Our design for the Guggenheim Helsinki investigates the dichotomy between completely generic exhibition spaces and those designed for specific artistic expressions. In the proposal, specific and generic exhibition spaces complement and reactivate each other.

At the same time, the exhibition of art has become increasingly dependent on constructive and conditioning technology. Technology is turning into one of the main media for new artistic expressions. Realizing that both digital and traditional arts require similar levels of museum technology, we designed a building that acts as infrastructural, rather than as a background for the art pieces.

Re­formulating Khan’s idea of served and servant spaces, we conceived a series of surfaces that defined closed gallery spaces on one side, and imprecise and surprising spaces on the other. Those interstitial spaces, defined by the external faces of the galleries, feed on technical elements to provide an experience which, for being unscripted, can be as interesting as that of traditional art.