ALA Architects – Practice

In late summer of 2004, four young architects are kicked out of co-working space in Helsinki for getting a bit too worked up about a museum competition in Kotka, Finland. Retiring to a nearby bar to continue the conversation, they decide 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. This monograph brings together the firm’s main built works and the thinking behind these projects. It features ALA’s breakthrough building, the Kilden Performing Arts Centre in Norway, plus Helsinki Central Library Oodi, the Helsinki Airport expansion and renovation, and more.