Page 56 - EXPOTIME!Sept2017

New museums New museums

● In Blåvand, western Denmark, a World War II German dea Foundation and the Augustinus Foundation. It is
bunker was turned into a cultural complex camouflaged expected to attract around 100,000 visitors annually.
among the protected dunes. Named "Tirpitz Museum" Tirpitz Museum is the latest in a series of major cultural
and opened in June, the 82,000 m2 attraction relates the projects for BIG. In 2013, the studio completed the Dan-
history of the rugged coastal area, including stories of ish National Maritime Museum. The firm is also working
lost ships, smugglers and war. Approaching visitors first on the LEGO House in Billund, Denmark; the MECA Cul-
see the bunker, buzt then they can reveal its secrets: tural Center in Bordeaux, France, and the Smithsonian
the complex is divided into four main underground gal- Institution masterplan in Washington, DC.
leries. whioch can be accessed from a central courtyard
on ground level, with 6-metre-tall (20-foot) glass panels ● Northumberland’s long-awaited Landscape Discovery
allowing natural light to flood into the interior spaces. A Centre and Youth Hostel at Hadrian’s Wall called “The
tunnel links the galleries with the back of the bunker. The Sill” has opened in July after more than three years of
four exhibition rooms, designed by Dutch agency Tinker development. It replaces a 1960s-era visitor centre. The
Imagineers, showcase permanent and temporary themed place with a living grass roof had been completely rede-
experiences dedicated to Blåvand’s natural surroundings veloped to incorporate learning facilities, youth hostel
and history and its “treasure trove of hidden stories”.
In the central room, visitors learn about the seafaring
nation of Denmark. ‘Army of Concrete’ tells human sto-
ries in the shadow of Hitler’s enormous European de-
fence project, the Atlantic Wall. Visitors learn the sto-
ry of Danes and Germans who worked and lived here.
Collections are varied. The West Coast Stories exhibi-
tion describes thousands of years of west coast history
and is turned into a nighttime 4D theatre every hour,
while Gold of the West Coast is Europe’s most compre-
hensive exhibition of amber. The museum was financed
by the municipality of Varde, alongside the AP Møller
and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, the Nor- The Sill. Photo: institution

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EXPOTIME!, issue August/September 2017