Kaija Siren Explained

Katri (Kaija) Anna-Maija Helena Siren (née Tuominen; October 23, 1920  - January 15, 2001) was a Finnish architect. She graduated as an architect from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1948. Siren designed most of her works together with her spouse to another Finnish architect, Heikki Siren.

Siren was born in Kotka. She and her husband Heikki Siren set up their own architectural office in 1949. The Sirens worked together as architects their entire life. The Otaniemi Chapel is noted for its delicate balance between features of Finnish rural architecture and a modernism, influenced by Alvar Aalto's redbrick period of the 1950s. Their later work is noted for its monumentality.^[1]

She is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.^[2]

Major works

• 1954 Finnish National Theatre Small Stage, Helsinki, Finland
• 1956 Otaniemi Chapel, Espoo, Finland
• 1961 Orivesi Church, Orivesi, Finland
• 1965 Kallio Municipal Offices, Helsinki, Finland
• 1968 Ympyrätalo, Helsinki, Finland
• 1970 Lauttasaari School, Helsinki, Finland
• 1973 Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria
• 1982 Graniittitalo, Helsinki, Finland
• 1983 The Conference Palace in Baghdad, Iraq

References

• Bruun, Erik & Popovits, Sara (eds.): Kaija + Heikki Siren: Architects – Architekten – Architectes. Otava: Helsinki, 1977.

External links

• • Everything and Nothing: Architects Kaija + Heikki Siren. Espoo City Museum.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Heikki Siren – Muistokirjoitus. fi. Helsingin Sanomat. 3 July 2014.
2. Web site: Hietaniemen hautausmaa – merkittäviä vainajia. Helsingin seurakuntayhtymä. 27 August 2016.