Guggenheim Helsinki

This competition entry offers a fresh slant on an iconic form: museum as sweeping exterior ramp, twisting and turning as it climbs over interior galleries. The ramp’s underside forms north-facing clerestory windows that illuminate these galleries whose overlapping volumes replicate in section the roof ramp’s plan.

Helsinki’s orthogonal street layout and the site’s diagonal edge along South Harbor generate the trapezoidal grid organizing the design. A precast concrete frame forms the structural armature supporting cross-laminated timber panels and curtain wall assemblies.