describing the departure point of the structure.
