Guggenheim - City Museum

The Design of the Guggenheim Helsinki was inspired by the idea of taking the museum into the city and to its people. While trying to make curation of art, truly democratic, the system keeps the building constantly in flux. The element that connects the museum to the people is the ‘art module’- retrofitted old shipping containers clad on the outside with thermo treated pine. These modules are found in different pockets of the city for the local artists to work away on its surfaces. They are brought back as repositories of native art and fitted into the Lattice that envelopes the building core, creating a canvas that always has a different picture of Finnish art, culture or expression, to behold.

The lattice in conjunction with the core creates dynamic perspectives and a unique visual and physical experience for the visitors. The main building is composed of a vertical mass and a horizontal mass comprising the core functions, the alignment of which is of the Nordic symbol – the Scandinavian Cross. The position, height and a predominant glass facade of the vertical and horizontal volumes, allow for maximum visual contact with the context – the sea and the historic fabric of the city.