The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has announced that an independent, 11-member jury has unanimously selected six concept designs as finalists from the 1,715 anonymous submissions to the international architectural competition for a proposed Guggenheim museum in Helsinki, Finland.
The shortlisted entries offer fresh and distinctive perspectives on museum architecture and come from both emerging and established architectural practices in seven countries. Full details of the finalist entries are now available at the competition website.
“The jury has chosen six deeply thoughtful design approaches, each of which opens extraordinary possibilities for a Guggenheim in Helsinki and asks us to imagine what a museum of the future can be,” said Richard Armstrong, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation. “We thank the jury for its work, and we are grateful to the 1,715 competitors whose engaging and diverse submissions have catalyzed a global conversation about museum architecture and urban life.”
Mark Wigley, chair of the competition jury and Professor and Dean Emeritus of the Graduate School of Architecture, said, “Some of the finalist designs make daring use of the existing Makasiini Terminal, or celebrate an aspect of the cultural memory of Helsinki. Some propose unforeseen mixtures of civic and museum space, or boldly juxtapose the spaces for existing collections and not-yet imagined creations. All the shortlisted designs are a compelling first step, and we look forward eagerly to seeing how they are more fully explored in the next stage of the competition.”
With the announcement of the jury’s selection, the names of the finalist teams have been released by independent competition manager Malcolm Reading Consultants. In alphabetical order, the finalist teams are:
• AGPS Architecture Ltd. (Zurich, Switzerland and Los Angeles, United States of America)
• Asif Khan Ltd. (London, United Kingdom)
• Fake Industries Architectural Agonism (New York, United States of America; Barcelona, Spain; and Sydney, Australia)
• Haas Cook Zemmrich STUDIO2050 (Stuttgart, Germany)
• Moreau Kusunoki Architect (Paris, France)
• SMAR Architecture Studio (Madrid, Spain and Western Australia)
With all submissions identified only by a registration number, the names of the competitors remained unknown to the jury throughout the selection process. Although the names of the six shortlisted teams are now revealed, the designs have not been matched to the teams. Neither the jury nor the public will know which team is responsible for which design until the winner has been selected in June 2015.
As part of Stage Two of the competition, the six finalist teams will be invited to visit the site of the proposed museum in January 2015. They will receive additional briefing to further develop their initial designs and produce physical models by March 2015. Finalist designs for Stages One and Two of the competition, and a selection of honorable mentions from Stage One as noted by the jury, will be presented in a public exhibition in Helsinki in spring 2015.