Märta Blomstedt (1899–1982) was an architect and one of the driving forces of the Finnish functionalism movement. Partnering with her husband, Pauli E. Blomstedt, her first works were noted for their functional, rather than decorative appearance and settings in park-like environments. After her husband's death, initially she formed a firm with Matti Lampén to complete projects her husband and she had begun. Later, she and Lampén formed a firm designing their own creations. She designed all aspects of her buildings including the furnishings, demonstrated in one of Blomstedt & Lampén's most noted designs of the Hotel Aulanko. During the war, Blomstedt & Lampén mostly worked on renovation and restoration projects of existing buildings, but at the war's end, they returned to their own designs. In addition to buildings, they were responsible for the city plans for Kuusjärvi and the Oravikoski Mining Community and created both public and private buildings in each city as well. When Lampén died, Blomstedt formed a partnership with Olli Penttilä and continued to work into the 1970s.
Early life
Märta Elisabeth Adelaide von Willebrand was born on 8 June 1899 in Turku, Grand Duchy of Finland, Russian Empire to Bertha Mathilda (née Hoffstedt) and Reinhold Alexander von Willebrand. Von Willebrand studied architecture at the Helsinki University of Technology and graduated as an architect in 1922. She studied the new modern functionalism which in Finland focused on separation of the building structure from the façade and placing it in a park-like, healthy environment, full of air and light. In 1924, she married a fellow student and architect, Pauli E. Blomstedt and had their first child, Benita (1924–2016). Between 1924 and 1929, she completed further study abroad in Italy and France.
Career
In 1926, the couple began a partnership in a firm as independent architects and in the same year, had their second child, Yrjö. Two years later Pauli won the competition to complete the Finnish Savings Bank in Helsinki. Though he served as lead architect on the project, he was assisted by Märta, , and others, to complete the project in 1930. Blomstedt and her husband completed the Kotka Savings Bank and began work on the Kannonkoski Church, before he died in 1935. She and Lampén jointly completed several of the designs her husband had begun, including the in Rovaniemi, an important icon of the early modernist period. In 1938, the two formed their own firm, Blomstedt & Lampén. Among the works Blomstedt and Lampén designed were the in Hämeenlinna. While the building was being constructed in 1939 Finnish actress Sirkka Sari fell off the roof and died during filming of Rikas tyttö.
During the war, Blomstedt & Lampén were hired to design repairs to the in the Kyttälä neighborhood of Tampere, which had been bombed. Between 1941 and 1942, they expanded the size of the home of the merchant, Kaarlo Ruuskanen, raising the size of the building on the Hämeen Street side, allowing for a surrounding terrace on the top floor. On the Pellavatehtaan Street side of the house, they constructed a wing in the functionalist style, which housed the Ruuskanen Clothing Factory until 1975. In 1948, Blomstedt & Lampén were hired to renovate the Lindström and Sörnäisten Factory in Helsinki. The firm was hired repeatedly to complete updates and further renovation on the structure. Other buildings in Helsinki in which Blomstedt & Lampén worked on renovations include: the real estate company Vladimirsgatan Building (1950 and 1979), the Tallberg house (1951), and the Primula Bakery Building (1957). In 1950, the firm completed a six-story residential and commercial building in the functionalist style in the city of Hämeenlinna and two years later completed the post office there as well. Blomstedt & Lampén were hired in 1954, for two projects in Imatra on Vuoksenniska Road, the design of the Suomen Yksityisyrittäjäin Puolue (SYP) party headquarters and the design of the Bio Vuoksi Cinema. That same year, the duo drew plans for the Nordic Union Bank and apartment building located at #19 Pitäjänmäki Road in Helsinki.