The Alvar Aalto Museo and the Museum of Central Finland are important institutions in the city of Jyväskylä and unique buildings in the heritage of Alvar Aalto. With the new connecting addition the two buildings will join forces regarding closer collaborations in the future.

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Shop design is now an important part for each museums’ program. The idea to create a bridge building to host a common museums’ shop for both institutions proposes a strategic plan to rethink a new perception of the museum complex and its functions.

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The building proposal is conceived as a natural growth of the existing buildings, using the main structural axis of each one to generate a new space in common. The new volume is the superposition of two volumens, each of them follow the structural scheme of each museum and their spatial dimensions. The intersection of these two volumes generate a double height space that hosts the museum shop in its upper level, and utility rooms on the level below. The facade has two different rythms related to both museums: a grid with small vertical gaps made by timber sticks remember the vertical tiles of the AAM, and a curtain glass facade referencing the generous opening of the MCF.

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Both buildings maintain their main entries. The new bridge building will offer a new access. A generous stair connects both levels with a 1.84m height difference.

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The shop is strategically located between both museums and serve as a communication passage as well. In the central area, under the double height space, a geometrical stair landscape connect the level of the two museums and is also a central product display. 

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