Submissions are now being accepted for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation‘s Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition, first announced in April (see artnet News report). Co-organized by Malcolm Reading Consultants and the Finnish Association of Architects, the competition is sponsored by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

All entries will be evaluated on the following criteria: cityscape, architecture, usability, sustainability, and feasibility. Following the open call, six proposals will move onto step two this fall, where the candidates will be expected to present more detailed plans. The winner will be awarded €100,000 ($136,000), with a €55,000 ($75,000) prize for the five runner-ups.

Although the museum’s completion is still a long way off, should it come to pass at all, the plan is for the institution to show “internationally significant exhibitions of artworks from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries while also specializing in Nordic art and architecture,” according to the project’s website. Compared to the Guggenheim’s New York, Venice, Bilbao, and planned Abu Dhabi locations, “the Guggenheim Helsinki would be distinctive in its active inclusion of design and architecture in its programming.”

As artnet News reported earlier this week, the proposed museum has met with some local opposition from Finns who are tired of global brands overtaking their distinct national identity and fear the sure-to-be-substantial tax burden such a large-scale project would require. The country would also have to pay an annual fee to the Guggenheim Foundation in exchange for using the name.

The winner of the design competition is expected to be announced sometime next June.