Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art

Helsinki, Finland
Steven Holl, Architect

form // body
body // technique
technique / /space
form
space
jason sedar / evda / introduction to design theories

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Form/
Sitting at the end of Tl Bay, in Helsinki, Finland, the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art is a typological form
expressed through force evident in the synthesis of building and landscape. American architect Steven Holl engaged local
determinants and typological precedents to create the aptly named Kiasma, Finnish for chiasma, an intersection or
crossing, particularly in medicine, a crossing of the optic nerves at the base of the brain. This analysis will consider the
form of the building through research, diagrams, and readings on form and typology from DArcy Wentworth Thompson and
Giulio Carlo Argan, respectively. In researching this architecture, Steven Holls book, Urbanisms: Working with Doubt, has
been the main source of information pertaining to the architects intent.

Holl views the site as a confluence of various city grids, where the building is a mass intertwining with the geometry
of the city and landscape. In doing so, he sites the architecture as it corresponds to a proposed extension of Tl Bay.
The form engages the water and landscape; a stream permeates the form at the exterior passageway. From the north
end, the patinated zinc oxide roof wraps across the three storey program, twisting with the force of the architects hand
and enmeshing with a modernist steel frame box. Holl explains the topological transformation as an interior mystery
and exterior horizon, like two hands clasping each other, form[ing] the architectonic equivalent of a public invitation.
Ultimately, the union of the two forms results in a post modern typology that makes reference to the classical, (Holl notes
the importance of the contextual architecture: the Parliament, Alvar Aaltos Finlandia Hall, and Eliel Saarinens Helsinki
Station,) the modernist expression of function, (the main circulation elements, in plan, reflecting the orientation of building
form and exterior walls,) and the integration of technological shape and material found in contemporary designs.

Kiasma Museum: Reproduction of Holl Site Diagram/

from his book Urbanisms: Working with Doubt /
the site viewed as a convergence of urban grids and
landscape elements.

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1/
In addressing Argans essay On the Typology of Architecture, and his paraphrasing of Quatremere de Quincy, Argan
suggests type as the idea of an element which should itself serve as a rule for the model, which is evident in Holls
Kiasma Museum as the twisting form becomes the rule for organization of space. This is similar to other post modern
architectural designs of the time, such as Eisenmans Columbus Convention Center, where the rule for form overrides
a standard grid layout, and the main programmatic spaces become arranged in irregular or non-linear ways. Holls
implementation of the rule in form, however, is limited to one surface. While the rule engages the architecture on the
whole, it is not necessarily indicative of the summation of the form. The interior spaces flow along the main axis, ramps
rise along the gentle curve, while the temporary galleries are characterized by the sloping roof overhead. The main public
functions, however, are strictly rectilinear. The bar and street level cafe open to the west plaza but do not maintain any of
the characteristics of the architectures expressive form. The entry sequence from the south is more appropriate; as the
occupant approaches from the street, it is evident multiple forms are converging upon entry. Once inside, the form presents
itself as the axial curve extending north to Tl Bay.

Form Existing /
sharp edges form a tenuous
relationship between morphological
form and modernist shape.

Form Finishing /
The twisting element reaches a totality
as it cloaks the south facade of the
form.

Form Softening /
The form sprawls out across the
landscape, softening the edges in the
figure-ground relationship.

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1/

Eisenmans Columbus Convention Center /

a series of rolling waves across an urban
site, edge conditions defining form and
program orientation.

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1/
The form of Holls Kiasma Museum seems abbreviated when considered through the lens of DArcy Wentworth
Thompsons On Growth and Form. Thompson argues that for, as a product of forces acting on matter, is a manifestation of
physical energy. The form is a holistic and thorough diagram of these forces. Holls form stops short of being representative
of the summation of forces. As the architecture bends in plan and section along the north-south axis, the edges at the
end of the programmatic space are sharp, a distinct break from the visible vector that constitutes the form. The form,
instead, should be as Thompson writes, a symbol for the magnitude and direction of an action in reference to the symbol
or diagram of a material thing. If Holl was to fully express these forces in his form, the resulting architecture may be
dramatically different. While it may still incorporate those elements identified earlier as being integral to the design (the
chiasma, crossing of axes, twisting form representing public invitation, etc.), the form can adapt to a full representation
of forces, pervading the landscape and softening the edges. This, in turn, lends greater credence to the exterior elements
of form, the integration of water, or extending the architecture south towards the city. The form may better articulate the
west facade, the public face, to better communicate the architects intent in confirm[ing] art, architecture and culture...
[as] integral parts of the city and landscape. A cascading, twisting form can better engage the ground level rather than
remaining an elevated roof condition.
As a post modern typology, form illustrating vectors of force and process, Steven Holls Kiasma Museum of
Contemporary Art generates landmark architecture in the urban landscape of Helsinki, Finland. While the form is
representative of fusion between two surfaces, the resulting effect is presentable as an integrative, public experience.
The architecture successfully approaches local vernacular, recognizing the importance of water and responding to a
meeting of urban thoroughfares. The form is topological in its monolithic roof, turning from the facade facing the bay, to
sloping across programmatic space and defining the confluence of massing. The public front remains a static experience,
somewhat subduing the dynamism with its flat three storey facade, an abrupt end to an otherwise fluid form. Ultimately,
the form becomes a definitive element amongst the surrounding context, an appropriate response to a highly responsive
environment.
Extending Vectors/
allowing the forces evident in form to
maintain intensity and direction.

Surfacing Vectors/
new surfaces result with the extension of
form, and variability in porosity.

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Body/
The bodys subjective experience in architecture
can generate a variety of reactions. The phenomenological
perceptions of the body allow human ecologies to be that
of our own accord. We are able to mould and form space
in ways only know to our intelligent species. Architecture is
a primary consideration in this regard. Architects strive to
intervene in space and improve it. By doing so, architects
must consider the phenomenological aspects of the bodys
experience in space. Steven Holl is an architect who supports
these hypotheses through his writings and his professional
practice. This case study will analyze the phenomenological
body in space through the architecture of the Kiasma
Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland. Through
consideration of the interior and exterior conditions of the
Kiasma Museum, this case study will identify attempts by
the architect to engage in the creation of phenomenological
qualities with the body in space, and the symbiotic subjective
experience.
In his book, Urbanisms: Working with Doubt, Holl
writes particularly about the architects purpose bound to
creation of phenomenology, and how phenomenological
characteristics can determine the qualities of setting. Holls
supposition reflects the theoretical thinking present in
Merleau-Pontys Phenomenology of Perception, where the
body in space is understood through a relational subjectivity.
Merleau-Ponty writes, To be a body, is to be tied to a
certain world, as we have seen; our body is not primarily
in space: it is of it. In elaborating on the affect of this
phenomenology, Merleau-Ponty states, There exists an
affective presence and enlargement for which objective
spatiality is not a sufficient condition. This is to suggest
that, in architecture, phenomenology is able to generate a
subjective experience for the body in space, and that there
must be some elemental quality that affects the body beyond
objective reality. Holls architecture, or more precisely, his
intent, reaches to achieve this affective presence. As a
starting point for analysis, the exterior conditions of the
Kiasma Museum are poetic in their subtle differentiation
and geometric continuity. The lines and edges seem to
jason sedar / evda

Affect/ing/ed Body in Kiasma Museum Plaza /

the architecture becomes the generator for
phenomenology in the bodily spatial construct, while
similarly acting as am affecting body.

/ /

be vectors moving through the spatial construct. The

architecture clearly defines the limits of the space with strong
and clean massing. This language speaks as a body and
becomes affective. The subjective experience of the body
is transformed through habitation, as Vidlers anecdote on
Councillor Krespel, from Unhomely Homes, would reflect.

The way in which the Kiasma Museum influences

the body in space with phenomenological characteristics is
similar to that of Freuds discussion in his paper Creative
Writers and Day-Dreaming. Freud credits the writer for
creating enjoyment through an imaginative process by which
the reader is afforded the character of a fore-pleasure,
which precedes the liberation of tension in our minds.
Holl is the poet, affording the body the fore-pleasure of
form and function. Then it is the architecture that leads
the body through a series of imagined graduating volumes,
setting the body within inclines and enclosing space, the
phenomenological aspects creating enjoyment through
variation.
Holl not only aims to affect the realization of bodies
in space, but modifies and informs the architecture as a
phenomenological body in space. By proposing the extension
of Tl Bay, and integrating the water with the architecture,
Holl creates a bodily extension. Again, the architecture
references Merleau-Pontys seminal argument for the blind
man and his cane, where the cane is a phenomenological
extension of the bodys spatial construct. By extending the
bay, Holl can successfully extend the architectural body, what
Merleau-Ponty calls a bodily auxilliary, an extension of the
bodily synthesis. The extension generates a relationship
between the visual and tactile portions of the body; the
architecture both sees and touches the bay. To this end,
Holl is successful in creating a symbiosis; unfortunately the
extension of the bay was not included in the final realization.

Tl Bay, Extension of Architectural Body/

the architecture and water cross, creating a chiasma that would extend through the
subjective experience of the body, linking the building to Helsinkis Tl Bay.

jason sedar / evda

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/
The phenomenal qualities of Holls Kiasma Museum are relevant to Peter Eisenmans essay Visions Unfolding:
Architecture in the Age of Electronic Media. Because Eisenmans work deals with the vision of the body, and how the body
may be affected through vision, he speaks of phenomenal characteristics generated through the folding of space, or more
literally, the way in which form becomes the architectural body and defines spatial relationships. Holls Kiasma Museum
offers pertinent examples of this, particularly the interior gallery conditions. The galleries fold space in a gentle curvilinear
fashion, with openings to daylight above, affecting the space with an ephemeral quality. The main circulation axis bends
around corners at such a slight degree, but to leave small portions of detail out of view just enough to create mystery.
Of these types of folded space, Eisenman highlights their ability to engage in the object and subjective, from effective to
affective:

Gallery, Folding Space /

The body comes to be affected by the subtle folding, and the
realization of the subjective beyond the rationalization of space.

Gallery, Folding Space /

Reinforcing vision, organizing space and defining the
relationship between subject and object.

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/ /

Folding changes the traditional space of vision. That is, it can be considered to be effective, it functions, it shelters, it is meaningful,
it frames, it is aesthetic. Folding also constitutes a move from effective to affective space. Folding is not another subject expressionism, a
promiscuity, but rather unfolds in space alongside of its functioning and its meaning in space - it had what might be called an excessive
condition or affect. Folding is a type of affective space which concerns those aspects that are not associated with the effective, that are more
than reason, meaning and function.

Holls folded spaces are at once affective, informing the body of volume and spatial quality, and what Eisenman
designates looking-back. They reach beyond the rationalization of space, no longer a citation of traditional construct.
The experiential and phenomenal qualities of Steven Holls architecture cannot go unnoticed. It is clear through
careful analysis of his formed space that the bodily relationship is a priority. His writings further clarify his intentions; Holl
writes, if modern medicine has finally acknowledged the power of the psyche as a factor in physical health, perhaps urban
planners may realize that the experiential and phenomenal power of cities cannot be completely rationalized and must be
studied subjectively. Holls views are embedded in his architecture, that which is of body and mind, in the generation of
the phenomenological qualities we all can appreciate.

jason sedar / evda

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Technique/
Informing architecture with technique allows it to attain a level of instrumental quality beyond that of the generic
space. Steven Holls Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, in Helsinki, Finland, will be subjected to such an analysis in
this document so as to identify qualities of the architecture through a repeatable process determined by a set of rules. This
analysis will be conducted through the use of sequential diagrams, where the individual steps work to illuminate facets
of the architecture which allow it to operate at an instrumental level. The three conditions which will be addressed are as
follows: The instrumental affects at the scale of the site, the operational aggregation of circulation through the spatial
volume, and the ability of major formal elements to create vectors, informing the permeation of the facade. These diagrams
incorporate three basic steps: Identifying the base drawing, highlighting and abstracting those elements which are integral
to the general concept of the architectural technique, and applying technique or populating those concepts with agents
which work to inform the desired result.

Floor Plans/
Referenced from Steven Holls book,
Urbanisms: Working with Doubt

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By addressing the site scale of the Kiasma Museum, we may find that specifc elements of the surrounding context
work to inform the architectural technique used to orient the occupant within the space. The top set of diagrams begins
with a general site diagram () reproduced from Holls book Urbanisms: Working with Doubt. The second diagram ()
inverts the figure ground relationship, identifying certain major ground elements, specifically those which were wholly bound
by figure from (). This results in the rail becoming the prominent element of operation in the figure ground, which when
paired with Holls extension of Tl Bay in diagram (), illuminates the relationship Holl desired in siting his building.
Diagram () begins with the direct inverse of (), which leads to the highlighting of major ground level networks
in Helsinki, depending on the area and number of connecting routes. These routes and plazas are then rendered in a
solitary state in diagram (); this works in concert with Holls general concept of the chiasma, where the major city routes
intersect and overlap one another. () then illustrates the overlay of the major routes with direct relation back to diagram
(), informing the orientation and siting of the building with specific consideration for the major ground elements.

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Diagrams (),(), and () work from a pared down floor plan, where the major organizing mass elements
are selected as extruded volumes which inform the circulation of agents within the architecture. In diagrams ()
through () these elements can be seen as solids, leaving the interstitial space to become populated by the agents of
circulation. The agents are tightly controlled within the volumes, while at the ends the agents freely disperse into the ether.
The agents are affected by the opening and narrowing of volume, and aggregate accordingly. As the space opens up, they
are permitted to rise vertically, best illustrated in diagram ().

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Identifying the major organizing element in

section allows technique to inform how the architecture
may be informed by its qualitative properties. The
sectional aspects of the Kiasma museum show that
the major exterior wall is instrumental in defining
the space of the public plaza in diagram ().
Diagrams () through () work to identify how the
supporting properties of the mass wall focus activity
on the exterior facade and public plaza. The technique
begins in diagram () where a field condition of
agents is applied across the interior face of the mass
wall. Vectors are then drawn between the points on
the surface and a common focal point, allowing for
the intersection with the exterior facade in diagram
() and (), where the agents array along the
defined vectors. Finally, in diagram (), the level
of permeation caused by the agents on the exterior
facade is seen in elevation paralled to the surface.

Building Section/
Referenced from Steven Holls book,
Urbanisms: Working with Doubt

public plaza

reflector

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4/1

Space/

The generation of space may be considered a process activated either out of necessity, or for the sake of moving beyond
necessity towards an indeterminate quality. DeLandas argument in Intensive Science and Virtual Philosophy would suggest that
the space is a product of populations, and that the space is generated out of a necessity to adequately support populations. In
contemporary architecture, this may be true, that the limit defining qualities are generated to properly address the current and
future needs of populations. This can be done in many ways, and is generally resulting in a clear and decisive boundary between
volumes. The boundary may be defined by doorways, changes in material, or permeability. Often times, when these boundaries are
blurred, the space becomes an extension of the architectural realm, less defined and yet allowing for greater affecting qualities.

Space, therefore, works between both the objective and the subjective. Its effect is immediately quantitative on our
senses, but qualitatively changes with time. We can understand that walls and ceilings define the limits of the space, that unseen
space beyond or outside is related only in that it is excluded from the interiority. As spaces move towards the exterior, the inclusive
space expands with the view, but only in that instance are distant physical objects related. Qualitatively, the space will bring about
fluctuations affecting logic over time, but with less permanence
than those quantitative affects. It is the quality of materiality
and light, both of which are dynamic in their presence within
space.
This analysis will further consider the quantitative and
qualitative aspects of space present in Steven Holls Kiasma
Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland. The three
intensive diagrams will consider the logic of light, the logic of
boundary, and the logic of mass, and how each of those may
govern the affecting qualities of the spatial experience. The
diagrams will further transform these logics in order to predict
a future condition in which the architectural space may become
more extreme in its quantitative and qualitative aspects.

Material Pallette/
Steven Holls Kiasma Museum
utilizes a range of materials,
from the mass of concrete
to the light curves of metal
panelling, to define the
boundaries of space.
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4/2

A common detail throughout the Kiasma Museum is for the admittance of daylight
through a high level skylight. The light bounces in off of the opaque white concrete walls, and
diffuses amongst the galleries. In analyzing this element, I began by creating a heightfield based
on brightness within the space. The images are placed in order of top, perspective, left, and
right. Images (1) through (4) illustrate the rises and drops in light levels which help to define
the qualities of space. As the light levels are transformed, I aimed to attain both a greater
consistency across the field in images (5) through (8), and extreme conditions in images (9)
through (12). The last set became the most polarizing affect, predicting a post apocalyptic
condition where the quality of the space becomes almost dungeon like, with a large penetrating
beam of light from above. This ultimately results in an equivalency throughout the space, it
being incredibly dark, but highlights and emphasizes focus on the penetration. The affect on the
inhabiting population would decrease density, and result in a space formally organized around
the singular rather than the multiple.

(1)

(2)

(3)

(5)

(7)

(4)

(8)

(11)

(9)

(6)

(10)

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(12)

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to the general concept of the architectural technique, and applying technique or populating those concepts with agents
which work to inform the desired result.

(13)

4/3

In addressing the Kiasma Museums main circulation, I identified the use of focal points and the crossing of space from which the
building gets its name. In plan (13) it becomes evident there is a
desire to generate space with a twisting of boundaries, creating a pinch
point at the center. In diagramming this space, I first laid out a continuous repeated pattern (15) similiar to that in plan, and then further
transformed it through a helical crossing of surface elements (16-17),
extending and repeating boundaries. The logic of the boundaries then
breaches into the bay (18), utilizing that volume Holl left otherwise
untouched. The space is extended to properly address the population of
water Holl initially recognized as being integral to the architecture, and a
defining quality of boundaries within the site.

(14)

Floor Plans/
Referenced from Steven Holls book,
Urbanisms: Working with Doubt

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(18)

/ /

(16)

(15)

(17)

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4/4

(19)

(20)

(21)

The exterior spaces of the Kiasma Museum are often
characterized by movement through the site. Image (19)
illustrates, in elevation the western facade of the building where
three major materials meet, and the pedestrian passes through
this intersection. By transforming the massing of this space, the
logic becomes one more of volume than linear paths of travel.
Massing generates space in a planar and cohesive organization
in (20), where walls, floors, ceilings and transparencies are all
clearly defined as spatial limitations. Images (21) and (22)
then separate these massing elements to communicate logic
of space in ways which offer the architecture clearly defined
means of use. In (21) the foreground is the permeable facade
while the background is the solid mass. In (22) the elements
were divided to illustrate the individual functions of the overhead
condition, the ground condition, and the wall condition.

Whether these illustrations may then communicate
future space is dependent on populations. Should a population
allow, or require such a transformation, the logic of mass is
flexible and permits a change in the quantitative and qualitative
aspects of space.

(22)

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