Can you guess the architects behind these five anonymous proposals for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design?
By Niall Patrick Walsh|
Wednesday, Jun 18, 2025
Five shortlisted design proposals have been developed for the new Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design. The second stage of the international competition saw design teams build upon schemes that were initially selected for a shortlist back in December 2024.
The new 100,000-square-foot museum will be built on the waterfront in Helsinki’s historic South Harbor. The central mission of the museum will be “democratizing the tools of design” and to “draw on the rich traditions and contemporary strength of design and architecture in Finland and the Nordic region.”
The museum is expected to be completed by 2030, while the architects involved in the shortlist have not yet been named. In the meantime, feel free to speculate on the authorship of each design and name your favorite in our comments section below.
Proposal A: City, Sky and Sea
Description: "Due to its curved walls and roof, the new building gives a tent-like impression. The façades of the building consist of cast panels made from recycled glass. The museum has been designed with a large staircase in the central lobby and exhibition spaces around it following the curved forms of the facades. In addition to a translucent glass roof, two terraces have been placed on the roof—one facing the Market Square and the other facing the sea."
Proposal B: Kumma
Description: "The new museum building has been designed to be compact and low in height, preserving views from Tähtitorninvuori Park towards the Market Square and Katajanokka. The proposal’s slanted, stepped walls, and the triangular forms of the facade continue into the interior and the main stairs. The exhibition floor overlooks the sea from a large terrace, which continues as a wrap-around outdoor gallery and balcony."
Proposal C: Moby
Description: "The new building is designed with a wedge-shaped footprint, leaving space on the side for views from the waterfront towards Tähtitorninvuori Park. The interior of the building offers large views of the surroundings. The façade of the building is made of recycled light-bricks. On the roof is a large terrace with a view of the sea."
Proposal D: Tau
Description: "The rectangular building is low in its height and the large glass facades connect the interior of the museum to the building's surroundings. The building materials are glass, granite and different wood materials such as birch and pine. There is a large terrace on the roof."
Proposal E: Tyrsky
Description: "The building, with its curved roof and zinc-sheet cladding consists of rectangular volumes. In the middle of the building, there is a small inner courtyard, which also allows daylight into the centre of the building. The undulating roof draws inspiration from the sea and its rhythms. The proposal uses solid timber for both load-bearing structures and interior surfaces."
Share
8 Comments
Gary Garvin · Jun 18, 25 10:20 PM
Proposal E: Snohetta. BIG is in there somewhere.
will galloway · Jun 19, 25 12:15 AM
First one looks like Moreau Kusunoki to me. Quite handsome. Can't guess the others. Snohetta is likely for one of them, but hard to tell.
The selection of finalists is surprisingly sedate with quite introverted buildings in general for such a large urban landscape as the setting. Professional, quiet, unchallenging and urbanistically unambitious and disconnected. Contemporary art and architecture with a conservative impulse pushing it is not what I expected.
bigbono · Jun 19, 25 7:40 AM
KUMMA best design
reallynotmyname · Jun 19, 25 4:25 PM
There's little to no concern evident for the space needs of an actual design museum. A lot of the objects in a design collection are going to be small and light sensitive. The museum's mission would be best served by spaces where curators can make a range of exhibit environments ranging from dark to light and neutral to colorful. Instead, they are getting interiors more suited to large scale contemporary painting and sculpture and lots of empty exterior space. Frankly the proposals here would be better suited to the Guggenheim Museum program that was one slated for this site in Helsinki. An innovative or even basic accommodation of a design museum for today's world is not being offered here.
Gary Garvin · Jun 19, 25 8:21 PM
Obviously they don't want to upstage the fairly staid context surrounding—not without merit—but a building can be reserved and still be distinctive. These, however, are reserved to the point of being self-effacing and insubstantial. And we get no statement about type—museum—or about design itself. From the interior pictures we get little sense of how any might work as a museum. and only a couple show exhibition.
Why is it important to have a place where people can gather?
Or go inside and look out?
I always wanted to think that museums were places that distinguished themselves from day-to-day life, where I could leave the busy world and enjoy the concentrated visions of the creators of its holdings, where I enjoyed some privacy, shared with others who had similar interest. Design here is dissipated in open views, crowds, and empty spaces.
reallynotmyname · Jun 21, 25 8:48 PM
Something like these would be better:
above: Art Institute of Chicago - the rooms don't have skylights or swoopy ceilings, but are instead actually flexible.
below: Cranbrook, V&A, Vitra - the merging of display and storage to treat the museum as a treasury is a concept that is gaining traction.
Gary Garvin · Jun 21, 25 11:15 PM
The museum will be part of an overall project to turn this area into public cultural space:
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/05/12/helsinki-makasiiniranta-port-cultural-precinct-news/
So it has to fit in and participate, as well as not block views. For me Tyrsky best fits the bill.
That small spiral structure you see in some pictures is the Helsinki Biennial Pavilion, which will now be permanent:
https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/20/verstas-architects-island-helsinki-biennial-pavilion-finland/
t a z · Jun 23, 25 2:18 PM
'A' strikes me as Herzog & de Meuron with hints of Elbphilharmonie in the roof sculpting.
Comment as :