Finnskogscenter Museum

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects transformed an old school in the forest outside Torsby, Sweden, into a museum and cultural centre coinceiving the interiors and the fisrt exhibition’s set up as an abstraction of the slash-burn agricultural landscape.

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects has designed a new museum and cultural centre in an old school in the forest outside Torsby, Sweden.

The museum pays tribute to slash-burn agricultural Finns who settled deep into the forests in the early 1600s.

The project also includes an exhibition showing the Finns building techniques and crafts, and telling about their history, traditions and folklore. The architects chose to work with raw materials from the forest in the facade: “We wanted the building to communicate the Finn culture nearly as clear as an expression mark”, says Andreas Lyckefors at Bornstein Lyckefors.

To achieve that, the old school building was smutted black and covered with a veil of standing timber. The facade has openings for entry and extra sunlight intake. Protruding wooden boxes also provides space for benches, signage and artwork.

The interior and exhibition design is an abstraction of the slash-burn agricultural landscape. On the floor is a printed carpet depicting the burned ground, the walls are covered with mirrors and laser-cut colour strips that create the effect of an infinitely large room and the exhibition stands are mounted on spring green steel racks with diagonal bracing to give associations to the first trees that grew out earth.

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects, Finnskogscenter Museum, Torsby, Sweden. The facade timber and boxes are untreated and will age simultaneously.

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects, Finnskogscenter Museum, Torsby, Sweden.

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects, Finnskogscenter Museum, Torsby, Sweden. The screen of timber wraps around the building with openings for entry and extra sunlight intake. Protruding wooden boxes also provides space for benches, signage and artwork

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects, Finnskogscenter Museum, Torsby, Sweden

Bornstein Lyckefors Architects, Finnskogscenter Museum, Torsby, Sweden. The interior is clad in wood and painted black with a gradient transition to resemble the smoke heated cabins the Finns used. By letting smoke pour out at the top of the ceiling the houses were kept warm leaving ash coloured traces as horizontal lines along the walls.