The National Museum of Finland will be even more welcoming, with plenty of public spaces that can be enjoyed without an entrance ticket
2027 will be a great time to visit Helsinki, where the National Museum of Finland will be refreshed, expanded and ready for the public. Built in 1916 based on the National Romantic Style by the famous architect trio of Herman Gesellius, Armas Lindgren and Eliel Saarinen, the museum was meant to be bigger, but things don’t always go to plan.
Until now. Led by Samuli Miettinen, founding partner of JKMM Architects, the museum’s expansion is finally happening, and it is due to be inaugurated next spring. It is designed to be even more welcoming, with plenty of public spaces that can be enjoyed without an entrance ticket. The reopening sees a new fully glazed entrance pavilion complete with a restaurant and art installations, a new route leading you into the formerly enclosed museum and garden, and a glazed courtyard that connects the old and new buildings.
The new, in fact, will be mostly below ground, capped with a breezy 600-sqm sculptural pavilion and a 43-metre-wide saucer-shaped roof supported by five-metre-tall glass walls. In all its 21st-century engineering glory, the roof weighs 1,400 tonnes and shares the same diameter as the Roman Pantheon, but stands on a pedestal of reinforced concrete that’s three metres wide.
Inside, the ceiling is covered in 5,000 handmade white ceramic tiles shaped in hearts, clovers and crosses, and fitted together like an eye-catching mosaic puzzle. Journey down beyond the ground level, and you’ll find two new black box exhibition spaces, stained with black fire protection paint throughout.
You’ll also experience casual auditorium-like seating covered in woven horse tail hair, and art integrated throughout. Keep your eyes peeled for mosaics by Finnish artist Tuula Lehtinen, a masterpiece of 92,000 handmade tiles, and 103 white pendant luminaires designed to remind you of Finland’s national flower, the lily of the valley. Made in the historic Nuutajärvi glass factory, these are a collaboration between JKMM and Milla Vaahtera, a Finnish designer and artist known for her bold, sculptural work that brings traditional craft together with contemporary expression.
Featured photo by JKMM
