The Guggenheim museum in Helsinki – for which we have been mentioned among more than 1.700 competitors – is particularly relevant for the ART MILL project for at least a couple of reason: the first one is that it is a museum with a strong civic role for the city and its inhabitants; the second is for the location: as the ART MILL the Guggenheim has its main presence from the sea, it plays an important role on a bay as a symbolic entrance gate to the city.

Moreover the new Guggenheim took inspiration from the temporary and “in motion” character of the harbour landscapes; symbol of a contemporary world we thought at the museum as an art warehouse, exactly like the Qatar museum.

The new Guggenheim will outstand from the background of the city but at the same time it will establish a strong connection with the context history and imaginary.

At the city level it defines a very strong relation with the public realm, enhancing the role of the open spaces and in general of the Nordic ideals of openness and accessibility: it infact provides a multipurpose system of interior and exterior public spaces which give to the building an important and central civic role.

The museum lay out is very simple and its is based on two concept:

– on a clear separation of the public and service circulation from the exhibition spaces;
– on the duality between the strong role of the central atrium, which maximize the social interactions, and the sequence of the exhibition galleries, flexible in their use but all very neutral in shape and more private.

Thanks to these simple principles the building allows multiple uses; beyond the galleries, which can host any exhibition, the central core and the outside spaces can host and site-specific event and exhibition. The new Guggenheim will support social interactions and experience of art.