Johan Sigfrid Sirén (27 May 1889 – 5 March 1961) was a Finnish architect. He is best known for

Parliament House Parliament House may refer to: Meeting places of parliament Australia * Parliament House, Canberra, Parliament of Australia * Parliament House, Adelaide, Parliament of South Australia * Parliament House, Brisbane, Parliament of Queensland * P ...

, which is where the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

meets.

Career

Sirén was born in 1889 in

Ylihärmä Ylihärmä is a former municipality of Finland. It was consolidated, together with Alahärmä and Kortesjärvi, to Kauhava on 1 January 2009. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southern Ostrobothnia region. The ...

. In 1907, he graduated from high school and started his studies at the

Helsinki University of Technology Helsinki University of Technology (TKK; ; , HUT in international usage) was a technical university in Finland. It was located in Otaniemi, Espoo in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it was one of the three universities from which the modern d ...

. After receiving his diploma in 1913, Sirén worked for Jung & Fabritius until 1917. In 1918, he founded an office with Kaarlo Borg and Urho Åberg. In 1924, they won a contest for the design of the Parliament House of Finland. The three soon parted ways and Sirén continued work on the Parliament House alone. During the construction period from 1926 to 1931, he acted as a supervisor. Sirén went on to hold his own office, and his later work included the expansion of the main building of the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. In 1931, Sirén was also appointed a professor of architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology. He retired from the position in 1957, and died in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

in 1961. He is buried in the

Hietaniemi Cemetery The Hietaniemi cemetery (, ) is located mainly in the Lapinlahti quarter and partly in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. It is the location for Finnish state funeral services and is owned by the Evangelical Luthe ...

in Helsinki. Sirén's son

Heikki Siren Heikki Siren (5 October 1918 in Helsinki – 25 February 2013 in Helsinki) was a Finnish architect. He graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1946 as a student of his father J. S. Sirén. Heikki Siren designed most of his works ...

was also a renowned architect, as was his daughter-in-law

Kaija Siren Katri (Kaija) Anna-Maija Helena Siren (née Tuominen; October 23, 1920 – January 15, 2001) was a Finnish architect. She graduated as an architect from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1948. Siren designed most of her works together w ...

References

1889 births 1961 deaths People from Ylihärmä People from Vaasa Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish architects Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery {{Finland-architect-stub