Overlapping Distinct Frames of Mind
A Finnish Institute for Newcastle upon Tyne
The project acts as a competition to attract the Finnish Institute to relocate their offices to Newcastle upon Tyne. This scheme proposes that the Institute will become a platform for innovation, allowing encounters and exchange of ideas. Situated on the Newcastle Gateshead Quayside it hopes to provide the Institute with the public interaction it currently lacks. The building will include offices for the Finnish Institute, a public cafe, gallery and library as well as accommodation for nine researchers from various disciplines. The development centres on the idea that new ideas are sparked when two completely different schools of thought are combined. This overlapping is translated into a blurred boundary between public and private, and a material language of wrapping and layering. This is continued onto the facade which hopes to declare itself as a public building, different to its neighbours, welcoming and legible.