Hurtigruten Museum

The largest museum piece in the world, the Finnmarken of the iconic Norwegian shipping company Hurtigruten, is 450 feet (almost 140 meters) long.

The highlight of Hurtigruten, one of the world's most unusual museums, is a restored glass-encased ship. The largest museum piece in the world, the Finnmarken of the iconic Norwegian shipping company Hurtigruten, is 450 feet (almost 140 meters) long.

It was commissioned in 1956, and in 1999 it became part of the museum's exhibition. To save the ship from imminent corrosion, it was placed in dry dock. It cost an impressive amount of money to maintain the ship, and the museum even considered abandoning the installation because it was unsafe.

A solution was offered by the Scandinavian construction and civil engineering company Peab. The design was developed by LINK arkitektur. A glass and steel structure, which costs NOK 127 million, surrounds the ship, ensuring the safety of visitors.

The protective structure has an area of 3,600 square meters. The main requirements for the new home for the legendary ship were durability and cost-effectiveness. Double-glazed windows with glass manufactured by Pilkington were used in the project.

Pilkington Activ exterior glass is distinguished by neutral light transmission and, most importantly, self-cleaning properties. It is scratch-resistant and requires less frequent cleaning, which saves on maintenance costs for glass facades.

A product from the Pilkington Suncool 66/33 Pro Tarchitectural range is installed in the middle of the glass unit. This versatile, highly selective glass has low specularity, an excellent solar factor and high light transmission. Thanks to these properties, the glass house does not obstruct the view of the museum exhibit, and provides a high level of natural light inside and a comfortable environment for the ship.

In order to increase safety, triplex was chosen for the inner layer of the insulating glass unit. The multilayer glass has impact-resistant properties. If broken, it does not shatter into pieces, as it is held in place by film.