A Builder of Good – Olli Parviainen 1933–2025
The founder of Olla Architecture, architect Olli Parviainen, passed away in Helsinki on June 20, 2025. Known for his brightness and optimism, the designer, CEO, father, and friend departed this world in the same magical midsummer moment in which he arrived: Olli was born and died on Midsummer Night. Between his first and last Midsummer, he lived 92 years filled with architecture, creativity, entrepreneurship, travel, friendship, and love.
Drawing, art, and technology fascinated Olli from an early age. Becoming an architect, however, was partly a coincidence. Olli originally planned to apply to study electrical engineering, but his plans changed when he heard about an acquaintance who financed his studies by working at an architecture firm at the same time. Inspired by this, Olli decided to apply to the Department of Architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology instead. The selection was tough: of 400 applicants, fewer than one in ten were accepted — Olli among them.
Olli founded Arkkitehtuuritoimisto Olli Parviainen (the Olli Parviainen Architecture Firm) in 1962 at the age of 29. Under the leadership of the young architect, the firm grew and also expanded internationally at a fast pace. Olli’s first experience with an international design project came even before he founded his own firm: in 1961, Olli was part of a team of three young architects who won the Nordic master plan competition for a Reykjavik suburb. Eager to work across borders and languages, Olli ensured that his office served international clients from the start. The Nordiskafilt headquarters in Halmstad, Sweden, which the Olli Parviainen Architecture Firm designed, was the first open-plan office building in the Nordic countries and attracted significant media attention in Finland as well. During the 1970s and 1980s, the firm designed dozens of hospitals and hotels in the Soviet Union. As part of the Tapiola Consultants consortium, the office also carried out design projects in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
In an interview for Helsingin Sanomat on his 50th birthday, Olli remarked that the 1980s were an especially favorable time for architecture, when understanding and respect for the field grew: “We no longer have to make element warehouses disguised as houses,” he joked. When the economic recession hit Finland in the early 1990s, construction work practically stopped overnight. Olli took out a significant loan and bought out the other partners in the firm, who were unwilling to take on personal financial risk. The office stayed afloat thanks to long-term projects like Messukeskus (Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre) and the Sinebrychoff brewery. International connections again proved their worth: new work was sought from foreign clients, including newly independent Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The network of professional and personal relationships around the world played an important role in Olli’s life, which was reflected in his passport holding stamps from more than 100 countries.
Olli retired in 2002, having led the firm he founded for 40 years. Even after handing over the reins to the next generation, his interest in the firm and its people never faded. For the well-liked leader, caring for people and fostering a good atmosphere were matters of the heart. Olli was a familiar face in Ruoholahti and a regular guest at Olla’s celebrations until the very end. Many past and present Olla employees remember the firm’s autumn parties for the drinking song “Ken ompi fuksi” (Who’s the Freshman?) — sung so many times that each class year present gets their turn to raise a toast. With Olli present, the song was sung all the way back to his freshman year, 1953. At the last party it was sung 71 times.
It is hard not to see Olli’s arrival and departure on the brightest night of the year as a testament to his hopeful and curious nature. In the memoir “Arkkitehdin yhdeksän vuosikymmentä” (An Architect’s Nine Decades), compiled a few years ago by his daughter Paula, Olli reflected: “All in all, life has treated me well, and for that I can be grateful.”
The entire Olla staff feels immense gratitude for Olli’s life. Without Olli, there would be no Olla. It is our shared honor to continue building on the foundation he created with his diligence, expertise, and positivity.
