Award-Winning Architects & Interior Designers in Camden, London

Helsinki Museum Competition

Architect and interior designers based in Southwark, London. Award-winning renovation, refurbishment, houses, boutique hotel and gallery architecture. My builder will pick Polysmiths. Polysmiths work across many London boroughs, including Camden, Islington, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Westminster, Southwark, Kensington & Chelsea. Sustainable materials, Listed buildings, Grand designs, Conservation Area.

Helsinki Museum Competition - Helsinki Finland (2024)

Tulisija, or ‘the hearth’, a gateway to a new Helsinki district

We entered the Helsinki Museum competition in 2024 - a museum in a new district of Helsinki, dedicated to the city of Helsinki and its people. The competition is submitted in collaboration with Atelier Pendhapa.

Museum as a collection of rooms

Tulisija is designed as a clustered of interconnected rooms congregating around a central circular garden, the hearth. This biodiverse, tranquil space is accessible by all, and is the Museum’s surprise gife to our visitors.

We have included a nursery as a ‘additional programme’, emphasizing the Museum as a democratic communal space.

Arrival and warmth

The volumes of the museum is respectful of its context, including the new neighbourhood, Saaret. The building outline is soft with their subtle curves, and the scale of the spaces are domestic, warm, and inviting.

Low-carbon brick, timber cladding, combined with structural glass create an efficient building rich in texture, sophisticated in detailing, demonstrating the care and effort that is put into building a truly human-scale, sustainable building for all.

Visit

The spaces are created using an efficient and robust post-tension structure, allow large spans with less material,  encouraging free-flow wandering without a ‘fixed route’. It also create opportunities for open plan spaces adaptable for exhibitions, shows, and performances.

Tulisija has a biodiverse garden at its heart. That, with the use of natural, local, low-carbon materials, daylight, thermal, ventilation control, geothermic piles and solar roof, contribute to achieving BREEAM excellent.

Connect with the city

The gallery spaces sit adjacent to the shop and café, spilling out to the Market Square, as well as the waterfront promenade. This permeability is generous, and encourages repeated visiting for activities other than the galleries.

Tulisija is designed to create a sense of togetherness. It is created to facilitate a communal experience, to rejuvenate and recharge. Most important of all, Tulisija is a democratic space where one can feel empowered to wander, and be inspired and energized by design, architecture, by Helsinki, and by each other.

my builder picks Polysmiths.

(All images by Polysmiths & Atelier Pendhapa)