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H E L S I N K I Finnish culture is characterized by having dualities. It encircles both, an indigenous heritage and a Nordic - European culture. It encompasses both the love of nature and appreciation of bucolic landscapes with the bustling industrious dynamism of a developed and vibrant country. In approaching the design for the Helsinki Guggenheim Museum, we wanted to represent this duality as well as relate the building to the traditional materials inherent to Finland. Also it was of the utmost importance that the building would respond to its site, anchoring itself to the surrounding buildings and landmarks and truly becoming part of the city, therefore making it unfit to be placed anywhere in the world except its site in Helsinki.

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The building’s response to the context is shown in the diagram above. Helsinki has a major landmark visible from the harbour, which is the Cathedral (1), thus the sloping curved canopy of the main building is oriented towards it, and secondarily to Uspenskin Cathedral (2). The main corridor for entrance in to the harbour from the city is Pohjoisesplanadi, which will reveal the museum from the spectacularly sloped roof side. The museum is designed with a lower level that connects both bodies and serves as a hub with multiple entrances to allow pedestrian traf-fic from Tähtitorninvuoren park (4) as well as from Pohjoisesplanadi (5), Laivasillankatu (6) and the port promenade. The museum is open and welcoming towards the port, permitting a spe-cial vantage point from approaching cruise ships (7).

The main canopy and the walls of the exhibition halls of the museum are finished in birch boards that are cut in organic curved lengths that follow the tree’s natural growth and interlock between them like jigsaw pieces. This couldn’t be done before because of the limitations of technology, but with wood scanning systems, tailor-made CAD/CAM systems and innovative optimization algorithms in placement software developed by a Finnish engineering automation company, it is pos-sible to give a completely new form to an age-old material such as wood; cutting edge and traditional at the same time.

In order to define the shape and character of the building we set out in search of a concept that would convey our design intent. To us the museum is a sanctuary that shelters art, but it is open at the same time, inviting visitors to gaze upon it’s treasures. To accomplish this, we proposed a build-ing that reflects morphologically that simple concept, the sheltering of something that is immensely valuable, such as artistic heritage, by means of human hands positioned as if protecting a flame from the wind and the environment. This most basic human gesture translates in the sheltering of the art collections and provides great poetic profiles for the buildings. The building then evolves from this simple concept in to a more sculpted and refined structure.

G U G G E N H E I MM U S E U M

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This wood optimization technology also means savings of the natural resource. Not only is the surface aesthetically appealing, but the technology also allows for more wood sur-

face per forest.

N +16.20 m

N +9.20 m

N +4.20 m

N +0.00 m LOWER LEVEL

FIRST LEVEL

SECOND LEVEL

THIRD LEVEL

The second level houses exhibition spaces in the north volume, where a pro-truding gallery looks over toward a great hall that overlooks the harbour. This allows the visitor to dominate and un-derstand the exhibition space in the different levels allowing the guests to easily navigate the museum. The south structure shelters the flex-ible event spaces that can adapt for diverse activities, trough movable partitions.

The third level of the north volume has a sculptural space created by the plat-

forms and stairs that enclose the exhi-bition space below, but it is open to

the great hall and the canopy that covers the entire space. This roof-

top within a building grants pan-oramic views of the harbour

and the museum and at the same time houses a small

café and beverage bar for the museum’s patrons

that is separate from the cafeteria.

The lower level houses the parking for the building as well as the main services for both building

bodies. The main lobby of the building is also here and permits the seamless connection

of the two bodies of the museum while at the same time hierarchizing them. It

allows the museum to be accessible trough many entrances and pas-

sageways to the main lobby in such a way that it becomes a

hub, accessible to anybody whether they are visiting

from a cruise ship or coming from the city or

the park.

The first level is where the two bodies emerge from the base as if breaking trough and generating

two distinct volumes with the architectural program functionally divided between them;

each building is clad in different materials, one granite the other copper, but joined

by the sculptural wood canopy that is common to both. One building is

tall, the other is short; one has concave shapes the other

convex. The north volume houses the exhibition

spaces and the visitor services while the

south volume en-closes the cafete-

ria and the res-taurant in this

same level, and relating to

the exterior trough terraces that

look to the plaza created by the base’s roof.

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The sloping c u r v e d canopy of the main building is oriented towards Hel-sinki Cathe-dral, and be-comes a public space in itself, on winter it be-comes a hill for sleds and snow play, on summer it opens an incorpo-rated bleacher system and allows for concerts and other cultural events with a dramatic view of Helsinki as the backdrop.

ENVIROMENTAL PROPOSALS

We believe that in this day and age, sustain-ability in architecture must be a given in any project. As such The Helsinki Guggenheim is not without its fare of sustainable technolo-gies, the project would be LEED certified and we are confident we would achieve a Platinum Certification. This are just a few of the aspects in which the project would minimize its foot-print on the environment.

RINWATER RECICLING

The project provides for the reuse of rainwater in order to recycle it for bathroom facilities and for purposes of indoor vegetation irriga-tion; achieving this with the use of duct covers to channel the water into treatment and stor-age systems, when at full capacity the system would overflow in to the sea.The relative humidity of the atmosphere is controlled through the use of indoor vegeta-tion located at specific areas where the airflow is directed.

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS

The use of specially cut Birch wood as a build-ing material provides double benefits: The wood optimization technology means savings of the natural resource. Not only is the surface aesthetically appealing, but the technology also allows for more wood surface per forest. Also significantly reduces emissions in its pro-duction, manufacturing, and improves the buildings energy efficiency.

TEMPERATURE CONTROL

The E-glass facade allows the passage of solar radiation only on certain angles of inci-dence, permitting the inside to be heated when the sun is low on the horizon and it’s rays perpendicular to the glazing pane, but blocking the radiation when the sun’s is high in the sky. This heat will remain overnight due to the minimal loss of energy that the design presents and the use of thermal storage by the means of dense materials such as granite and concrete.

The thermal energy load powers a passive air circulation system that results in a constant temperature throughout the interior. This is achieved by directing hot air columns towards colder ceilings thus circulating the air inside.

ELECTRIC POWER GENERATION

It is intended to generate as much as 50% of the building’s heating energy by means of geo-thermal power, which in Helsinki’s water table and geothermal gradient is feasible both tech-nically and economically, and complementing with small photovoltaic generators for LED lighting that paves the base of the building.

ILLUMINATION

The proposal considers ample and oriented glazing to give way to as much natural light as possible, in order to reduce the lighting requirements.

ELECTRIC ENERGY

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS

RAINWATER RECICLING

TEMPERATURE

ILLUMINATION

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GEOTHERMAL WELL