Howard Waterfall Retreat competition Honorable mention winner - Karin Annika Kristina Krokfors

We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the Honorable mention winner of our Howard Waterfall Retreat Competition – Karin Annika Kristina Krokfors from Finland!

Karin Annika Kristina Krokfors

Please tell us about your company (when it was founded, where it is based, how many employees, etc) Alternatively, if you do not have a company, please give us some insights on your own professional/academia background.

The company Karin Krokfors Architects was established in 1995, and it is based in Helsinki, Finland. Now we are all together 4 people. We have had generally 2-5 employees. Karin Krokfors also acts as Associate Professor of Urban Design Practices in Aalto University in Helsinki and has been teaching housing design there before that.

Brief information about the projects that you/your company have been involved with. For instance, what scale have you focused on/preferred, any significant projects where the company/ individuals have been Involved?

The studio is an innovative architectural practice whose work ranges from building design and adaptive reuse to urban design and landscape installations. A holistic approach is central to our architectural practice, connecting different scales and fostering site-specific solutions that emphasize spatial and ecological resilience and regenerative design. The practice has received several awards in building and urban design architectural competitions in Finland and internationally. We have been involved in several development projects that focus on creating a lasting built environment, particularly by rethinking housing design to meet both current and unpredictable future needs. Our latest completed residential apartment building is an experimental building project called “Living House” located in Helsinki, which is based on our concept of adaptable and flexible building that can easily and continually be modified reflecting changing needs and aspirations of people. The building won BIG SEE architecture award in 2025.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of an architect in your society?

For me architecture has always been the means to learn to see, connect and change the world for the better even in small steps that we can do as architects. The inhabitants and all living things in our natural environment are central to my design being it in urban contexts or in more rural areas. I think today the role of an architect as a change agent is needed more and more and this view is also gaining more ground as the old solutions and ways of doing things do not work anymore or are detrimental to the ecosystems and planet. Being part of a profession that is linked to the prevailing environmental crises forces us to really rethink our design aspirations and solutions from new starting points.

Why do you participate in architecture competitions?

Maybe the most important role that competitions play for me is to be able to develop design skills and widen the knowledge base as practicing architect through intense competition process where the focus is on conceptual design and early design phase. In competitions you can quite freely develop and test new ideas and architectural approaches, as many parties that commission architectural competitions seek them. If the competition program and place is as inspiring as in this competition, it also brings a lot of joy in doing the competition.

What advice would you give to individuals who struggle to decide whether it would be beneficial for them to participate in architecture competitions?

You learn a lot by doing architectural competitions, but they have also played significant role in the whole lifespan of our studio. The company was established after a win in international architectural competition and competitions are to some extent still instrumental way for us to receive design commissions. It is also very interesting to learn how other people have solved the same competition program.