Paris-based firm Moreau Kusunoki has been announced as the winner of the Guggenheim Helsinki competition, soon to be the third European outpost of its kind following on from Venice and Bilbao.
Revealed today by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in Helsinki, Finland, where the art museum will soon grace the city's waterfront, the announcement has been widely received by the international community with enthusiasm, and an ounce of controversy (mostly down to its hefty price tag: a cool $147 million).
Perhaps one of the most fraught over competitions of recent times, the jury - an eleven-member panel including Studio Gang's Jeanne Gang and Atlier Bow-Wow's Yoshiharu Tsukamoto - received over 1,715 entries from 77 countries. These where whittled down to six finalists and one champion in a radically open and entirely anonymous vetting process. In the running were more than a couple architecture heavyweights (London studio Asif Khan, AGPS Architecture, Fake Industries Architectural Agonism, Haas Cook Zemmrich STUDIO2050 and SMAR Architecture, to name but a few) but the husband-and-wife firm established only four years ago beat them all to it.
Titled 'Art in the City', the winning design was chosen for its ability to invite visitors to engage with the museum and its contents through architecture. Nine low-lying columns and one lighthouse-like tower cluster closely, linked by a series of garden patios and an interior promenade. The tower itself is connected to the nearby Observatory Park via a pedestrian footbridge which, along with locally sourced materials, further integrate the imposing property to its surroundings.
'The waterfront, park, and nearby urban area all have a dialogue with the loose cluster of pavilions, with people and activities flowing between them,' comments jury chair Mark Wigley, professor and dean emeritus of the Graduate School of Architecture at Columbia University. 'The design is imbued with a sense of community and animation that matches the ambitions of the brief to honour both the people of Finland and the creation of a more responsive museum of the future.'
'The design is imbued with a sense of community and animation that matches the ambitions of the brief,' commented jury chair Mark Wigley.
Nine low-lying columns and one lighthouse-like tower cluster closely, linked by a series of garden patios and an interior street.
Locally sourced materials, like charred timber, and pathways to the nearby Observatory Park further integrate the building to its surroundings.
-
Fendi celebrates 100 years with all-out runway show at its new Milan HQIn the wake of Kim Jones’ departure, Silvia Venturini Fendi took the reins for a special co-ed A/W 2025 collection marking the house’s centenary, unveiling it as the first act of celebrations within Fendi’s expansive new headquarters in Milan
-
‘Leigh Bowery!’ at Tate Modern: 1980s alt-glamour, club culture and rebellionThe new Leigh Bowery exhibition in London is a dazzling, sequin-drenched look back at the 1980s, through the life of one of its brightest stars
-
Inside the unexpected collaboration between Marni’s Francesco Risso and artists Slawn and SoldierNew exhibition ‘The Pink Sun’ will take place at Francesco Risso’s palazzo in Milan in collaboration with Saatchi Yates, opening after the Marni show today, 26 February
-
Wallpaper* Design Awards 2025: celebrating architectural projects that restore, rebalance and renewAs we welcome 2025, the Wallpaper* Architecture Awards look back, and to the future, on how our attitudes change; and celebrate how nature, wellbeing and sustainability take centre stage
-
Alvar Aalto: our ultimate guide to architecture's father of gentle modernismAlvar Aalto defined midcentury – and Finnish – architecture like no other, creating his own, distinctive brand of gentle modernism; honouring him, we compiled the ultimate guide
-
Design Awards 2025: Alvar Aalto's Finlandia Hall is a modernist gem reborn through sustainability and accessibilityHelsinki's Finlandia Hall, an Alvar Aalto landmark design, has been reborn - highlighting sustainability and accessibility in a new chapter for the modernist classic
-
Exclusive first look: Katajanokan Laituri sets a new standard for timber architectureKatajanokan Laituri, a new building in the historic Kauppatori market district of Helsinki, is made from around 7,500 cubic metres of wood, cementing Finland’s position as leader in sustainable architecture, construction and urban development
-
Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024: meet the practicesIn the Wallpaper* Architects Directory 2024, our latest guide to exciting, emerging practices from around the world, 20 young studios show off their projects and passion
-
Nordic minimalism meets warm personality at Studio Collaboratorio’s new home in FinlandThe emerging Finnish practice Studio Collaboratorio is welcomed into the Wallpaper* Architects’ Directory 2024
-
Skateboarding in swimming pools: the case of Alvar Aalto’s Villa MaireaA family of shows at Aalto2 Museum Centre explores skateboarding in swimming pools through the case study of Alvar Aalto’s Villa Mairea in Finland
-
Alvar Aalto's House of Culture in Helsinki is a modernist gem rebornModernist icon House of Culture by Alvar Aalto has been restored and brought to the 21st century by Finnish architecture studio JKMM and Design Agency Fyra for ASM Global Finland
