Roger Connah

Roger Connah (born 1950, in Cheshire, England) is a Welsh writer, and independent scholar based in Ruthin, North Wales, and has taught for over three decades in Finland, India, Pakistan, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. He is currently professor of architecture at the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. Connah studied architecture at Bristol University and Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1974, he moved to Helsinki, Finland, to study the work of architect Reima Pietilä, and worked in the office of Reima and Raili Pietilä until 1985. Connah has specialised in Finnish architecture and society, and has written numerous books on the subject, in particular on the life and works of architects Reima and Raili Pietilä and Alvar Aalto, as well as film director Aki Kaurismäki. Among his many publications is the book on Pietilä, Writing Architecture – Fantomas, Fragments, Fictions (An Architectural Journey through the Twentieth Century) (1989) which was awarded First Prize in the International Book Award in Architectural Theory and Criticism 1987–90 by CICA, the International Committee of Architectural Critics. Connah has also held and curated exhibitions, including 'KHAM' (Delhi, 1986) and 'Seven Famous Raincoats and a Moygashel' (1984). His films include 'Involuntary Architecture' (2005, with John Maruszczak).