The the three members of the Pre-Selection Jury and its Chair are appointed by the Executive Board of the Finnish Association of Architects. The Pre-selecton Jury proposes 3-5 candidates, among which the Juror selects the winner of the Prize. The members of the Pre-Selection Jury are appointed for two terms.
Chairperson of the Pre-selection Jury
Panu Lehtovuori is the Professor of Planning Theory at Tampere University, School of Architecture. Before the current position, he was the Professor of Urban Studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn. Lehtovuori’s research is based on critical urban theory. His interests focus on public urban space, temporary uses and other contemporary forms of urban agency, conceptual design approaches and transformative view on the sustainability of the built environment.
Lehtovuori is partner at SPIN Unit, an international R&D initiative for radical urban transformation, and at Nordic Urbanism, a start-up in continued professional education. He is permanent expert in the renewal process of the Land Use and Building Act.
Professor Rainer Mahlamäki SAFA has played a leading role in Finnish architecture for many years. He has served as professor of architecture at the University of Oulu and as chair of the Finnish Association of Architects. He has also been widely recognised for his international achievements, including in 2017, when he was presented with the Prince Eugen Medal by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden for his distinguished service to the arts.
Some of Rainer Mahlamäki’s most notable designs include the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and Lusto, the Finnish Forest Museum. He is currently working on the Żurawie hybrid development in the Polish city of Gdańsk and the Lost Shtetl Museum in Šeduva, Lithuania.
Rainer Mahlamäki established Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects with Ilmari Lahdelma in 1997. Their collaboration, however, began much earlier and dates back several years to 8 Studio Architects, first set up in 1986, and Kaira-Lahdelma-Mahlamäki Architects, founded in 1992.
Since her university days, Sarlotta Narjus SAFA has worked as a sustainable architectural designer on commissions secured through design competitions. Following their Expo 2000 competition win in 1998, Narjus and her partner, Professor Antti-Matti Siikala, acquired Jan Söderlund’s architectural practice. It was re-named Arkkitehtitoimisto SARC Oy, and Sarlotta Narjus went on to assume the role of managing director.
Sarlotta Narjus has served on several national and international juries for architectural prizes and design competitions and held other honorary positions within the construction industry, including the Association of Finnish Architects’ Offices, the Building Information Foundation and the Spirit of Nature prize. She has also taught at Aalto University and lectured internationally.
Her recent significant commissions include historic property restoration projects, including Töölö Campus, “the Marble Palace”, the Museum of Finnish Architecture at Puistokatu 4 and the Kaarti Infirmary development in Helsinki, along with new developments, like the city’s Keilaniemi district and the New Children’s Hospital, which received the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2018.
Mona Schalin runs Kati Salonen ja Mona Schalin Arkkitehdit, first established in 2003. She specialises in the restoration and refurbishment of historic buildings and is widely recognised for her built heritage expertise. She recently oversaw the refurbishment of Serpentine House in Helsinki. Designed by Yrjö Lindegren, it was originally built in the 1950s. Serpentine House won the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in 2019. It was additionally shortlisted for the Mies van der Rohe Award earlier this year and presented with the Docomomo Rehabilitation Award in 2021.
Mona Schalin has taught architecture and the history of landscape architecture at Aalto University in Helsinki and at the Tampere University of Technology. She has also held the post of visiting professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture. She has published on a wide range of topics including planning, landscape architecture and the history of architecture as well as building conservation and urban development.
Mona Schalin sits on the board of the Finnish Association of Architects and is also a member of the Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in Finland.