ALA Architects + Esa Piironen Architects

Ala Architects
ALA Architects specializes in demanding cultural buildings, terminal design and unique renovation projects. The Helsinki–based firm was founded in 2005 by four partners: Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki, Janne Teräsvirta and Samuli Woolston. Their collaboration started in 2004 through success in architectural competitions. The 1st prize in the open international competition for the new theater and concert hall, Kilden Performing Arts Centre, in Kristiansand, Norway in 2005 granted them their first commission.

ALA’s most recent completed projects are the new City Theatre in Lappeenranta, Finland, as well as the Aalto University and Keilaniemi metro stations and the renovation of the Dipoli Student Centre and its repurposing as the main building of Aalto University, all in Espoo, Finland. ALA is currently working on such projects as the expansion of the Helsinki Airport, the Helsinki Central Library, three more subway stations along the second phase of the western extension of the Helsinki Metro, a new Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Tampere, Finland, and the renovation of the Finnish Embassy in New Delhi.

The office is today run by Grönholm, Nousjoki and Woolston, and in addition to them employs 38 architects, interior designers, students and staff members, representing 14 nationalities. All three partners have around 20 years of professional experience, mostly in designing large public buildings both in Finland and abroad. The partners have also taught advanced studios in public building design in Finland, as well as at Columbia University and Washington University in St. Louis’ Helsinki International Semester. In 2012 the ALA partners received the prestigious Finnish State Prize for Architecture.

Esa Piironen Architects
Esa Piironen Architects is a Helsinki-based architectural office founded in 1990. The firm is characterized by their constant commitment to humanistic principles and environmentally conscious design. They have completed a wide variety of projects from street furniture to urban planning. Many of their realized projects have been based on winning competition entries. Esa Piironen has received altogether 12 1st prizes. The firm has completed numerous educational and religious buildings but is today probably best known for their transportation related projects.

In addition to the two metro stations mentioned above, these include a pedestrian underpass and platform roofing at the Seinäjoki station (1993), the Kaisaniemi (now University of Helsinki) Metro Station (1995), the Vuosaari metro station in Helsinki (1998), a pedestrian underpass and station shelters at the Pori Railway Station (1998), the roofing over the platform area of Eliel Saarinen’s Helsinki Central Railway Station (2001), Leppävaara transport hub in Espoo (2002), and the Koivukylä station in Vantaa (2004).

Esa Piironen has lectured on urban design, architecture, environmental design, graphic design, exhibition design and environmental psychology in Finland and abroad. In 2012 he was appointed visiting professor at Guangdong University of Technology School of Art and Design. Piironen co-founded his first practice concentrating on residential architecture with Mikko Pulkkinen in 1966 in Turku, Finland.

In 1970 he co-founded his second practice called Suunnittelutoimisto G4 with Ola Laiho, Esko Miettinen and Juhani Pallasmaa. G4 designed signage for the Helsinki Metro, the Finnish State Railways and a selection of Finnish higher education institutions. The most notable commission of Piironen’s third practice, founded in 1978 together with Sakari Aartelo, is the Tampere Hall Concert and Congress Centre in Tampere, Finland, completed in 1990. The design is based on Piironen and Aartelo’s winning competition entry.