Project Description
FROM THE ARCHITECTS:
The ‘supple icon’ is a cross-breeding of the Guggenheim’s extroverted tendencies with a Finnish sense of humility and simplicity. Imported architectural logics give way to local intelligence inextricable from the urban culture, maritime history and high tech economy of Helsinki. A pedestrian network stitches the building into adjacent civic, industrial and maritime contexts. The Civic Fold in the eastern façade welcomes Helsinki visitors arriving by sea and diverts views to sky and water from the galleries. Art is everywhere, from the ‘white box’ galleries at the building’s core, to increasingly context-specific peripheral art spaces. The Front Yard is equipped for public art display. The Back Yard is a robust, open-air lot with a dockside gantry for unloading shipping containers and facilitating outdoor performances and large-scale installations. ‘Assisted’ climates optimize the seasonal cycles of Finland to create year-round thermal comfort with a net-zero energy equation.
Guggenheim Helsinki Honorable Mention