Congratulations to Professor Antti Ahlava (Visiting Fellow 2021-22) who has been awarded First Class Knight of the Order of the White Rose of Finland by President Alexander Stubb. Professor Ahlava was awarded this honour based on his accomplishments as a “front-line Finnish designer” and for his “exceptionally wide-ranging” work in architecture.

Professor Ahlava is currently a Professor of Emergent Design Methodologies at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University, Helsinki. He is also a partner in the international architecture office helsinkizürich. Professor Ahlava has an ongoing project called The Other Approach with Professor Minna Sunikka-Blank and Assistant Professor Sofia Singler from the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge, which was initiated during his visiting fellowship at Clare Hall.

“I was fascinated to experience Ralph Erskine’s architecture firsthand, having known an architect in Helsinki who worked in his (and his parrot’s) office and shared miraculous stories about the master and his personal relationships. What I appreciated most about Erskine’s design for Clare Hall was the masterful use of natural light to define and open up spaces,” Professor Ahlava shared about his time at Clare Hall.