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WAY – Seaway, Railway, Bikeway

Finnish pavilion concept & exhibition design


  • At: UABB Bi-city biennale of urbanism/architecture in Shenzhen
  • By: Tuomo Tammenpää with Juho Haavisto
  • For: Museum of Finnish Architecture
  • In: November 2015

WAY – Seaway, Railway, Bikeway is an exhibition concept for the Finnish Pavilion in UABB Bi-city biennale of urbanism/architecture in Shenzhen, presenting the urban transformation of the city of Helsinki from a small harbor town, via modernization of Finland, to its current state as the city of its citizens. The exhibition has two sections, an interactive historical journey and a participatory section for visitor feedback and dialogue.

The centerpiece of the interactive part is a big birch plywood table in the shape of Helsinki shoreline with wooden objects, representing eras and themes. Both the table and the wall behind it are projected with the historical content. The visitors are encouraged to move the objects to marks on table to trigger the content they are interested in. The table recognises the objects and plays short video clips based on the users selection. Specific key areas during specific eras can be selected (like: Port, 1800-1900 )or more generic zeitgeist material from set of themes and eras (like: leisure 1950-1990)

On the participatory side, the visitors can write their contribution on a card and hang it on boards under “way-themes” like Smart way, My way, No way etc. Comments were visible and easily accessible for the other visitors for inspiration or further commenting.

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