The project is based on a new idea of the museum, open to the city not only spatially, but especially through the activities that involve art and citizens.
The intent is to rethink the relationship between the visitor and the museum, but also and especially the relationship between the artist and the exhibition space. The large space access "performance space" is considered as a living place and responsive to changes in the city and especially usable by visitors and artists, through installations, performances, temporary constructions, performances, lectures, creating works live. Etc. In some way a part of the Guggenheim will be self-managed by the art itself, while other areas are home to more institutional activities. The goal is to perceive the museum as a public space.
The new building, before interacting with the urban fabric, reflects on the relationship with the sea. Climate change and the projected sea level rise during this century have led to place the museum on a podium, on a cliff, to protect the future rising sea levels and storm surges.
Not only a defensive attitude, but also a resilient approach to change. Among eighty years the new waterfront could be made from the cliff, perhaps creating a sort of island Guggenheim.
Architecturally, the museum is the interaction between a horizontal type (who wants to fit discreetly in the background and does not reduce the view of the surrounding buildings and the park towards the sea), and the vertical type which emphasizes the recognition and admires the landscape and horizon.
So the building was born from a union between these two types, showing visually the transition and giving birth to a new icon of the city.
From the urban point of view, the museum is defined by the urban grid and directions of the harbor. For this reason it was decided to place the lower part of the inputs towards the city, as if it were a natural extension of the promenade, then culminate with the vertical element. We wanted to go on a journey inside the building is transformed into architectural walk, then culminate on the top floor with views of the harbor and the city. Not just a belvedere, but a vantage point to observe the installations of artists who use the entire city (the roads roofs, buildings) as a work space.
The exhibition spaces interior offers maximum flexibility and customization based on the events organized. In the traditional exhibition spaces we wanted to avoid that the architecture of the building affects the exposures, while in the spaces on the ground and in the entrance hall is looking for an interaction between the works and the building to bring art in open spaces of the sea and the city.
The architecture seeks a strong connection with the Nordic tradition, through the use of wood strongly related to Finnish design of the twentieth century and the texture of the old wooden churches, like that of Petäjävesi.
The Guggenheim Helsinki, will not only be a new museum, but a new concept of museum; a new relationship between art, visitors, artists, the city and the world.