New exhibition brings collections to the front
Next spring, the The Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki will launch Designed & Loved, a new concept that will transform its current home on Korkeavuorenkatu, bringing exhibitions, events, and services together into a more seamless museum experience. At the heart of the renewed museum is an ambitious collection survey exhibition opens on 5 March 2027. It exploring the histories of Finnish architecture and design from multiple perspectives, created for both international visitors and local audiences.
The museum’s second floor will feature an extensive exhibition showcasing the Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki’s collections on an unprecedented scale.
Rather than telling a single, chronological story, the exhibition approaches the history of Finnish architecture and design as a polyphonic and continually evolving constellation of stories. Through changing displays, the exhibition explores how ideas of national heritage have been constructed over time, and how Finnish architecture and design have emerged through multiple, overlapping and at times conflicting influences, both within Finland and through international exchange.
A vast array of objects will be on view, ranging from textiles, glass and ceramics to furniture and electronics, alongside architectural models, photographs and drawings. The exhibition features works by a wide range of architecture and design luminaries, including Aino, Alvar and Elissa Aalto, Carin Bryggman, Rut Bryk, Aarne Ervi, Kaj Franck, Theodor Höijer, Birger Kaipiainen, Juha Leiviskä, Vuokko and Antti Nurmesniemi, Raili and Reima Pietilä, Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Ilmari Tapiovaara and Paavo Tynell.
“The history of Finnish architecture and design can be viewed from countless perspectives. With this exhibition, we did not want to lock that history into a single interpretation, but to create an evolving experience that offers visitors something new each time. Familiar classics can take on new meanings when seen from different perspectives. The Architecture & Design Museum Helsinki has a singular collection that provide an extraordinary foundation for this approach. We invite visitors to consider how objects acquire meaning and how our understanding of history continues to evolve,” says Carson Chan, Chief Curator of the exhibition.
The classics remain, while perspectives change
The content of the collection survey exhibition will change every three months, giving visitors new perspectives on the collections throughout the year. At its permanent core are classics of Finnish architecture and design, presented in ways that highlight the international exchange that has shaped their development.
A permanent section will also draw on the museum’s Marimekko collection, the largest in the world.
Changing sections will bring distinct perspectives and atmospheres to the exhibition. Displays opening in March will invite visitors to experience the dimly lit atmosphere of an early 20th-century Jugend (Art Nouveau) home through a reconstruction of Koti, an early design by the architectural practice Gesellius, Lindgren, Saarinen. Another immersive space will explore the Oulu School, an architectural movement that emerged in northern Finland in the 1980s.
The exhibition architecture by Aalto & Aalto embraces abundance, layering and unexpected perspectives. Interpretation has been designed for different audiences, including dedicated exhibition texts for children.
