Kivi Sotamaa’s contribution to the field of architecture and design is distinguished by his pioneering role in integrating digital design technologies with the material realities of construction and sustainable architecture.
Emerging in the late 1990s with the innovative collaborative group OCEAN, Sotamaa quickly became a respected figure in the new wave of digital design. His work with OCEAN, and later as the director of OCEAN NORTH in Helsinki, brought his unique ideas to a global audience.
Sotamaa’s influence extends beyond technical innovation. He combines a deep understanding of architectural design in terms of materials and construction with a keen awareness of contemporary fashion and design culture. This unique blend has been recognized by notable critics such as Herbert Muschamp of The New York Times, who extolled Sotamaa in a November, 14, 1999 piece.
His commitment to sustainable wood architecture is evident in projects like the Jyväskylä Music and Art Center (1997), now part of the Canadian Center for Architecture’s collection, and the widely published and exhibited ‘Meteorite’ (2020). These projects exemplify Sotamaa’s dedication to blending environmental responsibility with innovative design, marking a significant contribution to sustainable architectural practice.
Sotamaa’s work has garnered various awards and recognition, underlining his bold search for newness in both function and aesthetics. His willingness to take conscious risks has been lauded by award juries and peers alike. This approach, combined with his visionary aspects, has been recognized as worthy of
commendation and serves as an inspiration in the field.
The contemporary relevance and appeal of Sotamaa’s work are exemplified by several accolades received by the Meteorite building, completed in 2020. This notable project was featured in the Venice Architecture Biennale, honored as the regional building project of the year by the Finnish Association of Architects, and recognized by the World Architecture Committee for having one of the most striking floor plans of the year. Additionally, the Meteorite has garnered significant media attention, being featured in over 70 publications. This includes Philip Jodidio’s “Small Houses” book, published by Thames and Hudson, and in “The Manual of Biogenic House Sections” by David J. Lewis, Marc Tsurumaki, and Paul Lewis, published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Sotamaa, Helsinki, FI, Founder
I founded Ateljé Sotamaa to explore and architect beauty, strategy and human experience in the digital age.
We use the newest tools, concepts and materials to design and build life-changing experiences in the material world. Our mission is to delight. Our vision is a world less boring with more meaning.
Sotamaa is an international design and architecture studio based in Helsinki. We create buildings, spaces, objects, communication, infrastructure and artworks that change the way people think, feel and behave. We have realized projects in Finland, Sweden, England, Italy, USA, Japan, China and Kazakhstan.
We use ingenuity and digital technology to design projects that are unique, affordable and buildable. We work for our clients in order to create new opportunities and find unique solutions. We make the values, strategies and visions of our clients understandable and visible. We conduct research exploring the creative relationship of the designed environment and people. We combine experiential design with criticality and responsibility.
Aalto University, Espoo, Founder & Director ADD Aalto Univeristy Digital Design Laboratory
At Aalto University’s Digital Design Laboratory, which I established and directed for five years, I focused on creating an environment that nurtured creativity and experimentation. Leading a team on cross-disciplinary research projects, I encouraged innovative thinking that pushed the boundaries of conventional design.
This approach led to groundbreaking work with companies like Audi and Google, exploring cutting-edge topics such as nanomaterials and their possible applications through additive manufacturing.
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Loas Angeles, Adjunct Associate Professor
I worked as and associate professor focusing mainly of UCLA A.UD Research Studios and Technology Seminars for eight years. In addition I co-founded UCLA Rumble the exhibition and end of the year review event together with Hitoshi Abe.
In my capacity as a professor, I have emphasized the importance of empowering students and colleagues to pursue their academic and professional aspirations. By fostering an environment of mutual respect and open dialogue, I encourage the exchange of ideas and facilitate a learning atmosphere where everyone feels confident to contribute and grow.
Universitat fur Angewandte Kunst Wien, IOA, Vienna, Austria, Visiting Professor
My Cross Over Studio at IOA consisted of students from each of the three permanent professorhips: Wolf Prix, Zaha Hadid & Greg Lynn.
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, US, Assistant Professor
I worked as an assistant professor of architecture in charge of the graduating master class at the OSU.
Helsinki Guggenheim Architecture Competition, Honorable Mention
The proposal Kissing Helsinki by Antti Ahlava and Kivi Sotamaa from Aalto University, Finland, has received an honourable mention in the Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition.
Kissing Helsinki by Antti Ahlava and Kivi Sotamaa is on show at Kunsthalle Helsinki.
The proposal is based on a new kind of concept of the art museum as a social forum. The public and the city become active authors and producers of art. A central space at the museum has been reserved for this interaction. The design language of the building also supports interweaving the building into its environment.
Antti Ahlava is the vice president of campus development and professor at the Aalto University Department of Architecture and Kivi Sotamaa is the artistic director of the Aalto University Laboratory of Digital Design (ADD). Architect Fredrik Lindberg is the third author of the competition entry.
The Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition searches for proposals for the design of an art museum in the southern harbour area of Helsinki. The competition has been organised by the international Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. A total of 1,715 submissions were received, the largest number of entries ever recorded for a competition of this kind.
Kissing Helsinki and the other top submissions to the Guggenheim Helsinki competition will be presented to the public at Kunsthalle Helsinki from 25 April to 16 May 2015. Free admission.
The Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) awarded the Finnish World Expo Pavilion by Ateljé Sotamaa with golden prize
New York Times Millennium Capsule Design Competition, 2nd Place
After a yearlong competition in which 48 designers, architects and engineers were asked to contemplate the future, a design by a Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, has been chosen for The New York Times Capsule.
The vessel, in which artifacts from this century are meant to be preserved for the next 1,000 years, will be displayed this morning to reporters and invited guests at the American Museum of Natural History, where it will be on view to the public beginning on Saturday. The capsule will also be featured this Sunday in The Times Magazine, which conducted the competition.
Mr. Calatrava, a bridge designer who is also a sculptor and student of mathematical topology, likened his capsule to a flower. Based on a series of marble sculptures that explore the formal properties of folded spheres, the origami-like module can be opened in segments to contain 50 cubic feet of storage.
The capsule, five feet high and weighing two tons, was made of stainless steel at A.R.T. Research Enterprises in Lancaster, Pa., at a cost to The Times of $60,000.
Mr. Calatrava's design, along with proposals by 13 of the 21 finalists, is the centerpiece of ''Capturing Time: The New York Times Capsule,'' on view at the museum through March 26. At the close of the exhibition the capsule is to be sealed for permanent display at the museum, possibly outdoors. The newspaper intends it is to be reopened in 3000.
The competition began in January when editors from the magazine convened a panel of experts in preservation, geology, archival materials and ''deep-time messaging,'' efforts at communication across the centuries. Forty-eight designers were approached. Competitors were told they could be either practical or fantastic in their creations, and some submissions were too fanciful to produce. The judges maintained that the capsule needed aesthetic appeal to make it worth preserving.
Proposals ranged from Maya Lin's spiral of trees planted on the mathematical relationship known as the Golden Section, a proportion found in classical architecture and nature, to the Ocean Group's ''Adrift,'' in which nine capsules would be airdropped on the Antarctic ice shelf and eventually released into the oceans through global warming. Jaron Lanier, with his colleagues Dr. David Sulzer and Lisa Haney, proposed to translate every 1999 issue of the magazine from its electronic digital code into genetic code and then affix it to the DNA of a cockroach, which could breed throughout New York City.
In addition to objects suggested by residents of the United States, India, France, Zimbabwe and Brazil, the capsule will include all six of the magazine's millennium issues, printed on acid-free archival paper and microengraved on a nickel HD-Rosetta disk, which is about two inches wide and can be read with a microscope. The contents will be placed in subcontainers filled with argon gas that will be suspended in thermal-gel insulation. Once sealed, the capsule will be mounted on a reflective base of flowing water.
The winning design and finalists were selected by a panel of judges drawn from The Times, including the editors of the magazine's final millennium issue; Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic; Julie V. Iovine, design reporter; and Pilar Viladas, the magazine's design editor.
The finalists on display at the museum, in addition to Ms. Lin, Mr. Lanier and the Ocean Group (a collection of designers from Finland, Norway and Germany who practice in a paperless office in cyberspace), are Antenna Design, Cooper Union, Caples Jefferson, Wes Jones, Pentagram Design Inc., Morphosis, and Greg Lynn and Jeffrey Kipnis, all from the United States; Droog Design of the Netherlands; Kenji Ekuan of Japan; and Dagmar Richter of Germany.
Uusimaa Art Prize, Award
The Uusimaa Art Prize, previously known as the Uusimaa Arts Council Art Prize (1998–2007) and the Uusimaa Provincial Arts Council Art Prize (1969–1997), is an annual award given to an artist or collective from Uusimaa who has achieved a high level of artistic performance in their field during the previous year.
One of the most striking floor plans of 2022, Award
Helsinki-based architecture and design studio Ateljé Sotamaa has carved out a polyhedron to create a cabin from rugged woods of Kontiolahti region in Finland.
Called Meteorite, the cabin, located in seemingly remote Kontiolahti in eastern Finland, is drawn on a polyhedron-shaped geometry that creates multiple surfaces. Shining like dark jewel from afar, the spaces are placed within these carved-out spaces. "On the inside it represents a completely new 3-dimensional open-concept way of organizing living space," said Ateljé Sotamaa co-founder Kivi Sotamaa.
Wood Architecture Popular Vote Winner, Award
The winner of the 2020 Puupalkinto competition's public vote, Meteoriitti, designed by Ateljé Sotamaa, has gained attention both in Finland and internationally. In the spring of 2021, it won the regional building project award of North Karelia and was virtually presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale. The shared enthusiasm of the developer and designers led to the experimentation of new solutions in CLT construction, which were researched by Karelia University of Applied Sciences. So, what was learned from the project from a construction technology perspective, and what might follow from it?
North Carelian building project of the year, Award
NORTHERN CARELIA BUILDING AWARD
The Meteorite is North Karelia's 2020 regional building project of the year!
The regional building award committee has decided to award the Meteorite in Kontiolahti as the 2020 regional building project.
The Meteorite is an experimental wooden building. It rises as a mythical boulder above a wooden platform. The building serves as a workspace and guest house. Its structure includes exterior and interior CLT elements and the airspace between them. The interior space is formed around a tall central section with wooden, multi-shaped compartments. The views both inside and from the building are exciting and varied.
The award jury believes the Meteorite represents a bold exploration of new possibilities, both functionally, structurally, and aesthetically. It has taken conscious risks. Nothing new emerges without taking risks. This courage and the visionary nature of the project deserve to be awarded.
This publication presents the Jyväskylä Music and Arts Centre, a project that uses a system of abstracted flows mapped through particle animations to generate a rich interior/exterior social landscape.
Johan Bettum and Kivi Sotamaa of OCEAN North, one branch of an interdisciplinary research and design network originally founded in 1994, developed their proposal for the Jyväskylä Music and Art Centre in 1997 in response to an international competition. Alternating between physical and digital methods and sharing files between Oslo and Helsinki, Bettum and Sotamaa collaborated with digital experts to generate the “cloud” of particle animations that would shape the void at the building’s core.
As part of a multiyear project that includes three exhibitions on twenty-five seminal projects, the CCA and Greg Lynn are publishing a series of digital publications recording conversations with key architects. The epubs are heavily illustrated with photos, drawings, renderings, videos, PDFs and interactive 3D models.
Culinary Culture Award, 1st Place
Finnjävel is an ambitious project accomplished through collaboration, which tells an interesting and proud story of our national culinary treasures. The restaurant, closing in spring 2018, will leave a legacy for the future through a book and a television program. In Finnjävel's magnificent setting and dishes, Finland and hundreds of years of northern food culture glow. 'The sincere enthusiasm of foreign guests for Finnish culinary traditions and design has been a great joy for us. I believe that we have been paving the way for the global conquest of Finnish food. We hope that young chefs will continue to cherish Finnish culinary traditions, inspired by Finnjävel,' says Henri Alén.
The Finnjävel award was collected by the restaurant's founders, Henri Alen and Tommi Tuominen, as well as the designers Kivi and Tuuli Sotamaa.
Nominated for Iakov Chernikhov Architectural Prize, Nomination
Kivi Sotamaa has been nominated for the Iakov Chernikhov Prize 2014. The Prize is given to the best among contemporary architects of the young generation – up to 44 years old - for the most original, authentic and innovative concept of architecture.
The Iakov Chernikhov Prize is awarded every two years to young masters of contemporary architecture for the best architectural concept. The idea should combine an innovative response to our time and simultaneously offer a professional challenge to the future.
MoMA’s PS1 Young Architect Award, 2nd Place
To choose an architectural firm for the Young Architects Program, deans of architecture schools and the editors of architecture publications nominate around 50 firms comprised of recent architectural school graduates, junior faculty, and established architects experimenting with new styles or techniques. The group is asked to submit portfolios of their work for review by a panel including Glenn D. Lowry, Director of The Museum of Modern Art; Kathy Halbreich, Associate Director at MoMA; Klaus Biesenbach, Director of MoMA PS1; Peter Reed, Senior Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs; Martino Stierli, Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture & Design at MoMA, Sean Anderson, Associate Curator of Architecture at MoMA; and Jenny Schlenzka, Associate Curator at MoMA PS1. The panel selects five finalists who are invited to make preliminary proposals; the chosen winner is announced in February of each year.
Borromini -Young Architect of the Year Award, Nomination
Borromini -Young Architect of the Year Award nomination by Cynthia Davidson:
Kivi Sotamaa has already shown his potential to eclipse the work of Aalto in the 21st century. His is an exciting network whose great promise deserves serious consideration for the Borromini Young Architects Award.”
New York Times Millennium Capsule Design Competition, 2nd Place
After a yearlong competition in which 48 designers, architects and engineers were asked to contemplate the future, a design by a Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava, has been chosen for The New York Times Capsule.
The vessel, in which artifacts from this century are meant to be preserved for the next 1,000 years, will be displayed this morning to reporters and invited guests at the American Museum of Natural History, where it will be on view to the public beginning on Saturday. The capsule will also be featured this Sunday in The Times Magazine, which conducted the competition.
Mr. Calatrava, a bridge designer who is also a sculptor and student of mathematical topology, likened his capsule to a flower. Based on a series of marble sculptures that explore the formal properties of folded spheres, the origami-like module can be opened in segments to contain 50 cubic feet of storage.
The capsule, five feet high and weighing two tons, was made of stainless steel at A.R.T. Research Enterprises in Lancaster, Pa., at a cost to The Times of $60,000.
Mr. Calatrava's design, along with proposals by 13 of the 21 finalists, is the centerpiece of ''Capturing Time: The New York Times Capsule,'' on view at the museum through March 26. At the close of the exhibition the capsule is to be sealed for permanent display at the museum, possibly outdoors. The newspaper intends it is to be reopened in 3000.
The competition began in January when editors from the magazine convened a panel of experts in preservation, geology, archival materials and ''deep-time messaging,'' efforts at communication across the centuries. Forty-eight designers were approached. Competitors were told they could be either practical or fantastic in their creations, and some submissions were too fanciful to produce. The judges maintained that the capsule needed aesthetic appeal to make it worth preserving.
Proposals ranged from Maya Lin's spiral of trees planted on the mathematical relationship known as the Golden Section, a proportion found in classical architecture and nature, to the Ocean Group's ''Adrift,'' in which nine capsules would be airdropped on the Antarctic ice shelf and eventually released into the oceans through global warming. Jaron Lanier, with his colleagues Dr. David Sulzer and Lisa Haney, proposed to translate every 1999 issue of the magazine from its electronic digital code into genetic code and then affix it to the DNA of a cockroach, which could breed throughout New York City.
In addition to objects suggested by residents of the United States, India, France, Zimbabwe and Brazil, the capsule will include all six of the magazine's millennium issues, printed on acid-free archival paper and microengraved on a nickel HD-Rosetta disk, which is about two inches wide and can be read with a microscope. The contents will be placed in subcontainers filled with argon gas that will be suspended in thermal-gel insulation. Once sealed, the capsule will be mounted on a reflective base of flowing water.
The winning design and finalists were selected by a panel of judges drawn from The Times, including the editors of the magazine's final millennium issue; Herbert Muschamp, architecture critic; Julie V. Iovine, design reporter; and Pilar Viladas, the magazine's design editor.
The finalists on display at the museum, in addition to Ms. Lin, Mr. Lanier and the Ocean Group (a collection of designers from Finland, Norway and Germany who practice in a paperless office in cyberspace), are Antenna Design, Cooper Union, Caples Jefferson, Wes Jones, Pentagram Design Inc., Morphosis, and Greg Lynn and Jeffrey Kipnis, all from the United States; Droog Design of the Netherlands; Kenji Ekuan of Japan; and Dagmar Richter of Germany.
