New Guggenheim Helsinki Competition by Tisselli Studio

New Guggenheim Helsinki
New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

Connected to the historical city harbor through memory, the new Guggenheim Helsinki follows the skyline of the waterfront, adopting the archetype of the 19th century dock buildings. The articulation of the museum’s volume with the surrounding city grid and building heights allowed the reframing of the existing views from the Tahtitornin Vuori park.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

By considering the addition of a prominent vertical element to be part of the cityscape of Helsinki, like a church’s campanile, which highlights its presence in the city and announces new events, the Guggenheim would become a reference point not only for its name but also for its design and mutable ability.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

The volumetric communication with the existing urban grid and elements of historical importance triggers a process of urban regeneration on the South Harbor’s waterfront that creates continuity with the city. Through the design of two new connections with Laivansillankatu, for pedestrians and cyclists, the one-way existing connection from the north is thus assisted and enhanced.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

One of the new connections branches from the existing bike and pedestrian lane cutting the building in half. It crosses the glazed exhibition spaces, offices and museum’s public areas and ends in the waterfront. Therefore, the museum becomes a place for the everyday dialogue between art, people and the city, while the city starts happening also inside the Guggenheim.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

The building is accessible from Laivansillankatu and from the waterfront promenade that is expanded into the building. The promenade is thus enriched on the north with a direct entrance to the museum’s store, a cafe with sheltered resting areas around it opened 24 hours a day, with views to the bay and the Valkosaari islands.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

From the double height lobby, located on the ground floor, the visitor has direct access to the performance/conference hall, the museum’s store and the classroom, which can be expanded with its adjacent exhibition space or the public covered space turned to the sea, unfolding the educational
activities to the exterior.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Image © Filippo Tisselli

From the lobby, the visitor is invited to begin his journey through the exhibition by first ascending to the last floor, where the formal restaurant is positioned, turned to the city and the bay. From here, the visitor loops around the building’s public spaces descending from gallery to gallery through accessible ramps, finding lounge areas along the path with a view to the harbor or the park, with the multipurpose zone directly connected with the exhibition and the pedestrian and cyclist yellow tube that crosses the museum.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Sketch

Two vegetated courtyards, one of them at the end of the museum’s tower, facilitate the natural light in, illuminating the offices, exhibition and lobby with diffuse colored light. The tower, especially designed to transmit the natural light into the building and amplify it, changes its color to announce the opening of a new exhibition, functioning as the new city symbol, a new element that redraws the skyline of Helsinki and colors its silhouette during winter.

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Concept

Location: Helsinki, Finland
Architects: Tisselli studio
Year: 2014
Images: Courtesy of Filippo Tisselli

New Guggenheim Helsinki
Diagram
New Guggenheim Helsinki
Diagram
New Guggenheim Helsinki
Diagram
New Guggenheim Helsinki
Diagram

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