Borås new art museum
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Architecture and urban design (MPARC), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Viklund, Simon
Lagerquist, Tore
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
In 2021, the Board of Culture presented a new development strategy for Borås as a city of art.
In part, it investigated the possibilies and benefits of a new public building in the city dedicated
to art, that would supersede the existing building of Borås Konstmuseum on P A Halls terrass.
Two years later, in 2023, a feasibility study for a new museum was published, outlining in
further detail the scope and ambitions of a possible future project. This thesis aims to take the
next step in the development of the idea of a new art museum by developing a design proposal
at Krokshallstorget in central Borås.
During the last decades, the city of Borås has come to identify increasingly as a city of art.
Perhaps most noticeable are the investments in public art around the city, which was kickstarted
by the installation in 2008 of a sculpture titled Walking to Borås - known colloquially as
Pinoccio - by the american artist Jim Dine. It also marked the opening of the first installment of
the Borås Sculpture Biennial, which has since broadened its range and become the Borås Art
Biennial, incorporating other forms of arts, such as murals that have also become increasingly
present in the city.
This master’s thesis contributes to the ongoing discussion around a new art museum in Borås
by investigating the architecture of the contemporary art museum nationally and internationally
and tries to specify how a similar architecture can be developed for the city of Borås. The
ambition as it is formulated in the feasability study of 2023 is to elevate the position of the
museum in the city and increase its national and international force of attraction.
The new museum will incorporate a number of different types of exhibitions, ranging from
contemporary art to photography and collections of paintings and sculpture.
The site at Krokshallstorget was chosen from a short-list of sites suggested in the development
strategy. The choice was made because of the site’s central location and interesting urban
condition on the border of the historical city grid. The site sits on the edge of the river Viskan
that runs through Borås and is one of the city’s most prominent features. The ambition is to
turn one of the most misused sites in the city into a public space for art, and in doing so, give
Borås a proper symbol for its new identity in the 21st century: a city of art.