Finland’s New Museum of Architecture and Design Launches Search for Director

“We have just concluded the first stage of the design competition for our new museum building, which will be one of the Nordic region’s most visited and dynamic cultural institutions. We’re hoping to find a commensurate level of ambition in our new Museum Director, a creative and inspiring curatorial leader who can steer and shape the organisation in line with our goals and be a visionary voice for design and architecture in society”, says Kaarina Gould, CEO of the Foundation for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design and Chair of AD Museum.

The establishment of this new museum is the culmination of years of planning and collaboration. In 2018, the State of Finland and the City of Helsinki published a study confirming the need for a museum that would reflect Finland’s architectural and design legacy on the global stage. Since then, major capital funding has been secured, and a new organisation has been formed through the merger of the Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture to create a new national museum of architecture and design.

The Foundation for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design and AD Museum are now seeking an exceptional leader to take on the role of Director for this ambitious new institution. The appointed individual will be responsible for guiding the museum through a period of dynamic transformation, setting both the strategic and creative direction and leading the team to deliver on its bold vision and mission. In their role as CEO of AD Museum Ltd, the Director will also oversee the current operations of the Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture. Museums merged this year are operating in two historic buildings in the centre of Helsinki. 

Ideal candidates will be visionary and inspiring leaders with a proven track record in creative and curatorial leadership. They should possess strong communication and people skills and have the ability to guide and motivate the museum's team through a significant period of change.

The new director is expected to start fall 2025, at around the same time when the results of the design competition for the new museum building are announced.

For the transition period until the handover, Maija Tanninen-Mattila has been appointed as interim director, while the previous CEO of AD Museum, Jukka Savolainen, will take on a role as Director of Public Affairs at the Foundation for the Finnish Museum of Architecture and Design.

“As Director of Design Museum Helsinki since 2012, and as the first director of the AD Museum, Jukka Savolainen has piloted the two museums together and contributed significantly to the establishment of the new museum. After a successful merger and with the launch of an international search for the museum’s inaugural director, the organization is in a natural turning point. I’m thrilled to welcome Maija Tanninen-Mattila in as interim director, bringing tens of years of experience in inspiring management of museum organizations to this stage of the museum's transformation journey”, Kaarina Gould continues.

In 2021, the Finnish Government and the City of Helsinki launched a joint initiative to build a new museum that would merge the existing Design Museum and Museum of Finnish Architecture. An international design competition for the museum's new building in Helsinki’s historic South Harbour was launched in April 2024, with construction set to begin in 2027 and completion aimed for 2030. A successful merger of the two institutions in January 2024 led to the formation of the new museum organization, known as the AD Museum. Currently the AD Museum Ltd runs the operations of the Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture in their historic buildings in central Helsinki. 

Application Process

Saxton Bampfylde in London is acting as the employment agency advisor for this appointment. For more information about the role, including details on how to apply, please visit www.saxbam.com/appointments using reference EBPQA.

Alternatively, interested candidates can email Belinda Beck at Belinda.beck@saxbam.com. Applications must be submitted by noon on September 30, 2024.

Notes for press:

About Maija Tanninen-Mattila

Maija Tanninen-Mattila has a long career in museums. She has worked as the director of several art institutions: Helsinki Kunsthalle, the Ateneum Art Museum Finnish National Gallery and HAM Helsinki Art Museum. As director of HAM she headed the first edition of the Helsinki Biennial 2021.

Her main interests are in museum and audience development. She graduated with a degree in art history from the Helsinki University and studied museum education at the George Washington University in Washington DC as a Fulbright scholar. She is an alumni of the Museum Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University. She has curated exhibitions and published articles on museum related subjects and art. Maija Tanninen-Mattila is a board member of the Finnish National Gallery.

About AD Museum

A new museum of architecture and design is coming to Helsinki. A natural destination for architecture and design lovers, the museum will also be a place for learning, sharing, and coming together for all curious minds.

You can’t talk about Helsinki or Finland without mentioning design and architecture. Our goal is simple: to build the world’s leading museum of architecture and design in Finland. Nowhere else in the world are design and architecture so embedded in the culture and identity. The new museum will merge the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum and their substantial collections into one, with the whole representing much more than the sum of its parts.

A new museum building near the historic harbour in central Helsinki will house state-of-the-art exhibitions and forward-looking programmes. With new technologies, the whole world can participate in the conversation. Both the City of Helsinki and the State of Finland have committed to backing the new museum with significant donations. Four private foundations have joined forces, with the total capital raised almost reaching the target of 150 million euros.

Design Competition for the New Museum of Architecture and Design

A design competition for the new museum building was launched in April 2024. The open call for first stage entries ran from 15 April to 29 August 2024 and asked for conceptual proposals for a new 10,050 sq m (GFA) museum building on a prominent and historic site on Helsinki’s South Harbour. All entries were submitted anonymously and will now be assessed by an international jury of leading architects, cultural experts and policymakers. Between 3 and 5 entries will be selected to progress to Stage 2, where concepts will be developed into viable proposals. The entrants selected for Stage 2 of the competition will be notified in December 2024, with Stage 2 opening in February and running until the end of May 2025. The final result of the competition will be announced in September 2025.

All entries for the competition’s first stage will be unveiled in an an online gallery and a live event at Helsinki Design Week on September 12, starting 4pm Helsinki time. Presentations at the event will include a keynote by Paola Antonelli (MoMA, New York), and panel discussions led by Maria Budtz Sørensen (DVDL Cultural Planners, New York) and Kieran Long (Amos Rex, Helsinki).

Learn more about the live event here.

Follow the event live here.

Visit the competition website.