Juha Ilmari Leiviskä (17 March 1936 – 9 November 2023) was a Finnish architect and designer. He was especially known for his churches and other sacral buildings.
Life and career
The son of engineer Toivo Ilmari Leiviskä and teacher Sonja Jämsén-Astala, Leiviskä studied architecture at
Helsinki University of Technology, qualifying as an architect in 1963. He established his own office in 1964, while also working as a teaching assistant at Helsinki University of Technology.
Leiviskä also worked with architect Bertel Saarnio, and together they won the architectural competition for the
Kouvola Town Hall (1964–68), regarded as one of the most significant public buildings in Finland during the 1960s, brought much critical attention to the young architect.
Leiviskä came to international attention during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s with designs for churches in different parts of Finland, each employing a similar design language. His mature style combines the sensitivity to the dramatics of natural light of German
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
churches, with compositional principles of Dutch
De Stijl
De Stijl (, ; 'The Style') was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 by a group of artists and architects based in Leiden (Theo van Doesburg, Jacobus Oud, J.J.P. Oud), Voorburg (Vilmos Huszár, Jan Wils) and Laren, North Holland, Laren (Piet Mo ...
architecture of the 1920s, for instance in the way series of parallel, free-standing walls can define space yet deconstruct traditional notions of enclosure.
Leiviskä had a joint architect's office in Helsinki with architect
Vilhelm Helander - Vilhelm Helander, Juha Leiviskä arkkitehdit SAFA.
Juha Leiviskä died on 9 November 2023, at the age of 87.
Design
An integral part of the architecture of Leiviskä's churches was the lamps designed by the architect himself. Leiviskä stated that his lighting fixtures are based on the principles developed by the Danish designer
Poul Henningsen for his
PH-lamps.
The lamps have been taken up as part of the lamps sold by the
Artek company, also responsible for marketing the lamps designed by
Alvar Aalto. Pendant lamps by Leiviskä are also featured in the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
in London, designed by the English architect
Sir Collin St John Wilson, whom Leiviskä knew personally.
Leiviskä also designed the
JCDecaux bus and tram stop shelters used by the
Helsinki City Transport company.
Quote
Awards
Leiviskä was made a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in 1991. In 1992 he received Pro Finlandia Medal of the
Order of the Lion of Finland
Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to:
* A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica
* Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood
...
, and was appointed an 'Artist Professor' by the Finnish President. In 1994 he was made an
Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and awarded the
Prince Eugen Medal the same year. He was awarded the prestigious
Carlsberg Prize in architecture in 1995. In 1997 Leiviskä followed
Alvar Aalto and
Reima Pietilä in becoming the architecture Member of the
Academy of Finland - thus bestowing on him the title of ''Akateemikko'' (
Academician). In 2008 he was awarded the international
Antonio Feltrinelli Prize by
Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei
The (; literally the "Academy of the Lynx-Eyed"), anglicised as the Lincean Academy, is one of the oldest and most prestigious European scientific institutions, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy. Founded in ...
, as well as
RIBA
''Riba'' (, or , ) is an Arabic word used in Islamic law and roughly translated as " usury": unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business. ''Riba'' is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an3:130
International Fellowship.
In 2020 Juha Leiviskä was awarded
The Daylight Award in Architecture, for his works of architecture that demonstrate a unique ability to make daylight an integral element of buildings.
A selection of buildings by Leiviskä
*
Kouvola Town Hall,
Kouvola (1968) (with Bertel Saario)
*Lemi Old Wooden Church, restoration,
Lemi (1969)
*Nakkila Parish Centre,
Nakkila (1970)
*St. Thomas's Church and Parish Centre, Puolivälinkangas,
Oulu (1975)
*Old Student House, restoration,
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 ...
(1980) (with
Vilhelm Helander)
*
Myyrmäki Church, Vantaa (1984)
*Kirkkonummi Parish Centre,
Kirkkonummi
Kirkkonummi (; , , Sweden ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern coast of the country. Kirkkonummi is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Kirkkonummi is approximately . It is the most populous Mu ...
(1984)
*Merikasarminkatu 7, housing complex, Helsinki (1984)
*Auditorium and workshop building, Niuvanniemi Hospital,
Kuopio
Kuopio ( , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of North Savo. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Kuopio is approximately , while the Kuopio sub-region, sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the mos ...
(with Vilhelm Helander) (1985)
*Villa Johanna, restoration, Helsinki (1986) (with Marica Schalin)
*Harju Chapel restoration and extension,
Mikkeli
*Auroranlinna housing complex, Helsinki (1990) (with Pekka Kivisalo)
*Vallila Library and Daycare Centre, Helsinki (1991) (with Asta Björklund)
*
Männistö Church, Kuopio (1992)
*German Embassy, Kuusisaari, Helsinki (1993)
*German Church and Parish Centre, Helsinki, restoration and extension (with Vilhelm Helander) (2001)
*Good Shepherd Church, Pakila, Helsinki, restoration and extension (with Vilhelm Helander) (2002)
*Ad-Dar Cultural and Conference Center,
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
,
Palestine
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...
(2005)
*Sandels Cultural Centre, Helsinki (2007) (with Rosemarie Schnitzler)
*Swedish School of Social Science, Helsinki (2009) (with Jari Heikkinen)
*Kipparintalo housing,
Kalasatama, Helsinki (2015)
Gallery of works by Juha Leiviskä
File:Kouvolan kaupungintalo.JPG, Kouvola Town Hall (with Bertel Saario), 1968.
File:Nakkilan seurakuntakoti (Nakkila parish centre), Nakkila, Finland.jpg, Nakkila Parish Centre, 1970.
File:Juha Leiviskä, Myyrmäki Church, Vantaa, Finland, 1984.jpg, Myyrmäki Church, 1984.
File:St Thomas Church Oulu 2007 08 19.JPG, St. Thomas's Church, Oulu, 1975.
File:Kirkkonummen seurakuntatalo.jpg, Kirkkonummi Parish Centre, 1984.
File:Leiviskä.valilla.png, Vallila Library and Daycare Centre, Helsinki, 1991.
File:Eglise Männistö.jpg, Männistö church, Kuopio, 1992.
File:German Church, Helsinki, Juha Leiviska.JPG, German Church and Parish Centre, Helsinki, 2001.
File:Leiviskä, Good Shepherd Church, Pakila, Helsinki.jpg, Good Shepherd Church, Pakila, Helsinki, 2002.
File:Cube Building 1707 (507902393).jpg, Ad-Dar Cultural Center, Palestine, 2005.
File:Kulttuuritalo Sandels Töölö 2007.jpg, Sandels Cultural Centre, Helsinki, 2007.
File:Soc-kom-2013.jpg, Swedish School of Social Science, Helsinki, 2009.
References
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Notes
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiviska, Juha
1936 births
2023 deaths
Architects from Helsinki
Modernist architects
Recipients of the Prince Eugen Medal
Pro Finlandia Medals of the Order of the Lion of Finland
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts