Architecture Outside the Box 2023–2024: Towards Community-Led and Genuinely Participatory Audience Engagement

Project report, 2026

Architecture Outside the Box was a community-led audience engagement pilot project carried out by the Architecture & Design Museum between 2023 and 2024. The project aimed to explore the possibilities of genuine participation in museum practice and to develop models for collaboration with local communities beyond the museum building.

The project consisted of research, a working group assembled through an open call, an experimental project, and a process of reflection and evaluation. During the research phase, the museum’s existing audiences were mapped, underrepresented groups were identified, and the needs and aspirations of communities in the Helsinki metropolitan area were examined.

The findings showed that the museum’s audiences are concentrated within certain demographic groups and that, for many people, the museum remains a distant or unfamiliar institution. Based on the research, a diverse working group was formed through an open call to pilot community-led approaches. The work focused on co-design, shared decision-making, and creating space for participants’ own perspec- tives and priorities. The project’s practical outcome was a benchbuilding workshop in which local residents built benches for shared public use in different locations across the metropolitan area. The project’s most significant contribution lies in the knowledge gained about how community-led museum work is built in practice. It requires time, trust-building, critical reflection on institutional power, and a willingness to adapt established museum practices. At the same time, the project demonstrated that participatory methods can foster new connections, meaningful experiences, and shared expertise. The project also adapted a version of the Ladder of Participation for the museum field, providing a tool that can be applied to all museum work carried out in collaboration with communities and diverse groups. The aim of this publication is to share these lessons widely within the museum field and beyond, while offering practical examples and methods for developing more participatory, inclusive, and community-led ways of

working.