The competition proposal for Roskilde's new Viking Ship Museum demonstrates a new cohesive museum experience that reflects the unique place-based narratives. The proposal emphasises the interaction between inside and outside, and the museum's integration with the city and the water, reviving Roskilde's special historical identity and connection to the fjord landscape.

The Viking Ship Museum seamlessly interweaves four distinct destinations around the central museum harbor: The Gate, The Box, The Hall, and the outdoor Museum Island.

The project includes the restoration and functional transformation of the existing museum hall, while the Gate and the Box are new buildings that house the entrance to the museum and the exhibition of the five historic Viking ships - the Skuldelev ships - respectively. The landscape element revives the original interface between the fjord and the land, restoring the area's native biotope as a resilient salt marsh. This ecological restoration seamlessly integrates the museum, the waterfront, and the city, while also addressing the pressing issue of rising water levels and storm surges.

The four destinations each represent their own chapter in a single narrative. Visitors move dynamically around the harbour, where the activities are linked together in a museum loop. The loop creates an educational journey between the museum's buildings and the landscape, with the harbour, fjord and sailing ships as the focal point. This connection between the landscape and the buildings demonstrates a forward-thinking open-air museum that includes the museum artefacts, the sailing ships, the fjord and the city.

Revitalising Roskilde's identity and creating connections

Overall, the project creates clear connections to the surroundings and provides access to the fjord along the beach meadow for both visitors and city residents. In doing so, the Viking Ship Museum also facilitates a new public city square that mediates the city's encounter with the water. The town square is a flexible area for various activities, such as city festivals, concerts, and market days, while at the same time it is a recreational area with access to the water in the middle of the unique, nature-rich fjord landscape.