New monograph on Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects

Rakennustieto Publishing has issued a long-awaited book on the architectural works of the prize-winning Finnish partnership of Ilmari Lahdelma and Rainer Mahlamäki, principal partners of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.  The monograph is aptly timed with the first ever Finlandia Prize for Architecture, awarded to the History Museum of Polish Jews in Warsaw, where Rainer Mahlamäki acted as head designer.The new monograph presents for the first time a survey of selected built work and projects of the Lahdelma & Mahlamäki partnership, from their early work in the 1990s to the present day, introducing that work to a larger international audience and placing it into the larger international context. The book is edited by professor Peter MacKeith, esteemed architecture educator and scholar on Scandinavian architecture, whose critical introduction and analyses of significant cultural and civic projects identify themes and intentions of the built work and projects, and places those projects within both the Finnish architectural context and that of the larger architectural culture.Besides the Warsaw Museum, designs for the Lusto – the Finnish Forest Museum, the Kaustinen Folk Music Center, the Lohja Municipal Library and Vellamo – the Finnish Maritime Center are highlighted, among a range of fifteen significant commissions.[caption id="attachment_1222" align="aligncenter" width="638"] Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects: Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka, Finland (2008). Photo by Jussi Tiainen. By courtesy of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.[/caption]An interview with the architects opens territories of design methods, education, competition designs, museum design and the future of Finnish architecture. Throughout the monograph, Lahdelma & Mahlamäki’s commitment to architecture as a public, spatial, material art of building is well emphasized, alongside their equal commitment to social engagement through civic and cultural commissions.Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects: Works Peter MacKeith (ed.) Publishers: Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects Publishing company: Rakennustieto Publishing 152 pp. | 58 € Softback with folds, Size: 190 x 250 mm 148 4-colour photographs and drawings ISBN 978-952-267-071-7