Mauri Korkka
Mauri Korkka
FINLAND - Seldom has an architect received as much tacit support from friends and colleagues as Mauri Korkka who, with two posters and a fine idea, had made it through to the final six vying for the honour to design the new premises of the Stockholm City Library. In the end Korkka shared third prize, but given that the international competition had attracted a massive 1170 entries, the inevitable disappointment was tinged with pride.
Biography
Mauri Korkka was born in Lahti, in southern Finland, in 1958. Before and after completing his architectural studies he worked for various Finnish architectural practices. In 1991 he married fellow-architect Kirsti Rantanen and in 1998 they opened their own practice. The focus of Korkka's work to date has been urban design and public buildings. He has also taught public building design at the Technical University of Tampere. Korkka developed a taste for architecture competitions when he won first prize in an international student design competition in 1990. Although he has yet to win a big design prize, he has been a runner-up on several occasions. His published works have introduced new ideas to the Finnish architectural scene.
Profile
Mauri Korkka: I had [the idea to become an architect] already in school, as a teenager. I thought that architecture is also about communicating with people. Of course I also thought about the arts or mathematics as a career. But architecture had a very positive aura in those times. Architects enjoyed a solid status in Finnish society. They were highly respected and relatively affluent professionals. Architecture was written about in the media. Some architects were heroes, people to admire. Like Alvar Aalto, who conveyed something very energetic and positive. My older brother became a civil engineer, but I decided I wanted to do something that was closer to culture. I wanted to become part of a profession that creates culture.
Architecture, Design, Urban planning
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