PEOPLE

Matti Anttila completed his architect's degree at Ecole Speciale d'Architecture in Paris in 1989. After finishing advanced studies in planning at Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville he joined Pekka Salminen's architectural office and took part in the design of Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, which has won several international prizes.

Set up by Matti Anttila and Reda Amalou in Paris in 1993, AW2 Architects' main works include the wooden office building of Finnforest in Paris, Cessna-Citation business flight terminal and the French-Vietnamese Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Currently AW2 Architects are working on Lohja District Hospital extension and a shopping centre in Tallinn, Estonia.

Matti Anttila has won several prizes in international architectural competitions and has been invited to participate in some of the most notable competitions, such as those on WIPO headquarters in Geneva, the lobby spaces for the European Parliament in Brussels and Musee du Quai Branly, Paris.

AW2 Architects' designs have been featured widely in international publications.

Matti Anttila received the French Tour Eiffel Award in 1999 for a residential block in Munkkisaari, Helsinki, and in 2001 for a hospital building in Ho Chi Minh City.

Kyösti Meinilä completed his architect's degree at the University of Oulu in 1990. He achieved critical success early on in his career, while still a student, winning the second prize in a competition on the Myllytulli area, Oulu, and while working for NVV Architects, designed the Nallikari lighthouse to wide international attention.

In 1993, Meinilä joined Pekka Salminen Architects in Helsinki, where he worked successfully as a project architect for several renovation projects: the official premises and sauna of Elake-Sampo insurance company, the club of the Association of Finnish Lawyers, and the conversion of the Gothic Marienkirche in Neubrandenburg, Germany, into a concert hall. The Marienkirche concert hall was elected the Concrete Structure of the Year in Finland and it won the prestigious Balthasar Neumann Award in Germany. Kyösti Meinilä has also served as a project manager for the architectural design of the specialist shops in the new International Terminal at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and the annexe to the Ski Museum in Lahti.

His recent solo works and achievements include the residential and commercial building Lanskarinkulma in Lohja, the 3rd prize in the Tikkurila Centre ideas competition, and the 2nd prize in architectural competition on the extension to the Department of Architecture, University of Oulu in 2001.

Kyösti Meinilä joined AW2 Architects in summer 2002.