Turku Museum of History and Future

A unique museum at a unique location.

This museum draws its energy from its amazing context.
It is a spatial construct born of the earth, the river, the city, and the castle.
It is a continuation of the river, with its glazed facades reflecting the water.
It is a continuation of the city with its silhouette inspired by Turku pitched roofs and skyline.
It is a continuation of the park with its green roof and accessible linear roof garden.
It is a place from which the castle can be observed and celebrated.

It is designed to provide maximum flexibility and accessibility to allow for any type of art, installation, or presentation technique to be employed and convey the story of Turku’s history and future.

It is designed to take maximum advantage of the immense natural beauty of its surroundings with carefully choreographed views to the river, castle, and the park.

While main galleries and other programmatic elements are inside the building, our aim was to provide additional exhibit space outside- on the building roof. The museum green roof drops to the ground in two places allowing public access to a linear roof-top gallery. The story of history and the future is told through holo- pro projections on building skylights, augmented reality displays and soundscapes. While the trail is always the timeline, the narrative focus changes weekly- or daily- looking at history and the future through a different lens (art, culture, science, sustainability, diversity, etc.).

The museum is designed from the fragments of the past- locally harvested reclaimed wood and other locally sourced and recycled materials. A fully sustainable design approach is envisaged.

Turku Museum is designed for the future, with an eye on diversity, inclusion, multi-channeling, ecology, and let’s not forget- fun for everyone.