034 _ _MAR/APR 2019
Site Visit _ Nordic Museum _Seattle, Washington _Mithun
The resulting delays ultimately worked in Mithun’s favour when the Nordic Museum
was able to expand its site after purchasing the linear block’s west end in 2012. “Our
second go at it was able to breathe more,” says Jones, who worked alongside design
partner Richard Franko. “We stretched it out, shifting the entry from east to west,
and the fjord form became more like a slot canyon.”
Approaching from the east, a visitor to the Nordic Museum can spot dry docks
along the Ballard Locks shipping canal. The museum’s two-tone grey zinc cladding
(chosen to resist corrosion from Puget Sound’s sea air) plays off a lush archipelago of
larch- and lingonberry-filled planting beds that run the length of Market Street.
When patrons enter the museum, their eyes are drawn down the length of a long,
double-height space whose canted white walls rise to an undulating ceiling that’s
striped along one edge by a 100 -metre-long sliver of skylight. “The original design
was more of a straight shot,” says Jones. “We ended up having it wiggle a bit more
so that we didn’t just give up the entire view from the front door.”
That sense of movement and discovery entices visitors deeper into the haunting
chasm of the fjord, linked on either side to gallery spaces for temporary exhibitions,
which thus far have included colourful works by contemporary Norwegian artist
Bjarne Melgaard, a landscape photo series by Olafur Eliasson, and Viking artifacts
from Sweden. A narrowing wooden stair at the far end reveals light at its top – from
a skylight and Wohlert pendant fixtures from Louis Poulsen – drawing visitors upward.
The second-floor galleries, one of which is dotted by a “forest” of birch trees, are
accessed by moving from one side of the fjord to the other via four bridges made
from nail-laminated Douglas fir and covered in end-grain flooring.
The result of Mithun’s design is a bold form perfectly fitted to the Nordic roots of
the surrounding neighbourhood. “A fjord is this geological phenomenon that’s
been eroded by glaciers over time,” says Jones. “We tried to sculpt a museum space
that felt equally timeless.” mithun.com, nordicmuseum.orgThe main hall is clad in
a monolithic zinc standing
seam skin. Inside, the
permanent galleries
(below) are joined by
wooden bridges that span
a light-filled atrium.