Guggenheim Helsinki

Design Competition proposal

+ Malcolm Reading

The architectural approach of the project is to create a spectacular non icon, that is highly symbolic at the same time. A thrilling mirror plane, that reflects the city and its monuments, always in direct dialogue with the city and the people. Timeless and never outdated, in sensitive relation to the existing, it changes with the dynamic of Helsinki itself.
With a small footprint, the building rises at the end of the site. This urban gesture gives space for a huge public, sloping plaza, a city terrace.
The building itself acts as container for art, with neutral, flexible spaces to give possibilities for the newest curatorial ideas, supporting and highlighting the exhibited art; the building itself becomes infrastructure for art.
Unified by a stainless steel facade, polished in the front to create reflection and being left raw towards the port, the building becomes a gem on the waterfront, an icon of Helsinki.