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Annikki Paasikivi began her studies at the Helsinki University of Technology (TKK) in 1917. In 1923, the 25-year-old architect emerged from the school with her thesis on the official residence of the President of the Republic. Little did she know that she would live in one during the presidency of her father Juho Kusti Paasikivi, which began in 1946.  

Annikki Paasikivi founded an architectural practice in Kerava with her business partner. She designed several buildings around Finland.  

She was socially active, internationally oriented and proficient in languages. Paasikivi changed professions when she went abroad in the 1930s. She first worked in the information department at the headquarters of the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations, in Geneva. After the outbreak of the Second World War, she moved to Copenhagen to work on the affairs of Finnish children evacuated during the war.

After the war, she returned to Finland to work for the Finnish Broadcasting Company and was active in organising funding for the establishment of Otaniemi Technology Village.    

Paasikivi died of cancer in 1950. At her funeral, the Association of Women Architects Architecta honored the memory of its ‘warm-hearted member who sought and loved different forms of life.’ 

Paasikivi bequeathed her entire estate to TKK to a fund in her name. Her last will supports new generations every year in building a better future. In 2023, the scholarship was awarded to 40 architecture students, and it has a significant impact on their studies.    

Source: Liisa-Maria Hakala-Zilliacus  

Text: Marjukka Puolakka

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