Offener Wettbewerb | 04/2014
House of fairytales and a fairytale garden - Hans Christian Andersen
Fairytale Garden
HOUSE OF FAIRYTALES
Ankauf
Architektur
Architektur
Architektur
Erläuterungstext
The Fairytale world
Our proposal is based on the complex structure of symbols in H.C. Andersen’s fairy tales and their connection to each other and to H.C. Andersen’s life. We tried to organise these allegorical elements into a system that can be adapted to a spatial concept as well. Accordingly, we created four main categories that define the museum experience: journey, self-projection, criticism and love.
Journey
Journey is one of the main motives appearing in H.C. Andersen’s fairytales, and he was a keen traveller himself. The motivation for these journeys is often a longing for another world – e.g. the world of the beloved (The Little Mermaid), or the desire to get away from “here and now” (The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep). The main character often finds the solution for a problem through a journey, what is also a symbol of self-discovery.
Self-projection
H.C. Andersen’s personal characteristics and his relation to the world appear all in his stories – generally as a strong contrast between the personal and physical qualities (Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, The Fir Tree). This can also be interpreted as a metaphor of the lifelong conflict between H.C. Andersen’s inner world and his surroundings.
Love
The way in which love is pictured in H.C. Andersen’s fairytales originates in autobiographical elements as well. Everyone he loved rejected him, and lived all his life in solitude. Complicated and unrequited love, sorrow and loneliness characterize Andersen’s love stories.
Criticism
H.C. Andersen’s writing was avant-garde amongst his contemporaries in both style and content. He used the idioms and constructions of spoken language in a way that was new in Danish writing, for what he was exposed to a lot of criticism. His reaction to these critics, the contrast between academic literature and true poetry became a motif in many of his fairytales (The Nightingale, The Flying Trunk, The Snail and the Rose Bush).
The museum
The spatial structure of the museum follows the above-described concept, by dividing the site into four main areas. These spaces can be visited separately but also as a continuous route. The fairytale-garden is formally inspired by one of H.C. Andersen’s paper-cuts, which provides a circular layout for the site: giant water-lily-leaves separate the above- and underground space. Here and there, the leaves are “folded up and down”, thus visitors are allowed to look in and out from one world to the other. Our architectural concept focuses on creating situations where visitors can experience things from different perspectives.
The concept of the exhibition brings the audio and visual experience of the fairytale world into focus. On an additional virtual layer, however, visitors can get access to additional information with the use of a mobile application. During the museum visit the app mainly operates with Augmented Reality (AR). Signs are placed on the floor of the museum and in the Fairytale Garden indicating the interactive areas. The museum app helps visitors to get an enhanced experience of the exhibition, gain knowledge and interact with the content and each other.
Our proposal is based on the complex structure of symbols in H.C. Andersen’s fairy tales and their connection to each other and to H.C. Andersen’s life. We tried to organise these allegorical elements into a system that can be adapted to a spatial concept as well. Accordingly, we created four main categories that define the museum experience: journey, self-projection, criticism and love.
Journey
Journey is one of the main motives appearing in H.C. Andersen’s fairytales, and he was a keen traveller himself. The motivation for these journeys is often a longing for another world – e.g. the world of the beloved (The Little Mermaid), or the desire to get away from “here and now” (The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep). The main character often finds the solution for a problem through a journey, what is also a symbol of self-discovery.
Self-projection
H.C. Andersen’s personal characteristics and his relation to the world appear all in his stories – generally as a strong contrast between the personal and physical qualities (Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, The Fir Tree). This can also be interpreted as a metaphor of the lifelong conflict between H.C. Andersen’s inner world and his surroundings.
Love
The way in which love is pictured in H.C. Andersen’s fairytales originates in autobiographical elements as well. Everyone he loved rejected him, and lived all his life in solitude. Complicated and unrequited love, sorrow and loneliness characterize Andersen’s love stories.
Criticism
H.C. Andersen’s writing was avant-garde amongst his contemporaries in both style and content. He used the idioms and constructions of spoken language in a way that was new in Danish writing, for what he was exposed to a lot of criticism. His reaction to these critics, the contrast between academic literature and true poetry became a motif in many of his fairytales (The Nightingale, The Flying Trunk, The Snail and the Rose Bush).
The museum
The spatial structure of the museum follows the above-described concept, by dividing the site into four main areas. These spaces can be visited separately but also as a continuous route. The fairytale-garden is formally inspired by one of H.C. Andersen’s paper-cuts, which provides a circular layout for the site: giant water-lily-leaves separate the above- and underground space. Here and there, the leaves are “folded up and down”, thus visitors are allowed to look in and out from one world to the other. Our architectural concept focuses on creating situations where visitors can experience things from different perspectives.
The concept of the exhibition brings the audio and visual experience of the fairytale world into focus. On an additional virtual layer, however, visitors can get access to additional information with the use of a mobile application. During the museum visit the app mainly operates with Augmented Reality (AR). Signs are placed on the floor of the museum and in the Fairytale Garden indicating the interactive areas. The museum app helps visitors to get an enhanced experience of the exhibition, gain knowledge and interact with the content and each other.
Beurteilung durch das Preisgericht
The master plan is defined as a geometric concept in which spherical shapes subtly integrates the light railway, the gardens, and the exhibition facilities. The gardens are projected with artefacts of oversized mushrooms and insects.
The access points are through water walls, and visitors are met by the Little Mermaid, who immediately leads them into a fabulous universe. Interaction taking place between experience, visitors, and fairy tales is foreseen allowing a direct exchange of experience to take place – both before and after the visit. This aspect, together with a tentative approximation of quite a noble solution to a master and garden plan carried the proposal a good way into the final adjudication phase.
With its poetic approach, the proposal is capable of capturing those effects and metaphors characteristic of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales while also illustrating a very up-todate
presentational concept that contains both physical expressions and digital media. (...)
The access points are through water walls, and visitors are met by the Little Mermaid, who immediately leads them into a fabulous universe. Interaction taking place between experience, visitors, and fairy tales is foreseen allowing a direct exchange of experience to take place – both before and after the visit. This aspect, together with a tentative approximation of quite a noble solution to a master and garden plan carried the proposal a good way into the final adjudication phase.
With its poetic approach, the proposal is capable of capturing those effects and metaphors characteristic of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales while also illustrating a very up-todate
presentational concept that contains both physical expressions and digital media. (...)
Analysis and systematisation of the fairytales and symbolic elements
Concept - H.C. Andersen's papercuts
Section
Birdseyeview
Entrance
Augmented Reality