Petter Dass Museum, Snøhetta

The petter dass museum in alstahaug, norway was designed by snøhetta. the building project is in honour of its namesake, a norwegian poet from the 17th century. the museum is placed in a cut made in the rocky landscape near to the church that dass worked at the building sits inside the crevasse with a small walkway on either side to circulate around the structure.

The museum blends into the landscape with its stone face, while the glass windows at the front back bring nature inside.the windows face the church at the back and the sky at the front,representing the past and future respectively.

Peter Dass is one of Norway’s most important and beloved poets. He was also the Vicar at Alstahaug Church from 1689 until his death in 1707. The strong historical importance of the surroundings made the task of locating and designing a new building on the site sensitive and very challenging.

The project involved designing a new museum building, a landscape plan for the surrounding site, parking facilities, and a service building.

Snøhetta’s team decided to make a cut in the landscape to create a new site. This cut allowed a freestanding building which in volume balances the mass removed. This bold solution creates a new but humble relationship to the historical sites, as well as allowing an expressive architecture. In this way the new museum contributes to visualize the historical span from the origin of the church to our time.

Norwegian architects Snøhetta have completed Petter Dass Museum, a building cut into solid rock on a remote Fjord in Norway.

The project involved designing a new 1350m2 museum building, a landscape plan for the surrounding site, parking facilities and a service building. The project was financed by Alstahaug kommune, Nordland fylkeskommune, Kultur- og kirkedepartementet and commercial contributions. Snøhetta have continuously been involved in the process since 2001 and until the opening of the museum on October the 20th 2007.