 After his graduation, he worked in the architect offices of Alvar Aalto and Toivo Paatela, before starting his own office in 1938.Ervi completed his most notable and well-known works during the post-war reconstruction period and later in the 1950s during the development of Finland's modern construction industry.Ervi was among the pioneers in the use of concrete elements in Finnish architecture while working on the design of the University of Helsinki's Porthania building in 1949.