Masterplan Concept:
The vision for Guggenheim museum creates an opportunity to connect with Helsinki’s exciting attractions and upcoming future master planning. The museum opens a new gateway to boosting the city’s international tourist industry and connecting to the old city. The directional design of the building becomes the city’s new guide; the visually grounding corridor connects the surrounding highlight spots in the city. The museum interconnects the city center’s vibrant tourist spots with its embedded network of pedestrianized public spaces, which will become part of Helsinki’s future masterplan.
Emerging from the existing urban fabric, the building creates a network of public spaces connecting with the port station on the southern side and the green park on the west side. The public space will have four seasonal characters of a lively urban plaza facing the south harbor. The entrance and commercial area are designated at the northern side which faces the exciting city. Not only creating a new gateway, the building also allows the space to regain its relationship with the harbor, where shallow water is introduced into the center courtyard of the building. In the summer this courtyard operates as a water sculpture park; in the winter, it becomes a harbor ice rink part of the museum. The proposal develops a deep relationship with Helsinki’s waterscape. The museum’s temporary exhibitions and changing courtyard scene will reshape the waterfront for all residents and visitors.
The overall building massing emerges from the existing Helsinki’s city fabric. The strategy is to utilize and reconnect with the existing fabric and the public spaces within the museum complex.
Building Concept:
The building is designed with two main axes, creating a visual corridor that connects the new harbor facilities to the exciting city center. The northern anchor of the building visually connects with the senate square and Helsinki cathedral. The southeast anchor extends and visually connects with the Helsinki observatory. The museum building itself adopts a special form: a dynamic transitional gesture rotates one axis into the other. The building layout integrates the inward exhibit viewing experience as well as the outward visual engagement with the landscape from the museum; this gives a new relationship between the two types of viewing in a mumseum. The linear, crossed axes generate a constantly unexpected visual experience for the visitors of the museum.
Public Space Concept:
The museum public space is designed to create the opportunities for interaction with the waterfront facility. The waterfront plaza operates year-round by taking advantage of the water from the harbor. This greatly attracts tourists to not only visit the museum but also enjoy its public facilities.
Proposal For: Guggenheim Museum Design Proposal
Competition Organizers: City of Helsinki and the State of Finland
Company Name: MAUD-(Maxthreads Architectural Design and Planning) UK
Year: 2014
Project Title: Guggenheim Museum Design Proposal
Project Status: Proposal
Project Team: Lee Chi Shuan, Lin Shan Ru, Lin Guan Shu, Key Liu, Dorothy Liu