Architecture students working with the City of Pori
21.10.2013
As part of their coursework, students from Aalto University's Department of Architecture are designing a new neighbourhood in Pori, as well as homes and green spaces and a jazz club, which they are working on in collaboration with the Pori Jazz association. The areas of interest are the Karjaranta area and a new housing fair area which is still at the design stage.
The project, which will last the whole academic year, is part of the Department of Architecture's third year design courses, which look at urban spaces, public works, residential architecture and public outdoor spaces. Almost 80 architecture and landscape architecture students will take part in the project.
Work on the project began with a joint two-day excursion to Pori attended by all courses. During the excursion at the turn of September and October, representatives of the University Consortium of Pori and the City of Pori provided the students with a comprehensive overview of the city and the areas to be planned. After the presentation, students got to know the area themselves by carrying out an analysis assignment, in which thoughts and impressions of the area were gathered.
‘After the excursion, we will continue our work in Otaniemi as part of the regular teaching schedule. Each course has its own way of approaching design tasks, which are very different in scale and results’, explains University Lecturer Saija Hollmén of the Department of Architecture.
Throughout the academic year, the university will stay in contact with the Pori city planning department, which is actively supporting the project, but there will be no need for any more joint excursions to Pori.
‘Course assignments will progress gradually through periodic deadlines until we arrive at the polished final design. The finished work will be presented next May in the spring final review. We will also try to put on a joint exhibition of the work from all the courses, which will bring together the whole year's Pori project’, says Hollmén.
Benefits of synergy and more diverse learning
By choosing a common area of focus for the design courses, the Department of Architecture aims to bring benefits from the synergy between different subjects. The choice also aims to enhance students' learning experiences.
‘Many of the students take more than one of these design courses. By choosing a common area, we can give them a deeper learning experience as they will look at the same area from various different perspectives’, says Saija Hollmén.
The department seeks to find similar synergies between different courses every year. For example, last year's common area of focus was the old town of Rauma. Pori was chosen as this year's subject area after a proposal by the urban planning major subject. The choice was also influenced by ARTS plans to increase project-based collaboration in Pori as the school's operations in the University Consortium of Pori are restructured.
‘The Department of Architecture wanted to independently strengthen its collaboration on teaching with the University Consortium of Pori and enhance the students' learning experience. The ARTS plans guided our selection of the focus area naturally to Pori’, concludes Hollmén.