Lahdelma & Mahlamäki

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki architects (LMA) is an internationally acclaimed architecture office based in Helsinki, Finland. Over the years LMA has become synonymous with high-quality, socially aware design, and renowned for its deep understanding of the impact of history, location and the human touch. LMA architecture stretches far beyond materiality and is a synthesis of history, future, spatiality and human needs. The founders, Professor Ilmari Lahdelma and Professor Rainer Mahlamäki, have been working together since the 1980s. They have won over 100 prizes in architecture competitions, which makes LMA one of the most experienced and successful Finnish offices. Their work is a continuum of Finnish design, with a focus on sustainability, high- quality materials and attention to detail. Instead of relying on ready-made formulas, we create one-of-a-kind buildings that not only exist as solitary objects but grow into organic elements of their surroundings. We work towards understanding not only the location we are designing for but also the people who will be living together with the buildings. On top of the years’ worth of experience and architectural intuition, LMA is heavily invested in using the best of today’s technologies to drive designs, right from the beginning of the design process. Pencil drawing, model making and virtual reality simulation go hand in hand here, each one playing a crucial but different role in realising a design.

The founders, Professor Ilmari Lahdelma and Professor Rainer Mahlamäki, have been working together since the 1980s. They have won over 100 prizes in architecture competitions, which makes LMA one of the most experienced and successful Finnish offices.