title: Guggenheim Helsinki
location: Helsinki, Finland
principle use: Art Museum
size: 13900 sqm
number of stories: 2
structure: RC+Wood
competition period: 2014
For the new Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki, the site characterized by its proximity to the waterfront setting and Tahititornin Park is a perfect setting to transition the museum for the city. The concept is essentially creating an extension of a park by introducing a three-dimensional green landscape that can be enjoyed all year round.
Even with Helsinki’s weather severity, it provides a centralized space for people to enjoy and stroll around in various ways while allowing accessibility to art, performance and exhibition programs of the museum. By designating a free zone called the “green passage”, it will contain a flourishing lush and beautiful green environment created by both passive and active techniques.
The architecture will feature fully glazed walls and roof, engineered wood structures, living walls, and a green roof. It is a space that can build a community for healthy interaction between art and the public by essentially creating a “living” space that purifies the air you breathe while making a more sustainable environment. It will bring to life much-needed amenity in Helsinki’s long winters.
Guggenheim Helsinki Museum must function to be more than a museum but also an active forum, with providing facilities for public space to redefine museums in the future.