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Five Designs Shortlisted for Finland’s New Museum of Architecture and Design in Helsinki
Five designs have been shortlisted in the international open competition to create a home for Finland’s new national museum of architecture and design. The museum is planned for a prominent and historic site in Helsinki’s South Harbour. You can discuss the proposals on the "Kerro kantasi" platform until January 31, 2025.
The shortlisted projects have been selected from 624 responses to an open call for entries, which asked for conceptual proposals for a new 10,050 sq m (GFA) museum building on a prominent and historic site in Helsinki’s South Harbour. All entries were submitted anonymously and were displayed on a public website September–November 2024.
The shortlisted competition entries are:
096 Tyrsky
351 Kumma
486 Moby
545 Tau
616 City, Sky and Sea
Kaarina Gould, CEO of the Finnish Architecture and Design Museum Foundation and member of the jury, said: "We are immensely grateful for the response to our international design competition and want to thank each of the 624 teams that answered our call and submitted their ideas for a new museum building on our extraordinary site in Helsinki’s South Harbour. Reducing the list to just five entries has been a challenging yet inspiring exercise in identifying the greatest potential amongst hundreds of interesting approaches. A massive thank you also to fellow jury members for their commitment – the work continues.”
Gus Casely-Hayford, jury panel member and Director of V&A East, said: “The new museum represents a generational opportunity for the architecture and design sector in Finland, and it arrives at what feels like a moment of wider intellectual and cultural reckoning. The requirements, the need, the opportunities are profound, and enormously exciting. The jury leant into the challenge, interrogating the vast body of proposals to identify this truly exceptional shortlist. These are intriguing projects that feel both timely and timeless, a shortlist of buildings that I hope Finland will be beguiled by.”
Beate Hølmebakk, jury panel member, architect, professor and partner at Manthey Kula in Oslo said: “The five finalist projects represent different visions for an inviting and inspirational museum situated on one of Helsinki’s most important sites. What these entries share is their potential to be buildings of extraordinary and lasting architectural quality. It is the jury’s opinion that they all have distinct urban presence and exceptional spatial properties that allow the new museum of architecture and design to organize the rich variety of exhibitions and events their ambition calls for. In the next phase these projects will be further developed to meet the demands for a sustainable future.”
The poposals will go through further development
The proposals that have advanced to stage 2 of the competition will go through further development. The shortlisted design teams develop their proposals into viable concepts for a new museum building based on feedback from the jury and experts.
Special attention will be paid to the low-carbon nature of the buildings and the use of circular economy, for example through carbon footprint calculations. To better cultivate the usability of the buildings, a series of workshops will be arranged with the design teams and representatives of various user groups, facilitated by Tommi Laitio, a Los Angeles based expert on public innovation.
The public also has a possibility to comment on the proposals until January 31, 2025 at https://kerrokantasi.hel.fi/ad-museo.
A summary of the public discussion will be handed to the competition design teams to support the development of their proposal.
Only main visuals and concepts of the shortlisted proposals are made available for public display. The jury has had access to more extensive material, including floor plans, site plans, and other documents requested in the competition brief.
Stage 2 of the competition will open in February 2025 and run until the end of May 2025. The final result of the competition will be announced in September 2025.
Each team selected for Stage 2 will receive a payment of €50,000 in two instalments: €30,000 at the beginning of Stage 2 and €20,000 on completion. At the end of the competition the Jury will award prizes of €50,000, €35,000 and €25,000 for first, second and third place, with purchase options of €20,000 for the remaining two designs.
96 Tyrsky
The curved-roofed building, clad entirely in green copper, blends seamlessly into the waterfront landscape and respects the existing surroundings with its moderate height. The structure consists of several rectangular interlocking volumes, creating a small inner courtyard that allows daylight to reach the center of the building. The undulating curved roof signifies that this is a public building, distinct from the neighboring blocks. The proposal is an excellent example of the use of mass timber in load-bearing structures and interior finishes.
351 Kumma
The new museum building has been designed as a compact and low structure, preserving important views from Tähtitorninvuori Park towards the Market Square and Katajanokka. Despite its low height, the building has a strong character. It is beautifully proportioned, with slanted, stepped walls and triangular openings that reference timeless historical themes. Unlike the other proposals, the building can be accessed from both the Market Square and Laivasillankatu sides, allowing visitors to enter directly into the ground-floor exhibition space.
486 Moby
The proposal takes an exceptional stance on views from the site and the museum’s role as a public building alongside the blocks planned for Makasiiniranta. The new building has a wedge-shaped footprint, leaving space on the side for views from the waterfront toward Tähtitorninvuori Park. The movement of museum visitors between spaces has been carefully designed, and the views opening in different directions from the building have been thoughtfully considered. Thanks to its compact form, logical structural system, and use of recycled materials, the building is resource-efficient.
545 Tau
The building is sculptural in its extreme simplicity. It demonstrates that to stand out from the surrounding urban fabric a landmark status can be achieved without relying on unconventional shapes, or distinctive materials. The design emphasizes the role of the new museum as an extension of the Market Square, welcoming visitor flows along its entire northern façade, which connects seamlessly to the water mirror of the Vironallas basin.
616 City, Sky and Sea
Thanks to its curved wall and roof surfaces, the new building appears tent-like and lightweight in the waterfront landscape, where it fits naturally in front of the existing block frontage. The museum is designed with a distinctive and strong spatial structure: the exhibition spaces surrounding the central hall offer carefully selected views of the sea and the surrounding city.
The design competition is arranged by the city and state-owned Real Estate Company ADM together with the Foundation for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design. The new museum is made possible with funding from the City of Helsinki, State of Finland and generous donations from several private foundations.
