Archinect - News

Explore images of Moreau Kusunoki's recently completed timber residential tower in Paris

2023-10-20T19:27:00-04:00

A 164-foot-tall timber tower designed by France and Australia-based firm Moreau Kusunoki has officially completed construction. The project features 77 housing units, serveing as a new residential center in the southeastern end of Paris.

The tower is distinct through its grid façade composed of charred and pre-weathered wood. The grid is envisioned as an inhabited wall, which functions as "a filter to keep the surrounding dense urban environment at a distance."

Image © Maris Mezulis

Each residential unit features a private exterior space carved out by the grid façade. The long proportions of this frame were determined by the building’s structural system.

According to the design team, the shape also serves to highlight the "verticality of the building," which allows it to blend in with the surrounding towers. Contrasting this more private, inhabited wall, a transparent public space is located at the base of the structure that opens to the city. Here, an art gallery and restaurant ar...

Moreau Kusunoki, winners of Guggenheim Helsinki competition, respond to rejected plans: "an extraordinary adventure despite the disappointing result"

2016-12-02T18:26:00-05:00

Now that Helsinki's city council has rejected the latest round of financing plans for the Guggenheim outpost, it appears that the winning design by Moreau Kusunoki most certainly won't be built. We reached out to the architects for comment, and they provided the following statement:

Guggenheim Helsinki was an extraordinary adventure despite the disappointing result of the vote from the City Council of Helsinki.

The reflections we had in conceiving the 21th-century museum in Helsinki were thought-provoking and revelatory, such as the participatory and social dimensions of the museum, the studies on in-between spaces and flexible use, and the use of charred-wood cladding.

This journey was also an opportunity to meet exceptional professionals, whose commitment to promoting art and architecture we deeply admire.

We are confident that this project represents a stepping stone and the possibility of an exciting future for our firm and for the field of architecture. It encourages new thoughts ...

One last chance for the Guggenheim Helsinki

2016-11-07T14:13:00-05:00

Earlier this year, news broke that the Finnish government had vetoed plans for the Guggenheim Helsinki Museum, a controversial satellite of the famed New York institution. Now, a new proposal has been prepared by the City government and the museum’s support foundation, which will be presented to the City for a final vote on the fate of the project.

The Guggenheim Helsinki was first proposed in 2011 but was voted down by the City of Helsinki in 2012. Afterwards, the Guggenheim Foundation prepared a new proposal and helped organize a massive design competition—one of the largest ever. The relatively-unknown studio Moreau Kusunoki Architectes won the competition.

According to estimates, the museum would cost around €130 million. The new plan proposes that the City of Helsinki would finance the majority of the costs, around €80 million, while the Supporting Foundation would put in €15 million. The rest would come from private sources, which already are said to have reached unprecedented l...

Finnish government pulls funding for the Guggenheim Helsinki

2016-09-08T13:16:00-04:00

The Guggenheim Foundation's Helsinki museum, the design of which was chosen after a hotly anticipated competition last year, is now missing a major financial backer, namely, the government of Finland. Prior to its withdrawal, Finland was going to pick up construction costs and a portion of the operating fees in exchange for top-tier artworks and exhibitions from the Guggenheim.

However, this pull-out isn't entirely unexpected. Before the winning design by Moreau Kusunoki Architectes was even chosen, there were rumblings of dissent: many in Finland felt that the Guggenheim was becoming a bland franchise, to the point that an alternative competition, "The Next Helsinki," was launched to solicit other designs. As Sampo Terho, parliamentary head of the Finns Party, said, “This is the end of the matter, we have ruled out state funding (for Guggenheim) once and for all, for this government.”

Listen to our interview with Moreau Kusunoki Architectes about their winning design for the Guggen...

Parisian Exports and Silicon Valley Imports on Episode #37 of Archinect Sessions

2015-07-09T19:17:00-04:00

Our episode this week revolves around Paris – city of lights, riots, artists and cheese-shaped skyscrapers (or at least, those are the bits were talking about). As part of a nationwide strike against UberPop, the cheapest Uber-affiliate in France, taxi drivers in Paris launched a riotous protest on June 25, terrorizing Uber drivers and generally disrupting Parisians in transit (and Courtney Love).

Contention (albeit the nonviolent kind) also arose in response to Herzog & de Meuron's new Tour Triangle skyscraper, which Paris officials approved on June 30. It will be the city's first skyscraper since the much-maligned Tour Montparnasse was built in 1973, precipitating a height limit on new buildings (that has since been relaxed). Critics are unhappy about the Triangle's intrusion onto the Parisian skyline, and its inhospitable-looking atmosphere on the street level.

Paul also shares his conversation with Guggenheim Helsinki winners Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki, following up on ...

Who are Helsinki Guggenheim winners Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki?

2015-06-25T09:33:00-04:00

Before yesterday's announcement that Moreau Kusunoki Architectes had won the highly contentious and big-budget Guggenheim Helsinki competition, the firm wasn't much used to the spotlight. Querying Google Trends for "Moreau Kusunoki" preceding the Guggenheim news, the firm barely blips twice since the husband-wife duo, Nicolas Moreau and Hiroko Kusunoki, began their practice in 2011. Before now, the highest instance of search traffic was in December of 2014, when the six finalists for the competition were announced. Their website's "info" section currently includes only contact information.

After having won such a high-profile competition, the firm had to make some kind of statement of its architectural perspective, and revealed that their media silence was highly intentional, as "architecture is best conceived in reserve and introspection, which are favorable to the emergence of poetic visions." Or at least so states their firm bio, released as part of the press packet for the Guggen...