Guggenheim Museum

The Guggenheim museum is imagined as a linear volume of galleries floating high above the quayside on wood piers. By elevating the building mass, the existing visual sight lines can be preserved, from Tähtitorninvuori Park and Hakaniemi Market Square to the Palace Hotel. Alignment with Laivasillankatu generates a curved building form, which in turn defines a concave outdoor civic plaza between the museum and the quayside.

The museum is organised in three levels around a central atrium. The elevated gallery floor is gently sloped, to create a descending journey through the galleries. It begins high on the south end looking out to the water and descends gradually to the north, arriving at the level of the city fabric.

The museum would be built and clad in Finnish wood. We conceive all exterior spaces, such as the public plaza at Level 1 and the arrival plaza at Level 2, with wooden flooring such as traditional dock wood.

An art museum must actively engage its visitors and provide a platform for social interactions. In this vein, a museum should be a democratic institution whose physical setting engages one and all. Our proposed design attempts to create a minimal form in such a setting. It is a response both to the site and the vibrant cultural context of Helsinki.