Anssi Lassila

Phone: +358 (0) 6 4141225 ، +358 (0) 50 3648305

Biography:

Anssi Lassila (b. Soini Finland, 1973) is the founder and director of OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture. His international breakthrough was the Kärsämäki Shingle Church in 2004. Lassila’s architecture displays his interest in combining a sculptural form with traditional materials and innovative techniques. For him, peripheral sensitivity is a vital part of the creative process. OOPEAA draws inspiration from ‘in-between’ states – between urban and rural, traditional and contemporary, local and international. In its approach OOPEAA emphasizes the potential embedded in exploring new methods and techniques as a means of developing new solutions in building. Their work is characterized by a strong interest in the way materials behave and experimentation with innovative solutions. It is about venturing into borderlands and identifying new possibilities where tradition meets the new.

OOPEAA works on a wide range of projects on varying scales from churches and public buildings to housing, office buildings and private houses to town planning, and urban visions as well as renovations and extensions to historically valuable landmarks. The office is based in Seinäjoki and Helsinki, Finland, and it currently employs a staff of 20. OOPEAA has been honored with significant awards and won several prizes in competitions both in Finland and abroad, including the Rice Design Alliance Spotlight Award in 2017, the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2015, the Wood Architecture Award in 2015, the Canadian Wood Design and Building Award 2016, and the American Architecture Prize 2016 in two categories. The work of the office has also been selected for the shortlist for the Mies van der Rohe European Prize for Architecture in 2005, 2011 and 2017, and nominated for the 2019 edition of the prize.

Related projects:

Anssi Lassila

Villa Riihi