ALA Architects – Practice

Sweltering late summer of 2004, Helsinki: four young architects are kicked out of a co-working space for being too loud, getting worked up about a museum competition in Kotka, Finland. Retiring to a nearby bar to continue the conversation, a decision is made to set up a practice where loudness is encouraged. Twenty years later ALA still works by combining quiet grinding with big ideas, and dialogue with digital craftsmanship.

ALA Architects – Practice brings together the firm’s main built works and the thinking behind them. The highlighted projects include ALA’s breakthrough project, Kilden Performing Arts Centre; Helsinki Central Library Oodi, one of the most important public libraries of the 21st century; and the friendly new face of Helsinki Airport.