BELOW THE SURFACE

The museum, previously known as the Amos Anderson Art Museum, was redeveloped thanks to architecture company JKMM, and features a combination of flexible, contemporary exhibition spaces and heritage spaces. 13,000 cubic metres of rock had to be excavated in order to make space for the halls of the new museum.

A small chimney still remains as a tribute to the history of the original Lasipalatsi building that originally dates back to the 1930s.

The original Amos Anderson Art Museum has been a high-profile museum in Helsinki since 1965 and was located in a converted newspaper office. In order to meet the modern market and public space landscape, and continue the museum’s success, a new venue was chosen at the Lasipalatsi building, which is regarded as one of Finland’s best-preserved examples of 1930s architecture.

The Lasipalatsi was transformed to hold the new museum, while still preserving key historical features, such as Finland’s first external neon lighting. JKMM conducted extensive research and onsite material analysis with the Helsinki City Museum in order to create a design and construction palette that preserves elements of the original design.

A 590-seat cinema within the Lasipalatsi, called the Bio Rex, was restored as part of the project, bringing it back to its heyday in the 1930s, and contributes to the identity of the Amos Rex.

Visitors enter the museum through the refurbished foyer of the Lasipalatsi and descend a long staircase that features a picture window, which offers views of the public square. The galleries below are lit by the skylights the protrude as raised mounds in the public square above.

The combination of an exciting new gallery and square with the extensive retail and eateries in the Lasipalatsi will work together to create a thriving new public space, feeding off the popularity of the Helsinki city centre. The spaces also allow for an outdoor event program to be devised by the new museum, in order to support the gallery’s art.

In order to christen the new gallery, an opening exhibition will take place thanks to TeamLab. Called Massless, the exhibition will include five digital artworks that feature four immersive spaces that are created with stunning digital projections. The exhibition is the largest for the team outside of their homebase in Tokyo, and hopes to become as widely recognised as their Digital Art Museum in Tokyo.

An art education workshop will take place for children and young adults in order to encourage youth to engage in art in a thriving public forum.