(b Turku, 1928). Finnish architect. He graduated from the Technical University in Helsinki in 1954. Lundsten worked first in Viljo Revell’s office on such projects as the prizewinning entry for the Town Hall, Toronto, also acting as job architect during building. In 1962 he set up his own practice in Helsinki. In 1968 he became Professor of Building Technology at the Technical University. His work of the 1960s and 1970s shows a sensitive development of Finnish constructivist architectural expression. This is represented, in particular, by a passengers’ pavilion (1965) for the Silja shipping company in Langsnäs, Åland. Mainly glass-walled, it is suspended by wires from an external steel frame. The light, right-angled prism of the building is placed perpendicularly to the pier; only its landward gable meets the rising ground. The pavilion itself, which also contains a cafeteria, guides passengers from bus to ship; a roofed area below is intended for customs’ inspection of cars. Both functionally and structurally the building can be compared to a bridge. Among Lundsten’s other important works are two developments of terraced houses, which apply new techniques to the tradition of Finnish wooden towns. He also developed a living environment through linking interior and exterior spaces, as visible in the street plans, which quite freely follow the grid principle. In Kortepohja, Jyväskylä (street plan, 1965; houses, 1968–9; with Esko Kahri), two to two-and-a-half storey houses are naturally situated in undulating land so that, within the development, there are varying views despite the apparent strictness of the grid plan. Pedestrian and motor traffic are separated. The right-angled, prism-shaped, flat-roofed houses are built on a concrete frame; the cross-wall areas, which divide the flats from each other on the long side, are formed from prefabricated wooden elements complete with windows and doors. The light fences that surround the gardens also refer to the wood-town tradition. The range of external colouring is characteristic of some areas of wooden housing built in the 1920s. One of Lundsten’s most important restoration projects is also from the 1960s: the Käpylä wooden suburb in Helsinki. The refurbishment of these two-storey dwellings (1970–78) was carried out with as few changes as possible to the existing buildings, and a detailed inventory of the building components that were to be replaced was drawn up. In his subsequent work Lundsten ‘softened’ his formal language.

• Lundsten, Bengt
  • Revell, Viljo