City of Tampere: Architecture Competition for New Art Museum Building to Launch in Finland

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- An international architecture competition has been launched in the historical city centre of Tampere. The contestants of the competition get to design a new building for the Sara Hildén Art Museum. The old factory buildings in the area as well as the cultural surroundings offer an interesting setting for the competition. With approximately 370,000 residents, the steadily growing Tampere is the largest inland city in the Nordic countries. If the nearby municipalities are included, Tampere is the second largest urban region in Finland.

The architecture competition lasts from 31 August to 2 December 2020. The results will be published in early 2021.

The Sara Hildén Art Museum and its internationally noteworthy art collection is a significant attraction in Tampere. The new location in a historically remarkable area improves the museum’s accessibility and provides audiences with new experiences. Compared to the current building, the new building will be significantly larger and have more modern museum technology, making it possible to display both the growing permanent collection and temporary exhibitions at the same time.

“The contestants will be required to design a high-quality building that acknowledges the surrounding city structure and the valuable cultural and green areas. The propositions must be feasible in terms of lifespan, functionality and the technical-economic point of view,” emphasises Deputy Mayor Jaakko Stenhäll.

The Mutual Pension Insurance Company Varma is the owner and developer of the Finlayson area buildings.

“The new museum will support the attractiveness and vitality of the western city centre and strengthen the cultural and leisure resources as well as the concentration of jobs in the area. We look forward to seeing the contestants’ proposals,” says Varma’s Real Estate Manager Kai Niinimäki.

Varma, the Sara Hildén Foundation and the City of Tampere are organising the architecture competition in cooperation with the Finnish Association of Architects, in line with the association’s competition rules.

Tampere is a university city and an attractive centre for know-how, trade and culture in Finland. Tampere is currently applying to become the 2026 European Capital of Culture.

Competition website:
www.sarahildenkilpailu.fi

The Sara Hildén Art Museum:
www.tampere.fi/sarahilden

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