One of the key projects of the Suomenlinna’s 250th anniversary year 1998 was to set up a visitor information centre in the former inventory chambers. The building was well suited to the purpose. It is located in the centre of the fortress along the main tourist route. The auditorium on the ground floor was given sufficient height by lowering part of the floor to the level of the 18th-century floor.

The customer services, museum shop, toilets and building services were housed in the extension, which was built using the original materials: brick and wood. Where the old and new parts meet, the buildings seem to fit one inside the other, underlining their historical cohesion. The extension is identical in size to the Russian-era mast store.

The old part of the building has space not only for a museum on Suomenlinna past and present but also for changing exhibitions.

Laiho Pulkkinen Raunio Architects designed the restoration and extension, which was realised 1993–1998.