Leppänen Architects featured in Rakennuslehti
An article about Kari Leppänen and Leppänen Architects published in Rakennuslehti on October 3, 2025.
It has been very close. This is how Helsinki-based architect and entrepreneur Kari Leppänen responds when asked whether, amidst this economic downturn, he has considered selling his own company, Leppänen Arkkitehdit Oy.
Larger companies buy small companies that possess good references and expertise. That is an ongoing trend in the design sector.
”I am not pushing sales aggressively. However, now would be a golden opportunity to start preparing for an economic upturn — one way or another. I still want to see the coming upturn,” says the entrepreneur, who enjoys his work.
Times have certainly not been easy. The office has designed new residential projects, but many projects are currently not moving forward. The weight of renovation work has grown in the workload, and the office also prepares building history surveys.
Currently, the company has ongoing projects including a facade project for two 17-story apartment buildings in Matinkylä, Espoo, where old sandwich elements are dismantled and replaced with new brick-tile facades. The buildings were constructed in the 1970s.
According to Leppänen, the office would gladly be more broadly involved in regional development projects that, alongside renovation, include infill development.
Difficult times are reflected in the turnover, which dropped by about 26 percent for Leppänen Architects in 2024. A few architects of the company are laid off, and the office has moved to more affordable premises in Espoo.
Kari Leppänen believes that strong and competent offices will get by, even though things are tough at times. As an entrepreneur, he has seen many crisis periods. ”Entrepreneurship requires nerves of steel.”
He would find it great to offer jobs to graduating young architects, but right now there is no opportunity for that. The job situation for young people is poor across the entire sector. That is unfortunate, because gaining experience would be important.
Still, there are some silver linings in the market. According to Leppänen, requests for quotes have come in more this year than last year, for example in renovation construction.
The office has networked with industry operators, and within the cooperation network, companies also make joint bids. In procurement competitions, the requirements can, in his view, be unreasonably strict for designers.
”A small operator cannot meet them. That is why cooperation is important.”
Leppänen regrets that in many bidding contests, price is the most important criterion. In that case, design resources threaten to remain small, and the end result is not good.
The work of an architect and entrepreneur is brought to Kari Leppänen by destiny. His father, architect Kaarlo Leppänen, had a long career and worked as an office manager in Alvar Aalto’s office. The father later had his own architectural office.
”I grew up amidst architecture. I worked in my father’s office, but I have strived to distinguish myself from him and Aalto and walk my own path,” Leppänen emphasizes.
Finlandia Hall united father and son. Kaarlo Leppänen worked in Aalto’s office when he was responsible for the design of the landmark building as office manager. As a young architect, Kari Leppänen in turn got to design, alongside his father, the interior renovation of Finlandia Hall, which was completed in 2001.
Leppänen founded his own architectural office back in 1989. Projects have already accumulated to over 500. The office has designed, among other things, the renovation of the Didrichsen Art Museum located in Kuusisaari, Helsinki.
One of the projects was the extension of the Vantaa Police and Justice Building, which came to the son’s office for design due to his father’s illness. The father was brought in a wheelchair to see the building after its completion.
”He looked around the hall satisfied. I think he was pondering that the boy has become a man.”
The architectural office Kaarlo Leppänen merged in 2005 to become part of Kari Leppänen Architects. It linked together the life work of two generations.
The state of Finland worries Leppänen, who has worked as an architect for 40 years. People are wrapped up in themselves and somewhat paralyzed. ”Society now needs awakeners and innovators. Architecture and the construction sector must be among that group.”
As an example of innovation, he mentions the environmental artwork ”KIDE” made of illuminated glass cubes as part of Helsinki’s Cultural Capital year in 2000, which he designed together with Peter Ch. Butter and Dusan Jovanovic.
The Finnish Foundation of Environmental Art rewarded it as the Environmental Art Work of 2009 [sic]. The work originated from a broken glass plate that the architects examined inspired in the office.
He describes himself as an innovative person. The tighter the spot, the more he wants to develop something new. ”I have the enthusiasm of a child.”
In architecture, he misses more courage to make things human, i.e., smaller in scale than what is currently built. Construction must not be too dense. ”We should look more closely at where more efficient and taller construction fits.”
In his view, for example, Central Pasila in Helsinki could well be built over the railway tracks.
The office’s turnover was 0.4 million euros in 2024. It employs four people.
Design projects have included the renovation of the Didrichsen Art Museum, the interior repair of Finlandia Hall, the repairs of the Honkanummi chapel and Hietaniemi chapels, and the renovation of the Tapiola shopping center. Today, several housing company renovation construction projects employ the office. The office’s special expertise is the repair design of protected heritage buildings.
Kari Leppänen graduated as an architect in 1995 from the University of Oulu. Before graduating, he worked in several different architectural offices in both Oulu and Helsinki.
Leppänen first founded his own office as an open enterprise in 1989, and in 2002 it became a limited company. Later, Kaarlo Leppänen’s office was attached to it. Thus Leppänen Architects was born in 2018.
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