Toni Yli-Suvanto Dipl Arch ETH SAFA
Toni Yli-Suvanto Dipl Arch ETH SAFA
Toni Yli-Suvanto received Diploma in Architecture in 1999 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zürich in Switzerland, and before establishing his own practice he worked in several internationally recognized architectural practices in Switzerland, Germany and the United Kingdom.
While collaborating at David Chipperfield Architects in London, he worked on Città delle Culture, museum complex in Milan, and his design team won the first prize in three international design competitions. Thereafter he joined Eger Architects as a company associate, to lead a design team for the Grassroots Community Resource Centre in East London. The project received awards such as the Best Built Project at the London Planning Awards and was proclaimed as one of the best healthcare buildings in UK by CABE.
He established his first architectural studio in London, working on private projects and providing consultation related services to internationally renowned architectural companies. In 2007 he relocated his practice to Finland and established Toni Yli-Suvanto Architects in Helsinki, with an increased emphasis on the subject of sustainability in architecture.
His work has been focused on finding design solutions, that would make the construction and usage of buildings more affordable and ecologically sustainable, while making spaces easier to use and adaptable to changes during their lifecycle. He has explored the usage of solid timber structures in contemporary architecture, widening the possibilities of using this traditional renewable material, for which his work was recently nominated for the National Wood Award 2020 in Finland.
The recent years have taken him to seek solutions of larger scale, which would enable carbon neutrality while providing benefits to indoor climate. In relation to that he has been actively developing modular usage of mass timber structures - CLT in particular – in housing, retail and accommodation projects, together with the timber construction industry. On this subject he is also lecturing in domestic and international events and seminars.
He has led several successful international competition entries in Europe, US and Asia, and his works and interviews have been published around the world in architectural publications focusing on sustainability, most recently in Green Architecture Today and Ecological Buildings: New Strategies for Sustainable Architecture.
