State Prize for Architecture awarded to architect and researcher Erkki Mäkiö

National Council for Architecture and Design has awarded the State Prize for Architecture to architect and researcher Erkki Mäkiö (b. 1943), who has made a remarkable career in the preservation, conservation and research of historic buildings. Mäkiö's thinking and work focus on structures and materials as a fundamental starting point for architecture. Alongside restoration projects, he has for decades spoken and written about the benefits of traditional structures, building conservation and the value of the use of buildings.

While working at the Building Information Foundation, Mäkiö initiated and led a research project, later continued by the research team, which produced a series of publications on the history of the Finnish apartment building. For a quarter of a century, he worked at the Finnish Heritage Agency on the restoration of our stone-built heritage, working on projects ranging from medieval castles to the buildings of the 1950s. Mäkiö specialises in solving problems relating to structures, architectural engineering and usability, in harmony with the architecture of the sites. A book of his thousands of drawings will be published in 2023. 

As an architect, Mäkiö highlighted sustainable development perspectives early on, in the 1970s and 1980s. With the award, the Commission thanks him for his contributions against the technicalisation of buildings and for promoting simple solutions and repairable structures.

State prizes are awarded in recognition of outstanding artistic work within the past three years, a long meritorious artistic career, or a contribution to a specific artform.

The national arts councils are expert bodies of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) that decide annually on the awarding of state prizes, each within its own field of the arts.