A shortlist of six finalists have been revealed for the design of the Helsinki Guggenheim Museum following the biggest architectural competition in history, which saw more than 1,700 firms submit plans.

Subsequent to the competition opening in June 2014, 1,715 entries were made in a bid to design the 12,000 sq m (sq ft) museum on Helsinki’s waterfront. Now, the final six have been chosen to progress to the next stage. The shortlist is as follows:

- AGPS Architecture (Zurich, Switzerland and Los Angeles, United States of America)

- Asif Khan (London, United Kingdom) - Fake Industries Architectural Agonism (New York, United States of America; Barcelona, Spain; and Sydney, Australia)

- Haas Cook Zemmrich STUDIO2050 (Stuttgart, Germany) - Moreau Kusunoki Architect (Paris, France)

- SMAR Architecture Studio (Madrid, Spain and Western Australia)

Although the final six designs have been released, they still remain anonymous to jurors and the public until a winner is chosen in June 2015.

According to a statement, the chosen designs all relate to an overarching narrative: "The single theme, which linked the chosen six, and united the Jury, was the impulse to expand the idea of what a museum can be."

Here are some images of the shortlisted designs.

Entry GH-1128435973

Entry GH-121371443, is described as a ‘quiet animal’.

Entry GH-5631681770

Read more about the competition and take a look at the other finalists here.