Reino Aarnio

Reino Aarnio (December 8, 1912 – February 12, 1988 ) was an American architect based in New York City who practiced in the mid to late twentieth century in New Jersey and New York under his own name as Reino Aarnio, established in 1948.

Born in December 8, 1912 in Turku, Finland, Aarnio emigrated to the United States in 1920.

He won the F.B. Morse Prize in 1935 and the Sherrill Prize in 1936.

He earned his bachelor of architecture from New York University in 1938, graduating cum laude.

Aarnio joined the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter in 1948 and established his own firm that year.

Aarnio received a Citation for Excellence for the U.S. Exhibition in Sweden, Poland and Greece, Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1959.

He was a member of the Board of Trustees for the Scandinavian Seminar for University Level Studies in Scandinavia from 1959.

Reino Aarnio was married to Sylvia (Bachman) Aarnio, a coloratura soprano and graduate of the Juilliard School of Music.

He was also the chairman of the Arts and Architecture committee of the Finlandia Foundation from 1960; the vice chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, River Edge, New Jersey, from 1965; architectural consultant for the American-Scandinavian Foundation Scholarship Awards Committee from 1965; and liaison as the planning board of River Edge, New Jersey, from 1969.

He was knighted by Government of Finland in 1963.

He received a Best Municipal Library Award for Paramus Public Library, Paramus, New Jersey in the Book of the Month Club, 1965.

He was published in numerous articles, which featured contributions on architecture and design in books and magazines.

In 1967, he was an associate professor at the New York Institute of Technology.