The Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki has transformed a historic Jugend apartment in Helsinki’s South Harbour into a temporary space for encounters, dialogue and experimentation. Its windows look directly onto the site of the new museum, whose plans visitors can explore through a scale model and a 3D experience. Together with its partners, the museum will host a programme at Eteläranta 6 that invites people to engage in conversations about the role and significance of architecture and design. Eteläranta 6 is located just a stone’s throw from the museum’s current premises.
“Eteläranta 6 gives us a unique opportunity to engage the public in a dialogue about the development of both the museum and urban culture. This is invaluable to us as we move towards the new museum,” says Pilvi Kalhama, Director of the Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki.
Eteläranta 6 designed according to circular economy principles
Eteläranta 6 is located in a Jugend (Finnish Art Nouveau) building designed by architect Mauritz Gripenberg and completed in 1904. The interior design is by Studio Joanna Laajisto.
The design has been guided by the principles of preservation, minimal demolition and reuse. Only minor alterations were made to the historic apartment, while signs of wear and details previously regarded as imperfections have been embraced as part of the space.
Under Joanna Laajisto’s direction, each of the three floors has been given a distinct atmosphere. The softly toned event and exhibition spaces on the ground floor lead to a dark, intimate library on the second floor and, further up, to light-filled workshop and meeting spaces.
Almost all materials and furniture have been reused. The interiors feature furniture by leading names in Finnish design, selected from the museum’s study collection. Laajisto has also designed new bespoke pieces for the space using materials salvaged from built-in furnishings removed from the former Museum of Finnish Architecture building.
“This project showed that when the client and designer share the same vision, circularity becomes not a constraint but the greatest driver of creativity,” says Joanna Laajisto.
The museum’s Collection Specialist and Exhibition Curator Harry Kivilinna has selected highlights from the museum’s collections for Eteläranta 6. On display are glass objects by Gunnel Nyman, Timo Sarpaneva, Tapio Wirkkala and Nanny Still, as well as ceramics by Rut Bryk, Kyllikki Salmenhaara and A. W. Finch. A focal point of the library is a ceiling light designed by Paavo Tynell in 1947 for the Arabia factory building.
Juhani Pallasmaa reference library
Internationally renowned Finnish architect, architectural theorist and professor Juhani Pallasmaa has worked with the museum to curate a reference library for Eteläranta 6 from his personal collection. Around one tenth of the approximately 12,000-volume library previously donated by Pallasmaa to the museum is on display.
The selection introduces visitors to thinkers, friends and sources of inspiration important to Pallasmaa, while reflecting his wide-ranging interest in the world’s cultures, arts and ideas. The books can be read at Eteläranta 6 but are not available for loan. The project has been coordinated on behalf of the museum by librarian Suvi Juvonen.
Autumn programme features an Open Podcast Studio and open workspace for communities
Open Podcast Studio is a public platform for conversations about architecture, design and cities. The museum invites creative practitioners from different fields to produce podcast series that engage audiences in discussion and make compelling questions in architecture accessible and relevant to the present day.
Open Podcast Studio will launch its programme in October 2026 with New Academy Radio. New Academy is run by art historian Markus Lähteenmäki, architect Leonard Ma, architect Tuomas Toivonen, and graphic designer Nene Tsuboi. Audiences are invited to attend the podcast recordings live at Eteläranta before the episodes are released.
Eteläranta 6’s Community Residency, in turn, provides selected Helsinki-based collectives, associations and working groups with free space for meetings and collaborative work. The residencies will also feature workshops, discussions and other events open to the public.
Coming up
Eteläranta 6’s first public event: panel discussion, 31 August 2026, 16:00–17:00
Three experts whose work explores both futures and the past will discuss the role that a space such as Eteläranta 6 – and a museum more broadly – can play as a forum for public debate. Together with the audience, they will also take an imaginative journey ten years into the future. The discussion will be moderated by CEO and Urban Strategist Katja Lindroos, joined by Aleksi Neuvonen, researcher at Demos Helsinki, and Carson Chan, Chief Curator responsible for content at the Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki.
Wednesday 2 September, 16:00–18:00, and Saturday 5 September, 13:00–15:00
Visitors can explore Eteläranta 6 with a discussion guide.
All events are free of charge.
Eteläranta 6, Helsinki
Eteläranta 6 is open to the public during scheduled programme and events.
For the programme and further information, visit here.
The spaces are also available for private bookings by groups and companies. For further information and bookings, please contact the museum’s sales team: sales@admuseo
For Press Photos, please contact:
Ilona Hilden
Communications Specialist
Architecture & Design Museum
+358 44 358 2175
ilona.hilden@admuseo.fi
