GUGGENHEIM HELSINKI

Competition submission for Guggenheim Helsinki.

 

The building form is carved from the site in response to the city grid and the alignment of the harbour frontage. From this form, a series of spaces are further carved, a civic stage which forms a formal entrance way not only to the building but to the harbour, but equally it forms a threshold or gate to the city in reverse when arriving into Helsinki by boat. The harbour side has a long horizontal opening carved out of the face-embracing the expansive harbour horizon, rising to the extended line of the dock side decks feeding the ferries. As the building returns on the South face, the corner is hollowed out to reveal the café and offers a generous covered eating terrace. Finally a heroic room open to the sky is carved out of the roof to give a giant sculpture court, tantalisingly visible to the wider city. The carved, building form allows for generous south facades- relieving the structure from north facing, heavily shadowed, urban space.