Bakpak Architects together with the DAGOpen office received the Special Jury Prize at the International Competition for the annex of the Helsinki National Museum, a competition to which 180 architectural studies from around the world were presented.
The proposal for the extension of the national museum is based on the initial idea of converting the new building into a new portion of the garden. An object that behaves as an extension of the public space and under which are the accesses to the new annex and the restaurant.
The complex of the national museum forms a set of gardens and buildings in which clearly stands out the building of the beginning of the century that is the current headquarters of the national museum. The new extension of the museum is proposed in the north garden of the complex. The proposal is positioned in a middle term between the castle and the administrative building to the north of the limit of the plot. Itsspecific position and high compactness allows the project to be developed in the minimum subterranean area and with the least possible impact on the set of existing trees.

The project is mainly divided into two parts. From one hand, the underground part that serves the main program of the expansion; the new exhibition halls, workshops, technical services, security and maintenance. On the other hand, the emerging part of the building that houses the accesses to the restaurant and to the extension of the national museum.
The underground part, as w...