Meet: ALA Architects, Helsinki


Helsinki-based practice ALA Architects, though young, is aiming big — to be the obvious Finnish choice for invited international competitions


Blueprint

Who Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki, Janne Teräsvirta and Samuli Woolston plus 45 staff

What Architecture practice

Where Helsinki

When Founded 2005

You might have heard of Finnish practice ALA Architects before, perhaps because it has a very familiar name - the same acronym as another firm, London-based Amanda Levete Architects (or AL_A). In fact, it was the Finns who preceded the former Future Systems partner: 'We were first, she came later,' says practice co-founder Samuli Woolston. 'We actually visited her in London after she started her company to let her know - does she realise that we have the same name?' ALA, set up by Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki, Janne Teräsvirta and Woolston after meeting at university, refers to the Finnish word 'ala', meaning area or field of business. 'It also means we're at the beginning of the phone book!' jokes Grönholm.

Helsinki Central Library
Helsinki Central Library. Photo Credit:Renderings by Vizarch

After entering several competitions together, the four partners went in at the deep end with their first big project - a new theatre and concert hall in Kristiansand, Norway (known as Kilden Performing Arts Centre, won in 2004) - and officially formed the company in 2005. The 15,000 sq m centre, completed in 2011 and expanded by the practice in 2014, dramatically cantilevers out towards the city's harbour with an undulating CNC-milled wooden wall.

It was an ambitious start for the practice, proving open architecture competitions can open doors for young architects, at least in Scandinavia: 'At the time we were quite selective with what we entered and really tried hard; we took a big risk and made quite an investment time-wise and moneywise - we all had to empty our bank accounts. Luckily the investment paid off,' notes Grönholm.

The Kuopio Theatre (2014). Photo Credit: Tuomas Uusheimo
The Kuopio Theatre (2014). Photo Credit: Tuomas Uusheimo

Since then the practice hasn't looked back, honing its skills with a series of big public and cultural buildings, and racking up several accolades in the process - the prestigious Finnish State Prize for Architecture in 2012 and two nominations for the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2013 and 2015. Last year it completed the renovation and extension of the modernist Sixties' City Theatre in Kuopio, Finland, while current projects include a regional city theatre in Lappeenranta, eastern Finland (due to finish in October) as well as five new subway stations along the western extension of the Helsinki Metro. There are also renovation projects of two Raili Pietilä buildings - the Dipoli student union building at the Aalto University in Espoo, completed in 1966, and the Finnish Embassy in New Delhi, built in 1986.

Its biggest project to date will be the new Helsinki Central Library, won through an international competition and due to start on site in late summer for completion in 2018. Similar to Kilden, the three-storey building features a soaring wooden arching form that creates a column-free public space below. 'We made a tremendous effort with that competition; we worked for a year on it beforehand. We already knew the site extremely well and we ended up with a very ready competition entry,' says Grönholm.

Kilden Performing Arts Centre (2011). Photo Credit: Tuomas Uusheimo
Kilden Performing Arts Centre (2011). Photo Credit: Tuomas Uusheimo

Looking to the future, ambitions are higher than ever for the young practice; the partners may be just shy of 40 - babies in architecture terms - but they've already expanded the practice to 45 employees. 'We'd like to be the obvious Finnish choice for invited competitions around the world. You get Snöhetta (Norway) and 3XN (Denmark) and practices like that invited into big, major public building competitions, and we'd like to be the Finnish one,' says Woolston.

But what do they think of the competition for the new €130m Guggenheim Helsinki, that attracted more than 1,700 entries from 77 countries? Says Grönholm: 'One of the very important criteria for us entering a competition is - "Is it going to be built or not?" It's a very ambitious and interesting project, but we evaluated that the chances were so small that it wasn't worth taking part in the competition. It would be fantastic if they could get it built, but it seems unlikely...'








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