Summary
The National Museum of World Culture, which opened in December 2004 at Korsvägen in Gothenburg, is a totally new museum which focuses on world cultures. This is the first time such a large central cultural institution has been located outside of the capital city. The National Museum of World Culture will build its base on the collections from the Gothenburg Ethnographic Museum with increased interdisciplinary awareness and international collaboration. Through uses of new technologies, new means of collaboration and active community work, the role of the traditional museum will develop. The museum is increasingly becoming a place for meetings even during times when the exhibitions are not open, and there is space for a wide range of activities.

The museum has high demands on its building. It offers well functioning spaces for visitors, employees and for the museum objects and fulfils specialised requirements for security, technology and climate. There are also specific requirements when it comes to flexibility and adaptability. The building is also diligently designed architecturally, enhances the surrounding environment and is an asset to society.

Background
To start with, the National Property Board arranged a large international architectural design competition for the new museum during 1998 and 1999. The proposal 'Ice Cube' by Edgar Gonzalez and Cécile Brisac, London, was chosen as winner. They have since then established a project office in Gothenburg together with their Swedish partners, Erséus, Frenning & Sjögren architects.

The building which resulted from the development of the competition design has a complex construction system with very large spans, an exciting atrium with glazed facades and intricate circulation paths. Its total area is approximately 11 000 m2.

Implementation
The environment was a strong decision criterion during the architect competition which was held to appoint the architectural team - for example, the cubic shape of the building leads to a lesser energy consumption than of a loaf shaped building.

Consultants and entrepreneurs have carried out environmental reviews throughout the project, in order to guarantee that the established environmental demands have been followed. The environmental demands on the project have, among other things, included requirements for environmental and health reviews of material, environmentally educated personnel, waste and materials management, and handling of chemicals.

Throughout the project, work has been done regarding damp safety: during the design development phase, damp dimensioning was done in the whole building, and during the construction phase, regular damp controls were completed.

Results

• A heat pump, with ten rock holes, 185 meters down into the rock, heats the museum in the wintertime and cools the museum during the summers.
• All the built-in materials have been reviewed from an environmental and health aspect. Building declarations have been provided for all the materials used.
• The museum is completely free of PVC
• There has been a big focus on the indoor environment, with the intention of 'P-marking' the museum - this is a rating given to a building that meets specified standards for the indoor environment. These demands include thermal comfort, air quality, damp, radon, light, noise, as well as electrical and magnetic fields. It is also required that there are established routines for indoor environment controls.

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