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drawn. These fictional characters are
based on the student population of Aalto
University, who will benefit most directly
from the proposed and existing facilities.
When looking at the situation from
the different stakeholders viewpoints:
2.3 Aalto University's
Creative Community
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Schools and Departments
The Schools and Departments within the
University are occupying buildings or parts
of buildings on the campus. These buildings
could house flexibly usable spaces as
described earlier, and draw in a more
diverse group of students and employees.
They now have the buildings exclusively to
themselves, and welcoming others into their
buildings requires a change in mindset.
Aalto University’s services
The Facilities and Services management
can utilize the spaces more optimal, even at
times when they are not in use by a School
or Department. The spaces do not need to
be heated and maintained without anyone
using them, which is a more desirable
situation than the current vacant state.
Students
Students can use more spaces on the
campus and become more familiar with
their study surroundings. They can dedicate
more time to studying rather than finding
and arranging a space to study or meet,
than they could when there are less spaces.
The user community consists of Aalto
University students, staff and professors. They
form Aalto University’s Creative Community
through their common denominator, and
their ability and enthusiasm to develop ideas
using their unique skills and imagination.
The large community, mostly consisting of
students, needs to be able to influence their
study and living surroundings. According to
architect and doctoral researcher Katri-Liisa
Pulkkinen (2013b, interview February 4th)
the area is presently not very inviting as it
is difficult to navigate and form a mental
map. The outside areas are generally left
empty, as people only occasionally move
from one building to the next: they do
not roam around outside. In an interview
regarding the creative attractiveness of the
campus, Pulkkinen (Ibid.) states that the
Otaniemi campus is generally considered to
Evening person
be 6 unattractive because of the technology
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mono-culture. Her studies focus on the
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comparison between the Otaniemi campus
3
and the change that went on in Punavuori,
2
Helsinki,
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as that area slowly transformed
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from 0 an unattractive area with a bad
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reputation to a bustling city district, filled with
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Person B
trendy 15 boutiques, bars, and creative studios.
10
6
5
5
0
4
3
2
1
0
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Morning person
Toronto
New York
Sao Paulo
Mexico City
San Francisco
Washington DC
Boston
Los Angeles
Chicago
London
Paris
Stockholm
Helsinki
Brussels
Madrid
Frankfurt
Moscow
Hongkong
Beijing
Tokyo
Singapore
Shanghai
Mumbai
Perth
Melbourne
Adelaide
Sydney
Brisbane
Canberra
Istanbul
Capetown
Qatar
Kampala
Caïro
Day person
Person C
Evening person
Person A
Person B
Morning person
Graph 5-6-7: Energy levels of morning- day- and evening people
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/crt/
The campus in Otaniemi could benefit from
a similar approach which stimulates random
and free use of the available urban space.
When the users are stimulated to use their
study and work surroundings more freely,
they can activate the campus and make it
more lively. Once the ball is rolling, more
people will become attracted to the area. The
campus, located in the T3 area, can play a
pioneering role in putting Espoo on the map.
2.3.1 Changes in
demand within Aalto
Students do not only study during daytime
in the workweek. More multidisciplinary
groups are working on project cases and
arranging meetings often results in deciding
to meet in the weekends or evenings. Space
should be provided for such activities.
As the way in which studying takes
place shifts from the traditional one-way
information distribution to peer learning,
the facilities need to suit these demands.
Looking into the facilities at the different
Aalto campuses, the Otaniemi campus
buildings have many lecture halls with
fixed furniture. Because of this, there is no
flexibility in the arrangement of the space
and they are not particularly suitable for
interaction among students. The design is
based on one way communication: from
teacher to pupil. As modern studies are more
and more focused on group work and peer
learning, students need to have access to
spaces which suit those methods of working.
This involves discussion and visualization
of ideas, which cannot be done in such
classrooms or a traditional library setting.
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