New National Museum in Finland

Project Details

Project Description

Suppa is a typical Finnish landform, a hollow created when buried blocks of glacier melt out. The ambition of the proposal is to create a flexible organizational system and a bold object representing « The New National ». A simple, holistic arrangement which connects old and new, allowing the institution to function as a unified whole. The proposed Annex facilitates the hosting of extensive and demanding international exhibitions at the National Museum.

The idea of functionally connected (underground) but visually disconnected (above ground) is fostered. Placing the majority of functions underground allows to maintain as much as possible the existing park while achieving the strongest connection to the current museum with minimal interference to the existing architectural structure. Although separated physically, a strong dialogue is created between old and new with the addition becoming very much a part of the museum’s urban ensemble.

The National Romantic architecture of the existing museum could be seen as a counter response to industrialization and machine production. It is a celebration of craft and romantic tradition. Suppa is to be a functional and architectural reinterpretation of the concept of ‘national’, embodying the spirit of Finland pursuing the notion of « an object in the landscape ». Finnish values regarding nature and the landscape are central to the new volume and its relationship to the park. The addition is imagined as a three-dimensional piece of furniture creating simultaneously both a ceiling and a floor. Its curved underside defines the spatial arrangement of the entrance lobby while its top surface creates a landscape within the restaurant. The translucent facade gives the volume an ephemeral cloud like appearance. By breaking the ground and elevating the excavated mass as a suspended volume, a sunken chamber below the raised volume is created. By doing this the project is divided in section over four levels. Uppermost is the raised volume which becomes the image of the project and houses the restaurant. This is the « object in the landscape ». Simultaneously a landmark, a lantern, a cloud and a piece of furniture.