Finnish Embassy in New Delhi

Reima and Raili Pietilä won the competition for the Finnish Embassy in 1963 with a beautiful and powerful competition entry called “Snow speaks on the mountains”. The project was commissioned and redesigned based on the original concept in 1980, and the building finally opened in 1986 with the large single expanse of roof broken up into the six lateral separate buildings standing on the embassy compound today.

The renovation of this mythical masterpiece of Finnish modernism has brought the ingenious building back to its original glory. The 2-stage project consisted of a complete overhaul of security, technical systems, some functional updates, as well as architectural restoration focusing on repairing misguided maintenance efforts. The new gate houses outside the compound’s perimeter wall create a strong contemporary layer of architecture, discreetly out of sight from the compound itself.