Development of the campus environment through art

Tantalisingly dynamic knowledge and a whole new level of cooperative projects are given life when art and science come together with technology and business. The process intended to harmonise Aalto University's campuses is well under way. By its nature, art can function as a uniting factor in this endeavour.

Since the year 2000, developers on the Arabiaranta campus have allocated 1–2% of the total construction investment funds to artistic cooperation initiatives. During this time, Tuula Isohanni, Doctor of Arts, has functioned as the art coordinator in Arabianranta. On behalf of the City of Helsinki, she has served as an essential link between the artists, architects, and developers involved in the project.  Part of her work sees Isohanni represent the conceptual vision of the artists and consult on the spatial distribution of the artistic works on the development site. The work on Arabianranta campus has been completed and all sights are now set on Otaniemi.

The Otaniemi campus environment is being developed through art. The development project will pay particular attention to the spaces between buildings, focusing on aspects such as lighting, orientation, navigability and visitor guidance, and transit in and around the campus area. In the same way as with the Arabia development, the Otaniemi project will also be overseen by Tuula Isohanni.

Owing to its somewhat unique landscape, Aalto University's Otaniemi campus is not in a position to compete with the new buildings being erected on universities around the world. Its starting point is completely different, as Otaniemi is a forest campus established more than half a century ago in accordance with the overall vision of Alvar Aalto, with individual buildings having been designed by Aalto and other celebrated Finnish architects such as Reima and Raili Pietilä and Heikki and Kaija Sirén. The buildings and materials used in the Otaniemi campus area represent different strands of history, the richness of which cannot be replicated by the anonymity of contemporary steel-and-glass campuses.