Woven Current - Helsinki Design Museum

ESALA, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

Idea projektu

The project proposes a new Helsinki Design Museum as a future-facing cultural landmark that redefines the relationship between museum, city, landscape, and waterfront. Instead of treating the museum as a closed object, the design blurs the boundary between public and private space, allowing exterior areas, green roofs, flood-resilient landscapes, terraces, and public circulation zones to become part of the museum experience.

The concept is inspired by Finnish cultural and environmental references, including woven fabrics, baskets, flowing fish movements, winter ice, and the harbour setting. This creates a contrast between a cold, iceberg-like interior and a warm, woven timber exterior shell. The museum becomes both adaptable and resilient: a place for exhibitions, events, research, public gathering, and urban movement, while also responding to climate challenges such as sea-level rise, flood risk, heat island effects, and long-term environmental performance.

Popis projektu

The project consists of a multi-level museum building integrated with the Helsinki waterfront. The main programme includes exhibition galleries, a foyer, lobby, reception, museum shop, café, event space, performance room, conference room, library and research centre, office areas, staff rooms, archive spaces, logistics areas, technical rooms, public terraces, gardens, bicycle parking, skateboarding areas, climbing zones, and flood-resilient landscape zones.

The spatial organisation separates public, semi-private, private, staff, logistics, and emergency routes while maintaining flexible circulation through the building. Several gallery spaces are designed as adaptable rooms with movable wall systems, allowing exhibition areas to change in size and layout according to different events, installations, workshops, and cultural programmes.

The building is positioned as an active urban connector rather than a standalone museum. Public routes, waterfront views, outdoor activity zones, green spaces, and terraces extend the museum experience into the city. The project therefore functions as both a cultural institution and a civic landscape, supporting design education, public engagement, recreation, and future urban resilience.

Technické informace

The building uses a hybrid structural and material strategy combining a steel framework, low-carbon concrete slabs, CLT wood panels, recyclable timber façade elements, insulated walls, high-performance glazing, and green roof systems. The outer façade is formed from thousands of recyclable timber pieces, creating a woven shell that responds visually to Finnish craft traditions and the movement of water and fish. Custom steel joint connections support the irregular timber façade members and allow different angles, depths, and modular assembly conditions.

The environmental strategy targets high-performance sustainable design. The project uses skylights and curtain walls to maximise daylight, high-performance bird-safe glazing to control solar gain and reduce heat loss, and energy-efficient HVAC systems to support internal comfort. Green roofs, rain gardens, porous asphalt, flood-protection zones, moisture-retention layers, rainwater storage, and underdrain systems improve stormwater management, reduce heat island effects, and support biodiversity.

Materials are selected with attention to durability, local sourcing, embodied carbon, and life-cycle performance. The design prioritises regional materials, low-carbon concrete, XPS insulation, Thermowood, recyclable timber, bird-friendly glass, and landscape systems adapted to Helsinki’s climate. Together, these technical strategies support the project’s ambition to achieve a resilient, adaptable, and environmentally responsible museum for the future.

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