Finnish Architects in the Spotlight: Suomi/Koivisto

Maiju Suomi and Elina Koivisto's collaboration began fifteen years ago in Cambodia, where the future architects, studying in the same year, were tasked with designing buildings for local NGOs as part of a course project. After the course, Suomi and Koivisto, together with Noora Aaltonen, Sisko Hovila, Tuuli Kassi and Inari Virkkala, completed a youth center in the country's capital. During this time, Suomi and Koivisto also built the foundation for their long-term collaboration.

After developing shared work and operational methods, Suomi/Koivisto Architects found their place between research and small-scale interventions. "We want to create pleasant living environments for both people and other species," the architects summarise. For the duo, architecture primarily means concrete actions: addressing societal issues, environmental actions, and conveying values. "The greatest challenge of our time is the environmental crisis. For us, architecture is a tool to make possible futures visible and tangible, where humans see themselves as part of nature, rather than separate from or above it."

The work of Suomi and Koivisto operates at the intersection of architecture, site-specific art, and activism. "We start our design processes from an understanding of the current situation. In the words of gardener Gilles Clement, we aim to do as little as possible against nature and as much as possible with it," the architects explain.

The realization of exhibition works and public installations provides Suomi/Koivisto Architects with a platform to engage in environmental discussions through architecture. "Architecture as a field is changing too slowly to respond to the multifaceted environmental crisis and its societal impacts," Suomi and Koivisto explain. "Through small experimental interventions, we can more flexibly explore holistic, more sustainable ways of designing and building, while also making them visible."

In addition to concrete actions and opening new discussions, the duo’s work is closely tied to experience and multisensory perception. Installations and spaces open up to visitors in a new way, as instead of straightforward declarations, they invite people to experience, feel, and live. The architects describe their works as open invitations to be present in the moment: they simultaneously create space for new encounters with nature and materials, as well as the opportunity to examine the reactions and associations these encounters evoke within oneself.

The sensory experiences and emotions evoked by spaces and installations also foster a sense of inclusion. "Inclusivity and utilising the pedagogical potential of architecture are important to us," the office explains. "An inclusive process and enabling the temporary use of forgotten spaces for the joy of a multi-species community are, at their best, empowering experiences." Through this experimentation and inclusion, even small-scale trials can grow into significant examples both at the individual and community levels, believe Suomi and Koivisto.

Suomi and Koivisto aim to expand the environmental discussion from a technical and scientific perspective towards a conversation that addresses emotions, values, and worldviews. The duo's research background shapes their work, providing a theoretical foundation that is often reflected through various expert discussions within the spaces themselves.

Despite the office’s research-based approach, the architects want the spaces to also function as individual experiences without a theoretical framework: "We want the spaces themselves to also unfold as aesthetically engaging, multisensory experiences. Such examples spark curiosity and create space for dialogue, both locally and more broadly through the media."

Suomi and Koivisto view architecture not only as a practical task but also as a means of conveying values and views. "Architecture reflects and solidifies societal and cultural values as part of our shared reality. In this way, architectural solutions are always value-based choices. Every architect should be aware of this. Conventional solutions support the current state, which has led the planet into a deep environmental crisis." The duo notes that there are no neutral solutions, and reminds that even small, innovative solutions can guide the field and society in new directions.

Suomi/Koivisto Architects hope for boldness from everyone in the future, to radically change both the field of architecture and our ways of life.The office also believes that interdisciplinary collaboration will become even more important in addressing the challenges of the climate crisis. Suomi and Koivisto aim to continue working on projects that are not only less harmful to the environment but also improve the living conditions of both humans and other species.

"We want to make visible the more-than-human temporalities, the life-sustaining processes, and the cycles of matter and energy. Plants produce the oxygen we breathe. Fungi release nutrients for the use of new generations of organisms. All organisms are born, grow, flourish, and die together with others. We are not separate. Architecture is part of the life-sustaining network."

Suomi/Koivisto Architects' installations can be explored this year in locations such as London, Logroño, and Venice. Read more about the architects' exhibitions in Europe through this link.

Find out more about Suomi/Koivisto Architects on their website.

Finnish Architects in the Spotlight invites architects or architectural practises to share their values and design principles through images and short texts. See Suomi/Koivisto Architects’ photo series on Instagram through this link.

All posts featured in the Finnish Architects in the Spotlight series can be found on Instagram by using the tag #FinArchSpotlight and all articles through this link.