Lahdelma & Mahlamäki architects (LMA) received an honorable mention in an international invited competition for the Krakow Music Center in Poland. The competition proposal was prepared in cooperation with a Polish architecture office KXM. The results were announced on Tuesday 22 December 2020 and three prizes and one honorable mention were awarded. The first prize was awarded to the proposal by BE DDJM Architects from Poland.

The guiding idea of the LMA's competition proposal was to create an approachable multi-purpose cultural center. Along with the main music hall, the proposal put equal emphasis on the music-focused kindergarten, which the competition program required to be included in the proposal. A historic, ruinous building in the competition area had to be preserved and considered in the design. In the LMA’s competition proposal, the ruin became the center of an intimate entrance yard around which the entire Music Center revolves.

In its decision, the competition jury acknowledges the LMA's proposal for its original vision. In addition, the merits of the competition proposal include the integration of different functions into a single building complex and the discreet and balanced architecture that is adapted to the landscape.

The competition proposal was authored by Rainer Mahlamäki together with Katri Rönkä, Jukka Savolainen, Nina Vehviläinen, Amir Teymourtash and, for KXM, Klaudia Gołaszewska, Marek Grodzicki, Kinga Grzybowska and Michał Hondo and acoustic designer Henrik Möller.

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki architects in brief

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki architects (LMA) is an internationally acclaimed architecture office based in Helsinki, Finland. Renowned for their deep understanding of the impact of history, location and the human touch, LMA architecture stretches far beyond materiality. The founders, Professor Ilmari Lahdelma and Professor Rainer Mahlamäki, have been working together since the 1980s and they have won over 100 prizes in architecture competitions, which makes LMA one of the most experienced and successful Finnish offices. Their principal works include, for example, the  Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Poland (2013) and the  Urban Environment House in Finland (2020), along with ongoing designs such as the  Helsinki High-Rise project Trigoni in Finland and the  Lost Shtetl Jewish Museum in Lithuania.



Contact:

Rainer Mahlamäki
Professor, Architect SAFA
tel. 010 315 4311