Toronto-based JA Architecture Studio has announced that they were selected for one of 15 Honourable Mentions from 1,715 international proposals in the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition. Launched in June 2014, the competition sought design proposals for the new Guggenheim Museum on the Helsinki Harbour, and set a record in attracting the largest number of entries from around the world. The proposals by the six finalists and those receiving 15 Honourable Mentions are currently on display in the Guggenheim Helsinki Now exhibition until May 16, 2015 at the Kunsthalle Helsinki.
JA Architecture Studio’s proposal for the Driftwood Guggenheim Helsinki attempts to find the answer in timber by developing a porous wooden structure alongside the Helsinki Harbour: a grand piece of nature at the edge of the waterfront that is occupied by art, ecology and people. A shift is proposed from the notion of the museum as a building within which art is displayed to a notion of a structure that is populated with art. The idea is to find a more immediate and direct relationship between the container and the contained. The structure will be created by an array of wooden pixels forming the exhibition spaces. These pixels are stacked, merged or separated to create a diversity of use and experience required by the museum. The structure will be grand, and yet the warmth of wood will make it humane and accessible, a sublime presence without being overpowering to the city or the viewers.
To view the six finalists and the 15 Honourable Mentions, please visit http://designguggenheimhelsinki.org/en/finalists and http://designguggenheimhelsinki.org/exhibition/honorable-mentions.