A new proposal has moved the Finnish capital closer to hosting a new Guggenheim museum for architecture and design.
The document released earlier this week by the Guggenheim Foundation proposes the south waterfront area of Katajanokka as the site for the facility. A feasibility study also said found that the museum would come at a cost of EUR 140 million and would attract some 500,000 visitors annually.
Helsinki deputy mayor Tuula Haatainen said in a statement, “By giving artists, designers and architects access to major international networks, and by promoting new types of conversations of the arts, a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki would offer global exposure and unprecedented opportunities to practitioners in the field of visual culture in Finland as well as in the Baltic and Nordic regions in general,” YLE reports.
An official decision regarding the construction of the museum is expected from the City of Helsinki and its city council within the next few weeks. If given the green light, additional approval would be needed from Guggenheim Foundation’s board.
The proposed facility is slated to be about 12,000 square-metres in size, with nearly 4,000 square-metres dedicated to exhibitions. Helsinki officials say that funding will come via a combination of private, corporate and public sources.