A+Award Winner Q+A: Juho Grönholm on Famous Finns and Finding Inspiration in Kindergarten

WITH 90+ CATEGORIES AND 300+ JURORS, THE ARCHITIZER A+AWARDS IS THE WORLD’S DEFINITIVE ARCHITECTURAL AWARDS PROGRAM. IN THE WEEKS LEADING UP TO THE EXTENDED DEADLINE, JANUARY 30, 2015, WE ARE PUBLISHING Q&AS WITH 2014 A+AWARD WINNERS. TO SEE A FULL LIST OF CATEGORIES AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE A+AWARDS, VISIT AWARDS.ARCHITIZER.COM.

ALA Architects won the 2014 Jury Award for the Theaters & Performing Arts Centers category with Kilden.

Your name: Juho Grönholm
Firm name: ALA Architects
Firm location: Helsinki, Finland
Education: Architect M.Sc. (Helsinki University of Technology, 2001)

Kilden

When did you decide that you wanted to be an architect?

When I was about six years old and started master-building with Lego bricks.

What was your first architecture/design job?

I was 19, a first year student of architecture at Helsinki University of Technology, and I got a job at the legendary — at least in the Finnish context — office of Gullichsen Vormala Architects. (At the time, the office was still called Gullichsen Kairamo Vormala Architects.) These local heroes and masters of ours taught me to draft hands-on.

Who is your design hero and/or what is your favorite building (and why)?

Apart from Kristian Gullichsen and Timo Vormala, I would say my hero is Eero Saarinen who never got fixated on a single style or idea.

The MVRDV market hall in Rotterdam tells a good story about why to be excited about architecture right now.

MVRDV Market Hall

Tell us something that people might not know about your winning entry.

The ground stone of Kilden was actually never laid, even if there were ceremonies with a real princess present and all.

Which juror(s) do you find most compelling and why?

Hmm… maybe Bjarke.

Among your fellow A+Award winners, what is/are your favorite(s)?

Villa Kogelhof in Zeeland, the Netherlands, by Paul de Ruiter Architects.

Other than a computer, what is an architect’s most important tool?

A pen and the backsides of the faulty-printed A4s.

Kilden

Outside of architecture, where do you look for inspiration?

My daughter’s kindergarten teachers have great ideas.

What is the most important quality in an architect?

The ability to feel emotions and to get excited, and to show it, too.

Who would your dream client be?

Médecins Sans Frontières — I guess they would accept some pretty wild ideas.