[article-cris] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS

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  • Uncertainties as Generative Resources in Research through Design: Three Dynamics for Moving in a Design Space
    (2024-12-06) Epp, Felix Anand; Poikolainen Rosén, Anton; Salovaara, Antti; Sanchez, Camilo
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    In HCI and design research, it has recently been suggested that, instead of risks and threats, uncertainties can be generative resources. This aligns particularly well with practice-based design research and research through design (RtD), where uncertainties are pervasive and unavoidable due to the approach's interest in open-ended problems, contexts under transformation, and unknown futures. Building on the idea that uncertainties drive design activity, we describe the design process as framing acts where a designer-researcher moves along perceived uncertainties. We identify three dynamics for a generative mode of working with uncertainties that can make designers aware of uncertainties, circle in towards those that appear essential while seeking to avoid others, and stay with those that offer new perspectives. We exemplify these dynamics by drawing from our experiences from three RtD projects and highlight this viewpoint's value in providing new reflective tools for designer-researchers.
  • The Art of Layering
    (2024-11) Hautamäki, Ranja
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
  • Designing for Social Reproduction : Towards the Sustainment of Public Space Interventions in Mexico City's Colonias Populares
    (2024-08-29) Vertiz Marquez, Brenda Victoria
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    While Participatory Design (PD) orients its interest in the public space and infrastructuring-the ongoing work sustaining collaborative efforts over time-it has yet to address the "invisible"reproductive work within its processes. The paper fills this gap through retrospectively examining an ongoing project to co-create tactical public space interventions in Mexico City's colonias populares. Articulating the project's journey via seven reproductive design activities central to sustaining the project and each intervention over time (experimental, territorial, playful, relational, articulating, translating, and maintaining), it recovers infrastructuring's feminist grounding and applies a social reproduction lens to spotlight the "invisible"reproductive work extending beyond more "visible"productive design practices. Alongside this contribution, it incorporates nuance-layered insight into how "invisible"work manifests in the context of public space interventions on the ground to inform design practice in pursuit of a more critical and political approach to feminist social reproduction-anchored infrastructuring in PD.
  • From biodesigners to designers in lab : testing the nuances of an emerging profession through autoethnography
    (2024-10-28) Pollini, Barbara
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Biodesign is emerging as a radical design approach with great potential for the ecological turn, finally endorsed by some first academic courses providing designers with hybrid skills to embrace scientific disciplines. However, the resulting professional figure, the biodesigner, still needs to be better defined in the academic and grey literature, also considering the different and multiple facets that working between design and science may entail. This study presents four case studies of research through design (RTD), addressed by the author as an autoethnographic form of inquiry to clarify the roles a biodesigner could assume, emphasising the differences in methods, tools and workplaces, which inevitably affect the Biodesign outcomes. The author analyses her role as a biodesigner and designer in lab, working in teams and environments requiring different degrees of interdisciplinarity. Far from adopting a speculative approach, the RTDs focus on sustainable Material Design and Biodesign solutions that might be feasible in the short run, aiming to test the designer’s abilities in enriching scientific research and investigating the role and contribution designers can play in scientific contexts of different intensities. The study demonstrates the possibility of a reciprocal knowledge transfer between design and science, highlighting the potential of the designerly way of knowing in bringing innovation to the scientific field.
  • How much carbon can shrubs store? Measurements and analyses from Finland
    (2024-11) Tommila, Taika; Tahvonen, Outi; Kuittinen, Matti
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Effective sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere is essential to combating climate change. Many cities have set ambitious carbon neutrality goals, highlighting the significance of urban vegetation as a carbon sink. Integrating urban vegetation into the urban form involves a multi-stage decision-making process, with planning and design playing a key role in the determination of space allocation and plant species selection. While carbon-smart design decisions are often based on emission databases and environmental product declarations (EPD), comprehensive data for urban vegetation is lacking. This study aims to assess carbon stocks in urban shrubs of Finland using dry-weight measurements. The measurements involve separating above- and below-ground parts of shrubs and assessing size indices (SIs). The results indicate species-specific differences in the proportion of root mass to total biomass. Furthermore, the below-ground biomass of plants spreading through sucking rhizome networks cannot be predicted by the size index. Although SIs do not directly describe below-ground biomass, they can predict the total dry weight. Generalising the data to shrub size categories provides an understanding of carbon stocks, but further research is essential, particularly for the process of implementing vegetation in urban settings.
  • Healing Materialities : framing Biodesign’s potential for conventional and regenerative sustainability
    (2024-11-14) Pollini, Barbara; Rognoli, Valentina
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    The rediscovered potential of ‘growing’ instead of ‘making’ drives the emergence of new materialities. This is leading to innovative developments in biotechnologies and Biodesign, both of which are intricately connected and seen as transformative elements in the discourse on sustainability. Biofabricated materials are starting to be evaluated using established sustainability metrics such as life cycle assessment, highlighting their essential role in the circular economy and shedding light on some overlooked process-dependent environmental burdens. At the same time, some biodesigned materials and artefacts are characterised by their ability to transcend the conventional concept of sustainability, embracing the principles of Regenerative Design thanks to the restorative and regenerative potential of living and bioreceptive materials. The study explores the main Biodesign variables, presenting a taxonomy created to comprehensively understand the phenomenon. The resulting findings highlighted the dual nature of Biodesign, which promotes both inner and outer sustainability. These findings gave rise to a conceptual framework defined as ‘Healing Materialities’, developed by the authors to highlight the main Biodesign variables discussed while addressing a broad spectrum of ecological potentials, from conventional to regenerative sustainability. The article discusses the concept of ‘Healing Materialities’, emphasising the role of Biodesign in supporting a profound ecological turn and advocating the adoption of regenerative materials and processes capable of harmonising the long-term needs of both human and non-human entities.
  • Fostering inclusive engagement and transformation in Urban Living Labs : “Education in Living Labs: Participatory Skills for Sustainable Urban Governance” research project
    (2024-11-05) Charalambous, Nadia; Panayi, Christina; Mady, Christine
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    Inclusive engagement is pivotal in fostering urban resilience and sustainable development. The “Education in Living Labs: Participatory Skills for Sustainable Urban Governance (PS-U-GO)” project engages diverse stakeholders, particularly young people, in collaborative urban planning through the establishment of Urban Living Labs in four European cities. The methodology of PS-U-GO Urban Living Labs, synthesized from literature and empirical studies, emphasizes inclusivity and adaptability, employing a flexible six-step process across three phases to facilitate transformation within involved communities and contexts. Central to the project is stakeholder participation, with strategies designed to accommodate diverse needs and preferences, ensuring sustained involvement, particularly among young people. By integrating bottom-up and top-down approaches, fostering trust, and providing opportunities for co-creation, PS-U-GO aims to empower stakeholders, enhance democratic participation, and implement sustainable urban solutions. The project underscores the importance of tailoring strategies to local contexts, nurturing a sense of ownership and belonging, and ensuring that all voices are not only heard but also valued in urban decision-making processes.
  • The public library building as nexus for social interactions: Cases from Helsinki
    (2024-11-28) Mady, Christine; Hewidy, Hossam
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Public libraries are public spaces that simultaneously respond to and reshape their contexts, by bundling different programme, and numerous functions that synergistically support social interactions among diverse users. They offer domestic, work and leisure environments, hubs and platforms for civic dialogue, encounter, tolerance of differences and exposure to cultures. Less is known about the interaction between library buildings and their surroundings, or the influence of their design and governance on social practices. Through a relational perspective, this article explores how library buildings interact with their surroundings, what the implications of their spatial qualities, and governance are for deterring or promoting various user activities. Two case studies in Helsinki, Oodi and Maunula libraries are used in this investigation. Findings reveal linkages between outdoor spaces and the libraries, with Oodi merging with surrounding outdoor activities and Maunula's management transforming the perception of a stigmatised space. The flexibility in space governance supports social interaction and informs about future considerations regarding social outreach. The buildings' design with transparent, open spaces and flexible layouts provides alternative uses and allow adaptations to cater for diverse leisure, work, education activities and support social relations.
  • Integrated Living for People with Memory Decline
    (2024) Verma, Ira; Arpiainen, Laura
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    Global population ageing will impact our communities. Increasing number of older adults live at home with physical, sensory, and cognitive challenges. Enhancing living solutions that support physical and social wellbeing of people with memory decline is important for their wellbeing. Various living solutions to integrate and support them in meaningful and active daily life are needed. The objective of this research was to develop diverse housing models to integrate older adults with memory decline and their families in their communities. The research question was: what kind of living environments and housing design solutions can support the wellbeing and daily life of people with memory decline? How to implement the research findings in design? The project used multiple case study and research by design methods to promote discussion and knowledge sharing with various stakeholders working with housing for older adults. The results of the project indicated that there is a need to increase the knowledge base of designers and architects about the needs of people with memory decline. Design solutions should focus on familiarity of the living environment, human scale, visual and sensory perception. Accessible solutions in the built environment that support social activity, sense of community but ensure the right to privacy will increase peoples’ feeling of security and wellbeing. Through cross-sector collaboration and increasing participation of people with memory decline in the planning of housing we can provide better indoor and outdoor environments with current resources.
  • Recommendations for Acoustical Environments for Seniors and Persons with Memory Decline
    (2024) Salminen, Viivi; Arpiainen, Laura
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    This article adds to the conversation on sensory design in architecture and interior design, with a focus on acoustics in living and care environments for seniors and persons with memory decline. The demographic growth of aging populations and increases in dementia and memory disorders poses challenges for supply and design of appropriate care and living environments. We discuss the importance of understanding the role of senses, hearing in particular, in design and ultimately resident experience, functionality and quality of life. We argue that sensory design, especially aural environments, is not adequately taken care of in the design of many communal and care homes. We discuss the effects of aging and memory decline on hearing and its resultant challenges in cognitive behaviour and level of social inclusion and outline specific acoustical needs for this demographic. Through a case study of a seniorst’ residence in Helsinki Finland, acoustical measurements of noise levels (reverberation times) were conducted, and the results analysed against current standards. Field results as well as a table of acoustical design considerations is presented at the end of the article.
  • Re-reading, Revaluing Residential Streets : Exploring Neighbourhoods in Beirut’s Suburbs
    (2024) Mady, Christine; Hawi, Elie
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Streets are enduring public spaces, which epitomise a city’s culture and identity. While lively streets are often located in central urban areas, the street’s vibrant quality could fade away in marginalised residential neighbourhoods. Moreover, crises could impact economic activities and the everyday lives of residents. The concept of liveability serves to study streets in a relational perspective, by analysing the relation among their morphology, functions and diverse social activities. This paper aims to investigate residential streets in marginal neighbourhoods, and their role in providing public spaces that are conducive to social practices, especially in crisis situations, taking the case of Lebanon. The research builds on urban design literature, site visits, observations and informal interviews with residents, to map the street interface and corresponding activities. The study area was selected in a neighbourhood to the north of the capital city Beirut, in the administrative area of Sarba, which is characterised by population of mixed backgrounds, and accessibility through the highway to other cities. Our research findings suggest that there is a relation between the street interface that extends from the ground floor up to the residential building roof, and the opportunity for staging social activities beyond this interface, blurring boundaries between public and private. Further studies in other streets are required to validate the applied methodology.
  • Cultivating Wellbeing – Sheltering of the Global Displaced Population
    (2024) Adalgeirsdottir, Kristjana; Sandman, Helena
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    The global issue of displacement presents significant challenges, particularly concerning the provision of adequate shelter for affected communities. The correlation between inadequate shelters and the wellbeing of displaced populations is a critical area of concern. Recognizing the urgent need for improved understanding, the study examines the connection between sustainable housing, wellbeing, and the unique challenges faced by displaced communities worldwide. Employing a mixed-method approach, including fieldwork in the humanitarian field or sheltering, expert interviews, and case studies, the study aims to shed light on the possibility of empathic design principles for improvements. The paper proposes key design principles for the process of sheltering the displaced population, emphasizing principles such as inclusive participation, cultural sensitivity, flexibility, and environmental consciousness. By prioritizing the overall health and wellbeing of inhabitants, these principles seek to address the complex challenges associated with sheltering and contribute to the advancement of humanitarian architecture, ultimately improving the lives of displaced populations globally.
  • Architecture: Cause or Cure for Eco-Anxiety?
    (2024) Kuittinen, Matti; Lehtinen, Sanna; Pihkala, Panu
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    Construction is the main cause for global raw material extraction, and a key source of greenhouse gas emissions. Through the increasing consumption of resources, it is driving us beyond the planetary boundaries. We argue that in this light, the connection of the environmental impacts of new buildings and the symptoms of eco-anxiety among their designers, builders, users, and funders needs investigation and discussion.Art, culture, and rituals have been proposed as means to process and cope with difficult eco-emotions, including anxiety. Architecture is an important part of culture, oftentimes defined as, or including aspects of art, and can have symbolic meanings. Hence, it may also hold potential for dealing with difficult feelings, through e.g., memorial places. More importantly, however, regenerative, and emphatic architecture could support a shift of values away from an environmentally harmful construction culture towards building within planetary boundaries. This requires defining architecture from a new perspective, acknowledging its role in causing friction between values and acting thus as a driver for the ensuing predominantly negative emotions such as environmental anxiety. Design choices or architecture do not, however, need to be antithetical to environmental awareness, on the contrary. In this article, we present and discuss the dual role of architecture in relation to eco-anxiety. On one hand, architecture drives the consumption of resources, which causes significant environmental damage, and may hence spur difficult eco-emotions. On the other hand, architecture could be used for mitigating resource consumption as well as for offering re-evaluation of our construction culture, which is destructive for the wellbeing of our planet. Architecture could also create spaces where people are able to engage constructively with eco-emotions. Overall, we argue that architecture needs stronger value discourse. Conscious decisions, awareness-raising and skill-building can enable designers and teachers of design-related studies to better take eco-anxiety and other eco-emotions into account.
  • Adapting Cities for Older Adults Through Universal Design
    (2024-11-18) Verma, Ira
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    In the coming decades, population ageing will shape our cities and communities. In Finland, and in the other Nordic countries, the cohort of population 75 years old and older is increasing fastest in the urban areas. This demographic development will have impact on design of urban environment and housing, as well as on local services and transport. The WHO has recognized this challenge and launched the global network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities. The WHO proposes eight factors supporting older population that are interlinked. This paper focus on the three of the eight factors of age-friendliness directly related to the built environment: housing, access to outdoor environments and transport. The objective is to assess through case studies how has the Age-friendly cities framework promoted inclusive design of the cities. The research question is: How have the qualitative factors for age-friendliness been implemented in the urban environment? and How does the Age-friendly Cities framework shape the urban environment in the case study cities? The project uses qualitative case study methods involving users. The assessment of the quality of the environment is carried out with mixed methods: through city age-friendly policies, observations on site, and user participation. The analyses are based on Universal Design principals and the WHO framework. The objective is to provide further information on the practical measures to enhance age-friendliness through urban design and universally designed living environments. The overall aim is to promote sustainable and age-friendly urban environments through user knowledge and best practice examples.
  • Service Thinking in Architectural Design for Dementia in the Finnish Context
    (2024) Vladykina, Natalia; Arpiainen, Laura
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    Dementia is a globally growing problem, which is putting pressure on public services, including those in Nordic countries, to offer care to everyone in need. Contemporary approaches to dementia care are evolving from institutional and medical solutions to more human-centred, community-based, and emotion-oriented, which positively impacts the well-being of persons with dementia. Principles of ageing-in-place and the benefits of living at home are strongly emphasised in research. Although cognitive health and memories are associated with the physical environment and architecture and design can play a powerful role in supporting independent living, public system in Finland remains traditional, focused on providing institutional care. Architecture drives the care system and acts as a barrier to delivering ageing-in-place rather than a resource. The architectural and service models for serving seniors with dementia require transformation. This article proposes applying the emerging concept of service architecture to the design of environments for ageing-in-place and transforming care systems with a user-centred systemic approach to spaces, community, and service design. It explores opportunities for co-creation with users with dementia and other stakeholders and describes a new system of services linked with new spatial programming. The architectural solution is a network of spaces, including those for living, care, and connection. Its elements and their design were defined through case studies conducted in Finnish municipalities involved in research. New spatial and service programming, designed with the service architecture concept, has the potential to change the paradigm, transform systems of care, and enable seniors experiencing memory decline to remain in their homes.
  • Research Note : Multi-Algorithm-Based urban tree information extraction and Its applications in urban planning
    (2024-10-05) Yao, Chaowen; Fabritius, Henna; Fricker, Pia; Dembski, Fabian
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Urban trees provide several vital social and environmental services. Within the field of urban planning, tree information is currently usually obtained through expensive and time-consuming fieldwork. This research presents a multi-algorithm methodology that extracts urban tree information, including tree location, absolute height, crown perimeter, and species (group) from airborne laser scanning (ALS) datasets and high-resolution aerial images. We first determine the location of trees from the ALS dataset. After a filtration step removing the erroneous tree locations, we simulate each location's canopy based on aerial imagery. Finally, we utilize the extracted canopy images to perform tree species classification with deep learning. The validation assessment showed overall good credibility (>70 %) in urban areas and better performance (90 %) in street areas. Compared to other methods that require additional information collection, our methodology uses common data in city databases, enabling cities to collect and update large-scale tree information in a fast manner and supporting decision-makers with important information on understanding the value of urban green under the context of ecosystem services, urban heat islands, and CO2 mitigations.
  • Making sense of methods and approaches to user involvement
    (2024-05-15) Hyysalo, Sampsa; Johnson, Mikael
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    There has been a dramatic growth in the ways of involving users in various product, service, space, and systems development activities. Various categorizations, listings, and mappings have been proposed for making sense of this user-involvement landscape. The present paper introduces the main types of currently available clarificatory mappings used in design for, with, and by users, as well as the shortcomings associated with them. It then proceeds to elaborate how such mappings could be better organized in the future, stressing the importance of distinguishing between techniques, methods, methodologies, and approaches. While sensible mappings are difficult if not impossible to ever achieve regarding techniques and methods, wider approaches in how designer–user relations are organized in time and space do appear to be amenable to differentiation. We elaborate a typology of nine approach-level user-involvement configurations based on resemblance relations, and how these in turn help make sense of wider research areas.
  • Woven Variables – Investigating the Influence of Conductive Float Arrangements on the Performance of Woven Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors
    (2023-09-23) Ma, Jingting; Pouta, Emmi; Gowrishankar, Ramyah; Xiao, Yu
     A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
    This paper investigates how conductive float arrangements, specifically the float length and float side, affect the performance of double-weave piezoresistive pressure sensors. While previous research has explored float variations in simple weaves, there is a lack of knowledge on the role of these variables in multi-layer yarn arrangements commonly used in pressure-sensitive functional weaves. We conducted a control-variants experiment by constructing two sets of double-weave piezoresistive pressure sensor samples with variations in float arrangements and evaluated their range, sensitivity, and reproducibility. We demonstrate how adjusting the float length and float side can allow the same three-layer piezoresistive sensor to perform differently, providing a fine-grain control of woven sensor performance for various applications and different areas of the fabric within the same use context. In addition, we summarise the relationship between performance metrics and float arrangements, providing insight into the development of multi-layered woven pressure sensors.
  • Peering through Time: Harnessing Anticipation in More‐than‐Human Design
    (2024) Sanchez, Camilo; Poikolainen Rosen, Anton; Salovaara, Antti; Epp, Felix A.; Moesgen, Tim
     A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
    The emerging field of more-than-human design addresses critical challenges that the Anthropocene poses on the environment and does this by reconsidering and questioning the beliefs, hierarchies, implications and future outlooks within and through Design. In this chapter, we explore an anticipatory approach to increase the field’s opportunities for more comprehensive and impactful work. While this approach is implicitly present within the field, we highlight how further work can benefit from explicit engagement with anticipation. We showcase methods from Futures Studies that are suitable for more-than-human design and exemplify this by describing how one of these methods – Future Ripples – can be adapted to the needs of more-than-human design. Through this elaboration, we unpack requirements for mutual integration of anticipation and more-than-human design.
  • Opportunities with Multi-Layer Weave Structures in Woven E-Textile Design
    (2024-11-10) Pouta, Emmi; Mikkonen, Jussi; Salovaara, Antti
     A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
    Most textiles in day-to-day use are products of weaving. The versatility of this manufacturing technique, which readily supports a multi-layered structure, inclusion of several yarn types, malleability and other valuable characteristics, has attracted attention from HCI researchers intrigued by its potential to expand the interaction capabilities of e-textiles. Research nonetheless has barely scratched the surface of the wealth of weaving techniques and woven structures available. Therefore, a design-research project anchored in practice investigated how touch-sensitive e-textiles’ capabilities might be enriched via advanced multi-layer weaving techniques. The research process, which drew inspiration from literature both on textile design and on woven e-textiles, produced 25 distinct e-textile samples. Results from evaluating the structural properties, electrical capabilities and overall utility of each point to numerous unexplored opportunities from woven multi-layer e-textiles. Even holding potential for entirely new forms of interaction, these represent promising starting points for in-depth investigation.