[diss] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS

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  • Participatory design for resistance: The making of pictograms with indigenous youth in the Ecuadorian Amazon
    (2025) Pinto, Nathaly
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-12-12
    Participatory design research and practice are increasingly engaging in efforts to reformulate and contest dominant codes in the field. This involves reassessing structures shaped by productivist logics, centralized institutions, and extractivist-capitalist worldviews that reproduce inequalities oppressing communities and territories at the margins. Responding to the pressing need to grapple with resistance by historically marginalized communities via participatory design (PD) with indigenous peoples, the thesis introduces a research and production framework grounded in emerging research/participation processes from Latin America, particularly practices of indigenous community communication. Through developing this framing – anchored in learning from and connecting with epistemologies and socio-cultural infrastructures that, though historically excluded from dominant narratives, offer vital insight and approaches to knowledge and material production – the project as a whole emphasize structuring the work for resistance as a creative and transformative force, to expand conventional design approaches and challenge extractive research logics. The study drew on a long-term collaborative project in the Ecuadorian Amazon with indigenous youth, communities, and organizations, centered on the making of pictograms to represent and reactualize situated knowledges and practices with indigenous peoples. Pictograms were mobilized as knowledge systems and political, counter-hegemonic devices grounded in heterogeneous histories, rather than as objects of prevailing “modern” design. Developing pictograms sustains collective praxis of learning from the diverse knowledges of the communities and their territories, while tying in with situated histories of collective struggle. The findings are outlined through four peer-reviewed publications, each looking at the participatory research and at the collaborative design journey from one particular perspective. Together, the findings indicate that the project moved beyond dominant modern design paradigms (which frame pictograms as extrinsic, standardizing devices for universal information/communication), positioning them instead as a living process and as situated technological and cognitive devices for collective knowledge-building. Aligning their creative practice with indigenous community communication via a crucial indigenous framework marks a path forward from conventional understandings of participation in design research and production, thereby helping shape popular, communal, and intercultural participatory approaches to design. In sum, this PD is design practice that considers the relational fabric in which it is embedded, involving diverse forms of labor beyond the designer–computer dyad. Thus, it radically challenges notions of individual authorship when production is social and communal rather than merely collective. Insight from the concept and practice of resistance with indigenous communities and territories provided a foundation for collaborative design at the margins, considering local–global ethical cum political dimensions, researcher positionality, and the histories of situated participatory praxis. The work embraces tensions as dialogical spaces that benefit the research, leveraging North–South dialogue and the material conditions that enable fruitful engagement with Amazonian nationalities. Building on this foundation, it articulates commitments to collectivity and to tensions as guiding principles for design research and production, both as a site of contestation and as a means of strengthening emancipatory practices. Committing to collectivity spotlights how co-appropriation of design efforts between the communities and the design researcher, in so called mundane and strategic work especially, decentralizes practices, with effects that configure alternative design relationships and deepen understandings of redistribution of participation – across knowledge, production, and burdens. The second framing, in turn, positions contradiction as a space for action. The necessary different positioning of the design researcher, exemplified in militant design research, expresses situated historical theorizing and enacting of political action while actively avoiding research practices that dislocate or appropriate knowledges and practices with indigenous communities/territories. The PD research and production framework proposed for resistance with indigenous communities in the Amazon opens a space for creative theoretical and material approaches to learning from and supporting other ways of being, knowing, and doing. In broader terms, it contributes to reimagining, doing, and thinking for PD otherwise. It calls on design researchers, whether working from the margins or acting across these and other boundaries/borders, to produce knowledge on terms that serve diverse communities and territories.
  • The intensity of matter: The inhuman affects of geological performance
    (2025) Madsen, Tina Mariane Krogh
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-12-05
    The doctoral thesis is an artistic research monograph which unfolds itself around Madsen’s conception of the term geological performance, and holds a main inquiry which concerns how the ethico-aesthetic intensive and affective experience can facilitate a meaningful encounter, towards awareness. The research questions of the thesis are thus approached in an immanent discussion with philosopher Gilles Deleuze and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari’s thinking, individually and collectively, grounded in modes of geophilosophy and schizoanalysis which open up a consideration of the world as based on transversal relations that not only flows but also breaks. An important movement of the thesis is the activation of “problematic fields” (Deleuze [1968] 1994) and via the eventness of bodies, event-bodies as Madsen proposes, where performance art and encountering sonic performativity are considered as facilitating a transformative experience which can also be discussed as learning. This is undertaken in consideration of contemporary urgencies and climate issues and includes a deeper look at relation at the level of geological matter, here as machinic and queer. This further includes a reflection of time, and its inhuman potential as discussed by, among others, geographer Kathryn Yusoff. There is here a focus on affective encounters of (in)human bodies and their capabilities and properties, as evident in philosopher Baruch Spinoza’s thinking, also considering a mode of relational intensity. In this thesis, Madsen thus demonstrates a relation and deep connection between artistic practice and embodied philosophical writing which is exemplified in their proposed “practical-philosophical essays” which are foundational for the artistic processes and fieldwork of the thesis. The idea of the body is considered as expanding in its connection to and with the geological, and it becomes (an) event in Madsen’s formulation of the artistic outputs as “practised problems”. The main scope has been to develop a specific method of affective enunciation through and with the body, and as an artistic research thesis, it includes two already preliminary examined performances: one with a focus on sound and ideas of collaborative agency in the Matter-as-Collaborator Lab (2022), and another anchored in physical relations and extensions of the body, in the durational event-bodies [folding] (2024). As a result, Madsen introduces the concept matter-as-collaborator as an expansion of the ethico-aesthetic paradigm of Deleuze and Guattari, moving further beyond human experience, where intensity is necessary to produce affective relations to and with the environment and geology, to uncover, for example, the extractivist paradigms which global capitalism facilitates. Madsen research thus shows how this is carried forward, via bodies, and through modes of vibration in matter. As a core method, Madsen considers their body as a capturing device and interface which feeds relational remembrance from the field into the performances with a novel perception of the field as refrain, and activating the potentials of listening scores as collective assemblages of enunciation, connected to a deeper engagement with language in Deleuze and Guattari’s thinking, and in an expansion which includes, among other, composer Pauline Oliveros’ method of Deep Listening. Productive failure, hesitation, nonsense and the falsifier are also considered as tools to deterritorialise experience in artistic research with a focus on the potentialities of the minor.
  • Mythological Migrations: Imagining Queer Muslim Utopias—Artistic and Curatorial Strategies of Collaboration, Collective Resistance, and Coalition Building
    (2025) Qureshi, Abdullah
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-12-04
    Mythological Migrations: Imagining Queer Muslim Utopias—Artistic and Curatorial Strategies of Collaboration, Collective Resistance, and Coalition-Building is a multidisciplinary doctoral dissertation that examines formations of queer identity, resistance, and community in Muslim migratory contexts through contemporary art practice. Set against the background of rising Islamophobia, racism, anti-immigrant sentiments, homophobia, and transphobia in the west over the last two and a half decades, the project seeks to expand critical queer Muslim migratory perspectives and challenge the prevalent belief that Islam and liberal discourses on gender and sexuality are mutually incompatible. The thesis builds upon transnational feminist and queer intersectional scholarship alongside traditions of translation, interpretation, and innovation in Islamic art and cultural histories to disrupt dominant western-centric constructions of queerness and forefront representation of non-heteronormative gender and sexual identities from diverse positionalities. Focusing on the aftermath of the 2015 Syrian migrant crisis, the project examines specific Islamophobic and racist incidents concerning Arab and African LGBTIQA+ refugees at gay nightclubs and cruising sites in Finland and beyond. These issues of exclusion experienced by queer racialized immigrants in Finland are situated in the region’s history of colonial complicity, fabricated nationalistic constructions, invisible whiteness, and its relationship to what Ramón Grosfoguel (2011) describes as the modern/colonial capitalist/patriarchal world system—an overarching structure instituted to maintain and advance western imperial and geopolitical interests. The dissertation comprises two pre-examined artistic components, Chapter 1: The Nightclub (2019) and Chapter 2: The Darkroom (2020), and this monograph. Its theoretical framework engages concepts of feminist border thinking by Maria Lugones (2010) and queer assemblages by Jasbir K. Puar (2005) to explore artistic and curatorial methodologies that de-center from the world system and articulate queer Muslim immigrant experiences, positionalities, and imaginaries through collaborative, collective, and coalition-building strategies. The artistic components, organized as live and immersive events, feature films created by the author, works from invited artists, filmmakers, musicians, and scholars, and dialogues, demonstrating diverse approaches to queer Muslim and racialized migratory discourses.
  • Touching costume sketching: Digital costume sketching using a tablet
    (2025) Manninen, Kirsi
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-11-28
    My research focuses on the nature and significance of tablet-based costume sketching in the daily working practice of costume designers who utilize tablets as digital sketchbooks. In recent decades, costume designers have increasingly embraced digital methods to create characters, combining traditional sketching techniques with modern technologies such as tablets and mobile devices in conjunction with computer-aided design. This study, grounded in practice, seeks to explore the participants' experiences to create characters and costume sketches on the haptic screen of the tablet, with the intention of utilizing these in their collaborative design processes. This qualitative study adopted an ethnographic approach, incorporating autoethnographic and at-home ethnographic methodologies, to examine the routines associated with costume sketching and the outcomes of this design activity. The material was collected from the following sources: costume design students at Aalto University; interviews with eight Finnish costume designers working in film, theatre and the performing arts and the researcher's own costume sketch archives. Data sources employed in this study include reflections on sketching and interpretations of physical and digital costume sketches. The objective of this study is to enhance comprehension of costume design, with the focus on the influence of a costume designer's aptitude for touch-based sketching on their subjective evaluation of their own abilities. Additionally, the investigation encompasses the repercussions of utilizing a tablet as a digital sketchbook on collaborative processes and communication within the artistic team. The study addresses the following research question: What impact does touch-based costume sketching/design have on the professional competence of costume designers? It was evident that enhanced control of sketching tools, positive feedback and optimized use of time and space had a favourable influence on the entire costume design process. The findings demonstrated that digital transformation had an impact on the way in which designers conceptualize their expertise. It can be concluded that costume designers consider their expertise to be more closely aligned with the needs of their creative teams. Based on the findings of this study, it can be deduced that they may be pertinent and applicable to other fields of character design and creation, for instance to animation, interactive games and storybooks, as well as any collaborative design process where sketching is employed for the purpose of design communication.
  • Walks and steams: Artistic approaches to develop more-than-human ritualisation in polycrisis
    (2025) Keski-Korsu, Mari
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-11-21
    This research asks: what are the possibilities of artistic approaches to develop more-than-human ritualisations in polycrisis? It seeks to reimagine and emphasise relations within the more-thanhuman world as a sentient ecology. Artistic, sensory research and walking methodologies are applied to ritualise with intuitive, caring, and empathic acts. The focus is on the changing conditions of palsa mires in the Circumpolar North, north Fennoscandia, the microbes of the permafrost thaw and the means of walking-with them. Thus, the thesis developed and propose more-than-human ritualisation as a part of nature-ecocultures: permeating art, science, technology, geopolitics and (more-than-) human communities as well as raising awareness of engagement within the sentient ecologies and wellbeing in the context of planetary polycrisis change. The theoretical framework as artistic research draws on posthumanist thought of decentring human and on feminist new materialism, especially on transcorporeality. Ritualisation is positioned within more-than-human relations in sentient ecologies, as shared action, and in the polycrisis changes in it. It offers meaning-making in the tensions between sameness and difference, creating a space where meaning is both maintained and transformed. As such, it is investigating and seeding the new ritual practices of the polycrisis. The research includes written publications with artistic components such as walks and a preevaluated artistic component, an exhibition. The first article focuses on intuitive communication between species to propose it as a method to acknowledge more-than-human agency and consciousness as a relation. The second article incorporates sensory research on natureecocultural relationships, notes changes in this sentient ecology in parallel with scientific findings and proposes a method of walking-with. It initiates walking as ritualising to sense the polycrisis and have an embodied multisensory experience in a technology-driven world. The third publication looks at walking-with as a participatory performance and as a ritualisation to encounter with the microbes of the permafrost thaw. The artistic component, in the form of an exhibition, collects actions as proposals, forming an archive of more-than-human ritualising and embedding artistic practice into an existing ritual, namely sauna bathing. The third article and the artistic component synthetise the methods of the other publications.
  • Green capture - Enhancing carbon sinks within urban residential green spaces
    (2025) Ariluoma, Mari
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-11-14
    Urban green spaces are envisioned as key solutions for making cities more sustainable and resilient. However, knowledge about the climate and biodiversity impacts of green space construction, management, and maintenance throughout their life cycle is still limited. This research aims to build understanding of how landscape design influences the biogenic carbon cycle and to identify solutions that enhance carbon sinks in urban areas, while also considering biodiversity outcomes. The focus is on residential green spaces, which form a substantial component of urban green infrastructure. A significant portion of new urban development is dedicated to residential land use, making these landscapes key contributors to urban carbon and biodiversity dynamics. Despite this, few studies have examined urban yards and their potential to contribute to goals such as carbon neutrality and no-net-loss of biodiversity. This dissertation addresses these research gaps by integrating theoretical frameworks from urban ecology and landscape sustainability with a mixed methods approach and empirical insights drawn from landscape architecture practice. The dissertation comprises three peer-reviewed articles that form the core of the research, along with a compiling section that synthesises the results and proposes practical implications based on the findings. In addition, practice-oriented supplementary studies, including a case example, have been incorporated to further elaborate on the results of the peer-reviewed papers. The research primarily employs qualitative analysis methods, supplemented with quantitative data and outcomes. The results of the articles and supplementary studies are further elaborated according to four themes: first, the carbon sequestration and storage (CSS) capacity of the most common urban vegetation types in residential yards is analysed; second, the research estimates the carbon sink potential of urban residential landscapes; third, the co-benefits of carbon-smart urban green are identified; and finally, the possibilities of enhancing CSS capacity across residential landscapes are summarised. The research highlights that urban carbon sinks can be significantly enhanced through strategic planning, diverse vegetation, and optimal maintenance practices. Large old trees and multilayered vegetation communities provide significant carbon–biodiversity co-benefits, while improving growth conditions can further boost carbon sinks in urban environments. This dissertation proposes more sustainable approaches to designing and managing greenery in urban living environments, with consideration for both climate impacts and biodiversity. It contributes to the development of regenerative urban residential landscapes by emphasising the importance of carbon sinks and biodiversity. A regenerative urban land use strategy should focus on creating positive effects, rather than merely preventing biodiversity loss and emissions. The results highlight both the possibilities and limitations of nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change within urban residential courtyards and the dynamic nature of urban carbon sinks. By enhancing carbon–biodiversity co-benefits, urban courtyards can significantly address environmental challenges and enhance urban ecosystem services. The research outlines key actions for future planning and design of urban landscapes and contributes to discussions on the role of the landscape industry in achieving climate targets.
  • Prototyping for service. Collaborative, transformative and translational practice
    (2025) Hyvärinen, Jaana
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-11-07
    Understanding complex and systemic problems and developing solutions require continuous adaptation to changes in the operating environment and the ability to influence them. Furthermore, it is essential to establish practices that enable actors from individual organisations to large, complex service networks to explore new opportunities for value co-creation, both independently and collaboratively. In service systems and networks, adaptation and development rely on shared interpretations of the present, the imagining of possible, probable, and preferable futures, and the establishment of mutually agreed pathways for transformation. This doctoral thesis investigates prototyping for service as a practice, linking research and design to support collaboration and transformation within and across service systems. The thesis examines how prototyping can support designing for service. To address this, it responds to the following sub-questions: What objectives does prototyping serve across service systems? How do prototyping practices assist in achieving these objectives? The stage is set through a review of design research literature covering four topics: (1) conceptualising service as a dynamic process of value co-creation within service systems, and based on this conceptualisation, examining existing frameworks and approaches in the contexts of (2) researching and designing for service in evolving service systems, (3) challenges in capturing and representing dynamic value co-creation in such systems, and (4) prototyping for service within and across these systems. The thesis presents three contexts and studies that frame the research contribution. These include (1) a project initiated by a Finnish municipality to develop a collaborative service network for the elderly and their caregivers, illustrating the challenges and opportunities in designing for and with cross-sectoral service systems; (2) a small-scale service prototyping project aimed at creating a social emergency service for families with children, emphasising the role of prototyping in exploring the intertwined co-evolution of the problem and solution spaces across frontstage and backstage, as well as strategy and practice within a service system; and (3) a service innovation project in a global B2B manufacturing company that investigates B2C service business demonstrating how prototyping by integrating research ann design can enhance collaboration and transformation throughout the organisation. By drawing on existing literature and studies, this thesis provides a cross-cutting analysis of findings that illustrate how prototyping: (1) enhances value co-creation within and between service systems through transformative collaboration; (2) facilitates the evolution of service systems through collaborative transformation; and (3) intertwines research and design for service as a translational practice. The thesis concludes with a synthesis of the findings and their implications for research, design education, and practice, alongside a discussion of the limitations of the study. This research deepens understanding of the broader implications and potential of designing and prototyping for service in various organisational contexts. Furthermore, it offers practical insights for organisations and designers aiming to leverage prototyping to enhance collaboration and transformation, thereby fostering value co-creation in service systems.
  • Towards experiential packaging – Understanding and designing for packaging user experience (PUX)
    (2025) Joutsela, Markus
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-10-24
    Despite packaging serving as a critical interface between consumers and products in daily life, packaging design has traditionally prioritised operational efficiency over user experience, creating a significant gap between what packages could deliver experientially and what they actually provide. This thesis examines Packaging User Experience (PUX) from both the designer’s and the user’s perspectives by exploring human-packaging interaction across the consumer journey. Various touchpoints throughout this journey, from initial in-store encounter to final disposal at home, shape how consumers perceive, interpret, engage with, and experience packaging. For designers, understanding these touchpoints provides context for designing packaging experiences. Situated within the context of design research, this thesis introduces PUX as a theoretical and methodological framework for integrating user-centered packaging design with user experience research. The framework provides an integrated theoretical structure that hierarchically organises multiple perspectives for understanding and addressing PUX in packaging design practice, with experience-driven design as the overarching principle guiding user experience principles, multisensory design and perception, human-packaging interaction, and visual communication and branding approaches. This thesis consists of four articles that investigate PUX from complementary perspectives. The first article proposes the Online Research Community (ORC) as a method for gathering consumer insights into packaging experiences through digital and participatory methods. Drawing on data collected through ORC, the second article explores recalled meaningful packaging experiences and their cultural and social contexts. The third article shifts the focus to experience design and presents the Experience Brief (XB) as a method for integrating experience goals into the packaging design process. The fourth article examines the impact of PUX on consumers’ perceived value by measuring changes in willingness to pay (WTP) before and after package interaction. This thesis bridges the gap between packaging design and user experience research by introducing the PUX framework that integrates UX principles into packaging design practice. The theoretical contribution establishes packaging as a legitimate domain for experience design research, while the practical methodologies provide designers, brand owners, and industry stakeholders with tools to support informed and user-centric decision-making throughout the packaging value chain.
  • Intergroup contact with participatory telerobotic puppetry Tricksters in the face of intractable conflicts
    (2025) Peled, Avner
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-10-09
    In a time when the Internet often fuels conflicts and polarizes societies, we should develop technologies that unfreeze political stagnation. In the 1954 seminal book The Nature of Prejudice, Gordon Allport stated that under the right conditions, contact between members of conflicting groups could reduce prejudice and promote peace and understanding. However, contact in the digital age tends to fall short of this promise, especially in the context of deep-rooted, intractable conflicts. In this thesis, I introduce a yet unexplored medium for contact, telerobotics, and apply it to a novel method of peacebuilding: participatory telerobotic puppetry. The concept is inspired by the work of Augusto Boal, "Theater of the Oppressed", and is integrated with research on participatory design and puppetry to promote long-term collective action at the grassroots level toward peace and equality. Based on a review of the literature on human-robot interaction and intergroup contact and a survey in Israel and Palestine on acceptance and preferences for telerobotic contact, I developed the following concept: Israeli and Palestinian participants co-design a remotely operated robotic puppet theater about the conflict, with the aim of performing it simultaneously in Israel and Palestine. The concept was designed to bypass both spatial and mental barriers of contact. I implemented a prototype kit for a workshop and conducted it in collaboration with Tech2Peace, an organization that promotes dialogue through technology education in Israel and Palestine. The results showed that the proposed format can facilitate intergroup contact in two stages. First, as participants physically meet to learn telerobotic technology and design a political puppet theater, and later, when new audiences are exposed to intergroup encounters through remote public performances. The analysis also produced facilitation guidelines for future workshops. I also present preliminary results for a follow-up intervention that I developed as a response to the war that started on October 7, 2023, and is ongoing at the time of writing. The theme of boundary-crossing highlights the contribution of this thesis. First, by its multiple integration of research areas with intergroup contact theory as a base, and second, with the recognition that to approach intractable conflicts, we need to facilitate boundary-crossing in the face of seemingly impassable contradictions. For this, Boal defined the facilitating role of the Joker. I augment the Joker with technology to define the Digital Joker, and discuss how both stem from the mythological archetype of the trickster. I present a triangle of three 'divine' forces that can be used for boundary-crossing in intractable conflicts: technology, puppetry, and humor.
  • Design Governance – The Establishment of Data-Driven Decision-Making in Industrial Innovation Management in Digital Convergence
    (2025) Rajasalo, Heikki
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-10-03
    The role of design has become strategically important in industrial organizations. Industries are using design processes to develop new products and services, to develop new business and revenue models, to develop brands and new offerings, and to develop organizational structures to match changing market needs. The requirements to reconstruct design’s organizational functions more strategically has similarly grown – where design services are operated, what kind of expertise is needed, the expected output and outcome, and finally, how design is governed. The ability to use design processes for business purposes ultimately form the maturity of design and directly affect to the benefits the organization is able to gain. It appears that the period 2000–2010, which is referred as an era of digital convergence, became a foundation for data driven management systems. A more strategic approach to design also grew significantly across all business functions. The design process was confronted by data-driven systems and new demands to measure the quantitative and economic impact of design emerged. Digital convergence pushed the industries to create and implement new systems, to establish new roles, and new kind of organizational structures. This research has explored and described how industries that are competing in product markets were creating and using new methods for design decision-making during digital convergence. This study is a multidisciplinary case study to discover strategically important decision-making moments in design and to identify methods that were used for decision-making, particularly in new product development. This research has examined the decision-making procedure, and if existing, the design governance policies of 12 European and Japanese automotive and electronics industries. The analysis was executed using the academic literature of design management, brand management, business management, industrial production management, and organizational theories, secondly using the comparative material delivered by the interviews with the industries, and thirdly using the empirical observations. The result is that all the observed organizations followed a design process, the most important moments for design decision-making were found, the industries used a mixture of methods and meetings to support design decision-making, and methods to measure the quantitative and economic impact of design were not in use when making decisions in designing new products. Moreover, organizational phenomena, such as non-authorized design committees, seem to have had a bad influence in design decision-making – explicitly due to poor recognition of design governance.
  • Två kvalitetsbegrepp: som ler och långhalm? Arkitektonisk kvalitet gentemot faktorer för förbättrad livskvalitet inom äldreboende
    (2025) Ahlman, Stefan
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-08-15
    This study applies qualitative text analysis to identify, analyse and describe the concept of architectural quality as given in the assessment criteria and protocols of architecture competitions concerning housing services for elderly people. The resulting concept is compared with the characteristics, presented in Nursing Science research, regarding those features of the physical environment that enhance the quality of life in terms of activity and well-being within the same special housing form. The hypothesis is that a relation exists between the architectural quality and the quality of life, and that design architects provide, through their work, added value that is of significance for activity and well-being. The study deals with the question in two phases. The first step involves the formation of the definition for Architectural Quality. In the second phase, the definition of Architectural Quality is compared with the Quality-of-Life characteristics in the physical environment, as presented within another discipline, namely Caring Science. The concept of Architectural Quality is established through the study of the assessment criteria and jury statements of architecture competitions. The study material consists of a total of ten competitions, half of which were arranged in Finland and half in Sweden. The idea of an architecture competition as an innovative and descriptive selection process with a focus on quality is widely supported in research literature. The material for this study is from the period between 2007 and 2017, and covers competitions arranged for the architectural design of housing services for elderly people. The comparison study, presenting the Quality-of-Life criteria in terms of activity and well-being in the built environment, concerned the same type of special housing within practically the same period as the empirical material of this study. This study specifically focuses on analysing the text, the ways of describing and discussing quality in the assessment criteria and jury statements of architecture competitions. The study questions are approached through documentary analysis and external environmental analysis. For the thematic analysis of the textual material, patterns are recognised and described by identifying and categorising various themes and markers. The entities thus formed provide a framework for the content of architectural quality. A frequency analysis regarding the characteristics of the empirical data is conducted for the purposes of triangulation. In earlier research, architectural quality has also been labelled as a fundamentally controversial or unattainable concept. This study, however, shows that a strong and consistent unanimity of what is good or better, alternatively worse, prevails within the group of informants, the competition jury members. The study provides an answer to each of these two research questions. Architectural quality is being defined and described in the assessment materials of the competitions, and a relation exists between the quality of life and the architectural quality. Thus, the study offers two conclusions for evaluation. First, the architectural quality is not a separate, aesthetic entity, but rather, a holistic approach to the design assignment that is defined and expressed through four themes; Artistic form, Professionalism, Insight and Presence, with their related knowledge and skills requirements. In accordance with the classical three-word principle (cf. De architectura libri decem by Vitruvius), the words beautiful, usable and justified are used in this study to describe architectural quality. The second conclusion is that the above-mentioned four themes are related to concrete factors in the physical environment with significance for the residents’ activity and well-being. The study has a two-dimensional impact. On the one hand, it presents architectural quality as an attainable and describable concept and, on the other hand, it shows an actual relation between the architectural quality and the quality of life. Taken together, this deepens and clarifies the conception of complexity in design work and provides tools for developing the profession in a concrete direction.
  • Shimmering Wood – Experimenting with nanocellulose-based structural colour
    (2025) Yau, Noora
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-06-18
    Structural colour refers to the colouring that arises from the interaction of light with nanostructures. For example, the vivid, shiny, metallic-looking blue colour on the surface of morpho butterflies’ wing is created when light interacts with nanostructures, resulting in the perception of colour by the human eye. Shiny and glittery colour effects are linked to structural colours; however, they are often produced using materials made from metals, plastics, minerals or their combinations. The need for renewable, environmentally friendly colourants is growing, and in this context, the possibility of making bio-based structural colours has also received attention. This thesis researches nanocellulose-based structural colour (CNC SC) through the Shimmering Wood material development case. The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between design and materials science. CNC SC has been studied since the 1990s, but the research has mainly focused on the colourant’s technical properties and applications, such as developing various optical sensors. Meanwhile, the aesthetics and appearance of the colourant have not received the same attention. In this thesis, CNC SC has been developed through collaboration between design and materials science, focusing on the aesthetics and appearance of CNC SC, as well as its potential as a future colourant for designers and artists. This collaboration aims to examine CNC SC comprehensively, considering both its technical features and sensory aspects, such as aesthetics and appearance. The main research questions of this study are: ‘What kind of material experiences can be designed for CNC SC?’ and ‘What new insights can design bring to the material development process? The thesis is based on three studies. The first study focused on framing relevant terminology for structural colours and introducing the topic to the realms of design and art. It also highlighted the problematic nature of the colour terminology related to structural colours, with particular attention being given to the term iridescence and its related issues. The second study detailed the practical process of the Shimmering Wood project and how new knowledge was constructed in the thesis by combining traditional materials science methods (such as laboratory work) with design methods (like material tinkering and prototyping). Lastly, the third study focused on developing the aesthetics of CNC SC in order to bring out the visual features that are characteristic of its colour appearance. The core findings of the dissertation involve making the terminology related to structural colour accessible to designers and artists, as well as introducing a more holistic perspective onto the material development process at a practical level. Introducing researchthrough-design methods into material development, particularly through the use of concrete design ‘things’, was found to facilitate interdisciplinary cooperation. These design ‘things’ were especially helpful in fostering interdisciplinary dialogue. In addition, CNC SC aesthetics and colour theory were framed in this study.
  • Exploring Colour in Contemporary Art – Epistemic Boundaries and Artistic Practices
    (2025) Arnkil, Harald
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-05-30
    This thesis is the result of exploring contemporary artists’ approaches to colour and comparing those approaches with notions of colour in colour philosophy, philosophy of art and artistic colour theories. Since the 1960s, artists have used colours in an ever-increasing variety of media, materials and spatial and temporal contexts. The postmodern crisis of grand narratives as described by Jean-François Lyotard is evident in their attitudes towards universalist and transcendent notions of colour. From the 1990s onwards, the globalisation of the art market, the launching of the Internet and the availability of cheap air travel have granted artists access to ways of using colour that challenge the abstract and normative rules which continue to dominate traditional colour theory. My main research questions are: 1) How do contemporary artists use colour in their works and artistic actions? What governs or guides their choice of colours? 2) What is the relation of colour theories to contemporary art praxis? The research is in six parts. Part 1, Nine conversations, presents interviews that I have made with nine contemporary artists, Kristi Kongi, Jussi Goman, Vesa-Pekka Rannikko, Inka Kivalo, Lois Swirnoff, Nathalie Miebach, Douglas Breault, Ann Veronica Janssens and David Batchelor, about their ways of using colour in their art. Part 2, Epistemology of colour, is an overview of current ontology and epistemology of colour. Part 3, Philosophies about colour in art, is a discussion of texts about colour in art by the French philosophers Mikel Dufrenne, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Gilles Deleuze, Jean-François Lyotard and Michel Henry. Part 4, Guidelines, rules and theories for artists, is a review of recent texts and theories about colour which have been written specifically for artists by artists and art pedagogues. Part 5, Contemporary colours, takes a look at approaches, methods and applications of colour by contemporary artists, beginning with examples from artists of the groups Gutai and Nouveau réalisme and ending with present-day examples. The thesis ends in Part 6 with final conclusions and a discussion of unanswered questions and some further thoughts. The research revealed a marked epistemological gap between current colour theory and contemporary art praxis. Rather than basing their strategies and decisions on available theories of colour relationships, contemporary artists prefer to invent new approaches and applications of colour which diverge from or challenge these theories. Another important finding was the marked difference in knowledges and styles of speaking and writing about colour in the three epis¬temes of colour philosophy, philosophy of art and colour pedagogy. The visually and poetically informed “figural” language of the philosophers discussed in part 3 was found to be closest to the way contemporary artists view and use colour.
  • Creative Learning Agents: Computational Co-Creativity and Relational Artifacts in Education
    (2025) Lim, Jeongki
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-05-27
    Creativity, as the ability to develop new and useful ideas and solutions, is considered an important learning outcome of 21st-century education. With the recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) research, many educators are interested in adopting AI applications in the arts and design education. However, its ability to easily generate texts and images poses a risk. While statistically novel, the computational outputs are inherently derivative and absent of the pedagogical opportunities to examine its creative process. Relying on the generative capabilities of AI indiscriminately can hamper the students’ opportunity to develop their creative capacity. In this thesis, I make contributions by developing a theoretical system that art and design educators can use to integrate AI into their pedagogies and a conceptual AI model that can be adopted across academic domains and industries. The thesis is based on three original mixed-method experimental studies. In Publication I, I designed an experimental model where AI was situated as a relational artifact in creative learning. The model captured the phenomenon of students perceiving relational artifacts when the AI was situated like their peers and found the presence of AI could lead to an increased likelihood of creative learning. In Publication II, I iterated on the model with the analytical methods using the cultural-historical activity theory. While the presence of AI led to increased incidents of associative action for creative learning, they were not as effective as having an engaging peer student because AI had an objective different from the students. In addition, the actions of storytelling and the teachers' direction are critical for creative learning. In Publication III, I refined the model in a virtual environment where AI learned directly from the students’ actions using reinforcement learning. I found the emergent relational dynamics in co-creative learning constantly in flux based on their perceived commonalities and the difficulty level of the task. By synthesizing the insights from the publications, I developed the Creative Learning Activity System, a theoretical system that arts and design educators can use to examine the impact of automatizing learning activities and relational dynamics with AI in their classrooms. For future research and development, I developed Creative Learning Agent, a conceptual AI model designed to increase the number of associative actions in creative learning. I discuss these contributions and their limitations from practical, empirical, methodological, and theoretical perspectives. The thesis contributes to discussions on the meaningful integration of AI in art and design curricula and the development of an AI system whose focus on creative capacity development can make an impact by being adopted across academic domains.
  • Elävä suhde väriin – Värin uudelleenajattelua posthumanismin viitekehyksessä ja taidepedagogiikassa
    (2025) Laaksonen, Nina
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-05-23
    This doctoral thesis on “A Living Relation to Color. Rethinking Color in Posthumanism’s Frame and Art Pedagogy”,” knowledge of color is created by a new kind of evolving ontology taking into account other species apart from that of the humans, as well as the diversity of nature. This study on color challenges us to rethink color as a process-like substance creating relations with natural elements such as plants, wind, water, natural pigments, animals, and with technology. This study is a theoretical and experimental opening on color. The aim of the study is to widen the discourse of color to a multidimensional subject surpassing the traditional discourse on color. A living relationship to color has evolved in the course of the study, and within it, performative color brings forth corporeal materiality, is strange and lives in relationships with others. Color was studied in the context of three experiments, out of which two were carried out with an artistic angle in Benin, West Africa, and Bugøynes, Northern Norway. The third experiment was carried out within art education at Aalto University. In the study color was approached with the help of post-qualitative research methodology, various visual materials, and methods of nomadic writing. The methodology of my thesis relies on examining the ontological bases of color using post-humanist concepts and philosophical interpretations, of which Rosi Braidotti’s critical approach is an important starting point. Artistic thinking has guided my subject along the way. Rethinking color is an intervention in the possibility of art pedagogy and color education to evolve into a multidisciplinary learning content that creates connections with other disciplines and various agents. Color education has long relied on the knowledge of color as a physical phenomenon, and within art, the focus of color education has been on primary colors, hues, values, and color circles. This doctoral thesis asks, whether this knowledge is sufficient today, and whether the diversity of nature and environmental issues challenge us to adopt a new kind of color ontology. Thinking of color in relation with post-humanist ontology broadens the concept of color as an active agent in our world, participating in it and producing knowledge about it. The study proposes to include color in multidisciplinary research, cultural well-being, and a pedagogy of hope.
  • You see a lock anywhere? - Elusive architectural boundaries of home detected through cinematic frames
    (2025) Kajaste, Helmi
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-05-23
    Creating boundaries can be seen as one of the main functions of architecture. Discussion about boundaries, however, is often limited to a superficial level, noting only the boundaries between, say, inside and outside or private and public – and even equating them. Every line in an architectural drawing may end up influencing social situations, and political or ideological implications may stay hidden if they are not commonly discussed. The present study delves into the functioning and meanings of architectural boundaries in human relationships. The focus is on the boundaries of the home during the period of post-World War II modernism, when widespread societal changes made it possible to rearrange people’s way of life. To examine the mechanics of architectural boundaries, the study asks a number of questions. How do architectural boundaries contribute to the concept of home? How do architectural boundaries operate as vehicles in shaping dwelling, social situations, and culturally shared expectations of domestic life? What happens if those boundaries are unclear? To look beyond the conventions of the architectural discipline, the study approaches architectural boundaries through six fiction films. The film analyses investigate why boundaries of home are needed, what situations follow from unreliable boundaries, and how boundaries can both provide stability and be open to change. In addition to the films, the research material also includes reallife architectural examples and an interdisciplinary selection of literature. Through the notion of cinematic frames, the study detects how architectural boundaries influence social situations and how they can embody assumptions of dwelling and life courses. The study introduces the concept of elusive boundary to describe ambiguous spatial boundaries that can be difficult to grasp or place, but which are detectable due to their effects on people. The film analyses show that architectural boundaries both produce and reflect spatialized longing. Moreover, the way architectural boundaries function as a measure of success in human lives becomes especially clear through the recurring characters of the widow and the widower in the case films. Housing design often assumes the family lifestyle that has been inherited from previous generations, although a misfit would be free to arrange their lives in a different way. The situation of the widow entails a break from previous life and the possibility to rearrange one’s living situation and social relations after the demise of the nuclear family narrative. The study argues that architectural boundaries are far more complex than the simplified ways they are often presented in architectural discourse. Architecture can, with its temporal logic, create expectations for the future which are based on the assumptions of the past. Boundaries create stability but can also act as tools for change, and films from the past can show how change has been reacted to and how it has been built previously. The methodological setting of the study, that parallels the expressive languages of film and architecture, shows that the internal narratives of architecture cannot necessarily be grasped with the traditional methods of representation. Detecting the stories connected to the architecture may require methodical experiments, an outside perspective and the possibility to follow the progression of situations over time and in use.
  • Fostering creative well-being: Theoretical models of collaborative partnerships in developing arts-health practices for older adults
    (2025) Lee, Dohee
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | G5 Artikkeliväitöskirja | Defence date: 2025-03-21
    Population aging has become a major global issue, increasing the need for research that examines aging-related societal challenges, such as care services that provide for personal growth and development of older adults in later life. There is also a need for identifying ways of maintaining the dynamic social connections of older adults – which they tend to value – and assisting them with remaining active members of society, instead of becoming passive recipients of public care. There is, however, a prevalent “deficit” view of aging in modern societies that overshadows older adults’ contributions and reduces life opportunities they encounter as they age, which in turn increases their social isolation. Taking these issues into consideration, it is vital to provide better services and support systems for older adults in many rapidly aging populations worldwide. In relation to this, both the arts and health sectors have become more proactive in taking advantage of different forms of arts-health practices, because of the positive impact of the arts not only on healthy and creative aging but also on social well-being of older adults, as evidenced by existing research on the links between the arts and health. Despite this, there are relatively few studies of arts-health practices for older adults in the public and private sectors, which results in challenges for practitioners and facilitators of such practices due to the lack of theoretical and practical frameworks for guiding their work, particularly when interdisciplinary collaborations are required. To address this knowledge gap and the lack of practical guidance, the primary aim of this thesis is to expand our understanding of the diverse challenges that aging societies increasingly face, and to explore creative ways in which arts-health practices can mitigate such challenges through collaborative efforts. As such, this thesis attempts to explore the value of synergetic collaborative actions in arts-health practices and to provide general structural support for designing and operating arts-health practices for older adults, thus enabling better implementation and delivery of such practices within a more inclusive and interactive environment through genuine partnerships between all the stakeholders involved. The thesis research is divided into two parts: Part 1) consisting of interview studies with older adults, and ractitioners and facilitators involved in a range of arts-health practices in Finland and South Korea, and Part 2) consisting of theoretical frameworks based on the results of the studies conducted in Part 1. Through these two parts, the thesis research identifies the vital elements necessary for the development of arts-health practices for older adults, with the aim of promoting long-term holistic care services in different communities and across cultures based on collaborative partnership among various stakeholders involved. The findings of this thesis highlight the importance of older adults’ active involvement as valuable partners and co-decision-makers in arts-health practices, and the need for developing practical frameworks for supporting the late-life creativity of aging people by helping them to redefine their own creative competences in older age through such practices. To facilitate these, the thesis proposes two theoretical models for arts-health practices for older adults that center on the significance of collaborative endeavors toward the better delivery of such practices. It is hoped that this can ultimately lead to fostering interdisciplinary partnerships between different stakeholders, and enable them to not only create active and open communication based on mutual trust but also to develop a creative mindset around common goals to achieve, while taking responsibility for different roles in a power-balanced environment, which would eventually lead to a co-production environment leveraging on co-creativity.
  • Kohtaamista odottamassa - Kuntien kulttuuriympäristöohjelmat maisematiedon, osallisuuden ja elinkeinotoiminnan näkökulmasta
    (2025) Lahdenvesi-Korhonen, Leena
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (monograph) | Defence date: 2025-02-28
    The dissertation examines municipal cultural environment programs, focusing on how participation, landscape knowledge, and business perspectives are integrated into the processes. Based on the Swedish model the creation of cultural environment programs was initiated in Finland in the early 1990s. To date, more than a hundred municipalities have drawn up such programs. They are utilized in land use planning and municipal building regulation. They are expected to raise public awareness of the cultural environment and strengthen local identity, while also serving as a source of ideas for products and services for enterprises. Over the years, programs have evolved in many respects, however, there remains significant room for improvement. The thesis seeks answers to questions regarding how the programs facilitate participation, particularly the involvement of businesses, and how they engage with and manage the landscape. It also examines how businesses perceive the processes and landscape knowledge, and what opportunities they identify. The work combines two levels of research strategies, action research and case study. The aim has been to develop program work by monitoring processes and compiling program design guidelines in cooperation with program stakeholders in two cycles, over a 20-year period. The thesis focuses on the program work of 24 Finnish municipalities and the experiences of more than 70 interviewees. The participation of the program participants has been analyzed using the participation model of the Association of Finnish Municipalities. The Finnish programs are also compared with the cultural environment programs of six Swedish municipalities, regarding how they treat the landscape. In addition to the interviews, the views of entrepreneurs have been collected through an open online survey. The results show that the cultural environment program is poorly known among businesses and that entrepreneurial participation in the process is rare. Entrepreneurs in the tourism sector would like to see more extensive involvement in the development of the sector and forms of participation targeted at them. The study has identified and categorized the various ways in which the programs characterize the landscape. The programs emphasize the cultural heritage values, but do not explain the connections and meanings between the different elements of the cultural environment, which would create a broader awareness of the landscape and promote a holistic perception of it. The knowledge is also not automatically translated into products by the enterprises. Strengthening entrepreneurs‘ process ownership and developing the way landscape data in the program is presented and the analytical approach could increase entrepreneurs’ landscape awareness. Targeted coaching and co-creative processes can facilitate the creation of sustainable landscape products and identify key stakeholders in the business sector for the management of cultural environment. The thesis provides new insight into heritage programs and their stakeholders, landscape knowledge and their relationship with the business community. It also provides a broader picture of the evolution of program design. National strategies for cultural heritage have increased interest in exploring, as public finances tighten, how business can provide new opportunities to maintain and improve the condition of cultural heritage sites. This work demonstrates how increasing business involvement in the development of the sector and raising their awareness of the landscape can also contribute to achieving this objective.
  • Contextually responsive interaction design - Design ideation for dynamic contexts
    (2025) Pejoska, Jana
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-01-31
    Digital tools for remote social interaction have become an integral part of our daily lives. Interaction design, which considers context when shaping user experiences, is critical for creating these tools. Remote interactions are dynamic, occurring across varying contexts and influenced by physical movement, so interaction designers need to account for these changes to design quality user experiences. The main challenge is to understand how to design for dynamic contexts while also considering for the socio-technical layers that influence individual user experiences. Traditional usercentric design methods lack methods for including broader social, cultural, and business contexts, resulting in a narrow focus on user needs that overlooks larger-scale implications. One way to ensure that context is proactively considered in the design process is to consider the human factors that hinder designers from grasping the big picture that affects individual experiences. The research presented here investigates how interaction design can become more contextually responsive, especially in dynamic environments. This study seeks to unpack the concept of contextually responsive interaction design and investigate ways to make it more meaningful in practice. The goal is to combine insights from various disciplines to address design ideation challenges in dynamic contexts, improve designers' contextual awareness, and challenge the standardization of user experiences. The study takes a research through-design approach, combining qualitative and exploratory methods. The research is divided into two studies. The first study investigates design considerations for remote interaction tools, while the second focuses on a method for gaining a better understanding of the overall design context. Both studies use design cases and co-design workshops to help inform the research process. The results provide theoretical and practical contributions to the field. The theoretical findings shed light on the design considerations for remote interaction, as well as the significance of considering nuanced contextual factors. The practical contributions include a design prototype for remote interaction and a novel design method for diversifying artifact associations during design ideation. This dissertation presents valuable findings for interaction designers, digital product designers, and design researchers by providing tools and methods for improving design ideation in dynamic contexts. The findings can support designers to anticipate the complexities of dynamic contexts, allowing them to create more responsive and effective interactive tools. The practical applications of this research support design teams in overcoming the challenges of developing contextually responsive technologies in a variety of contexts.
  • Wicked problems and the welfare state: Segregation in Finnish urban planning policy
    (2024) Rosengren, Katriina
    School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2025-01-10
    Segregation is a relatively new research topic in Finland. Levels of residential segregation are growing, presenting a problem for the welfare state ethos. This thesis investigates how urbanplanning policy deals with the 'problem' of segregation in Finland. The four articles study the interrelationship between the social, the physical, and the perceived city and each dimension's role in the segregation cycle. The first three articles concentrate on the Helsinki metropolitan area, analyzing the social dimension of institutionalized urban policies such as transit-oriented development and social mixing. The last article examines how segregation is recognized in the twenty largest Finnish cities. Perceptions are of interest to urban planning, as they are linked to selective moving patterns, which are one driver of the segregation process. The first article finds interlinkages between neighborhood satisfaction, socioeconomic status, and the share of social housing in neighborhoods. The second article finds differences in neighborhood satisfaction by tenure status, with municipal tenants reporting lower neighborhood satisfaction, quality of life, and perceived safety than homeowners. The second article concludes that while social mixing seems to have bridged the gap in spatial justice among different tenure groups, it has not managed to equalize neighborhood perceptions in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The third article concludes that while the segregation trajectory in the Helsinki metropolitan area is perceived as alarming and needing intervention, governance capacity is lacking: segregation is poorly articulated and yet to be institutionalized. The fourth article concludes that acknowledging segregation depends on city size and urban policy framework. Where segregation is named as a goal, it is often not translated into explicit actions in local policies. Segregation is mostly targeted with housing and land use policies, cornerstones of the local autonomy. This model works poorly in a situation where segregation is a regional issue. Governance capacity is also lacking on the state level, where housing policies affecting segregation are volatile. Insufficient governance capacity carries a risk: spatial inequalities may eventually become structural and cemented.