The planning stage of a new architecture and design museum, launched in spring 2021, is now in full swing. Promoting the implementation of a new museum requires the cooperation of a complex and extensive network coordinated by the core team built around the project. The first goal is to receive an implementation decision for the museum, hopefully in early 2023.

Project Director Kaarina Gould started her duties in May 2021. Under Kaarina’s direction, the project organisation’s duty is to prepare a comprehensive project plan based on which the final implementation decision can be made. Gould transferred to the museum project from New York, where she was leading the Finnish Cultural Institute. She has garnered an international perspective and extensive management experience in the fields of art, design and culture also from positions as Live Nation Finland’s development director, World Design Capital Helsinki 2012’s programme director, director of Helsinki’s Centre for New Circus, and as programme manager of the Helsinki Festival.

<quote-mark>"<quote-mark><small-quote>It is inspiring how much expertise and commitment this museum project has attracted. It seems that there is a strong collective will that, this time, the new museum will become reality. Over the next year or so, the new museum’s concept and operating model will become more concrete as we draft a concise plan together with multiple collaborators both in Finland and abroad.<small-quote><quote-author>Kaarina Gould<quote-author>

Read more about Kaarina’s thoughts of the future museum from her interview published in June.

Two new team members

This autumn, the project team grew with the addition of two experts. Reetta Turtiainen joined the team in September 2021 when she started as its project planner. Reetta will work with Kaarina, promoting various areas of the project. Turtiainen has a master’s degree from the cross-disciplinary Business and Design programme of the University of Gothenburg. Previously, she has worked as producer with Helsinki Design Week and expert at KONE’s innovation unit, focusing on user-centric design research and innovation and research projects on future urban development.

Project manager Markku Inkeroinen, recruited into the Ministry of Education and Culture, is also working closely with the new museum project. Inkeroinen (M.Sc. (Tech.), Senior general construction project manager (RAPS), property management certification KJs) has more than 30 years of experience of construction contracting and real estate development, both in the roles of service provider and client. He started working for the Ministry in August 2021, after more than six years as a project director of demanding projects with Senate Properties.

This three-person core team will work closely with not only the State of Finland and the City of Helsinki, but also with the Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The plan is that these two museums are to merge into one, becoming significantly more than the sum of its parts. The museums are now carrying out a shared process of organisational development spanning several years, the purpose of which is to ensure a smooth transition to the new museum. At the same time, the expertise of the museum teams plays a key role in the planning of the new museum’s operations and services.

Additionally, a steering group of 15 experts established for the project will guide and support the work. The steering group features representatives of the Finnish government, the City of Helsinki, the Design Museum, and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. The group also features the invited specialists Mirkku Kullberg, Ari Tolppanen and Jannica Fagerholm, and Kerstin Rinne as a  representative of the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. The steering group is chaired by Director General of the State Treasury Timo Laitinen.

Kaarina’s, Reetta’s and Markku’s favourite museums around the world.

<quote-mark>"<quote-mark><small-quote>Naturally, I’m a little biased for the museums in New York, but I’ll still go with the National Museum of African American History and Culture that opened in Washington D.C. in 2016. The monumental, yet inviting building by architect David Adjaye, the way the visitor experience is built, and mainly how skilfully and mindfully the communal narrative is weaved through the museum’s exhibitions, programs and communications made a major impression on me.<small-quote><quote-author>Kaarina Gould<quote-author>

<quote-mark>"<quote-mark><small-quote>I am interested in peoples’ life stories and their different homes, so home museums are especially inspiring to me. Last summer, I visited Finnish sculptor Laila Pullinen’s sculpture park and home museum in Vantaa, and the atmosphere there was just wonderful and moving. The life lived in the home was beautifully exhibited through art and objects. The studio home of artist couple Olga and Carl Milles, Millesgården, on the outskirts of Stockholm is also a favourite. The house is built on a high hill, and the yard has a view over the sea to the centre of Stockholm.<small-quote><quote-author>Reetta Turtiainen<quote-author>

<quote-mark>"<quote-mark><small-quote>The place that comes to my mind is the science centre Heureka! You always leave with plenty of information on the history and phenomena of science and technology, among other themes. This building’s design was also a result of a highly popular architecture competition, and the science centre was named after the winning proposal. I have a connection to Heureka from a real estate perspective. I was involved in the project’s construction as a project engineer, and, in 2008, I managed the planetarium’s renovation project as a construction contracting consultant.<small-quote><quote-author>Markku Inkeroinen<quote-author>

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