[diss] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS

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Äänen tunto : elokuvaäänen kokemuksellisuudesta
(2014) Takala, Päivi
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
This artistic study presents a deep approach to film sound. Arguing that traditional descriptions of the role of film sound such as enhancing emotional impact or revealing the unconscious fail to capture fully the heart of meaning-making in the film experience, the study proposes the term felt sense (tuntoisuus in Finnish) to describe a specific form of non-verbal understanding of the world. The role of sound in meaning-making has long challenged filmmakers. The study considers how sound has been dealt with in practice by filmmakers and review topical writings of select filmmakers and sound designers. The developed insights are then discussed in the context of three works: Coincidences; (documentary film), Inhale (documentary film), and The Most Beautiful Sound of Helsinki (sound-and-video installation). The theoretical part of the study sets forth the concepts of felt sense, meaning born in experiencing, and co-movement, all of which arise in early development. For example, repetitive movement and sound woven into the fabric of holistic meaning-making are central to the experience of the unborn infant. The practical discussion begins with an overview of writings and interviews of Walter Murch, Michel Chion, the Dardenne brothers and David Lynch about film sound. The concept of felt sense is considered in the production of the three artistic works both in understanding sound and as a basis for establishing working rules in the filmmaking process. The Most Beautiful Sound of Helsinki is examined as an artistic expression of the concept itself. The study concludes that a holistic treatment of sound could be used to broaden current filmmaking teaching that emphasizes verbal narrative structures and film as a visual art.
Abstraktin aika - Epäesittävä suomalainen valokuvataide 1920-2020
(2021) Nissinen, Laura
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
In recent years, no follower of photographic art can have avoided coming into contact with abstract photography. It seems to be everywhere, from the most expensive galleries to the smallest independent exhibition spaces. New makers emerge, and established artists who previously conﬁned themselves to representational art are now working on abstract works. Numerous photography magazines have covered it, dedicating entire issues to the theme. What is it all about? And what exactly is abstract photography? Then there is the question of whether combining photography and abstraction is even possible or meaningful? To answer these questions this research gathers together over 100 years of abstract photography and approaches photographers and artists about their practice through interviews. As concepts, photography and abstraction seem to be almost opposites. The concept of abstract is usually used speciﬁcally to refer to non-representational art and photographic medium is traditionally described as a medium of exact representation. Interpreting non-representational images is further complicated by the variety of deﬁnitions used. The thought patterns and manufacturing techniques involved in producing abstractions are manifold. However, what all the deﬁnitions have in common is that they refer to photography with unrecognisable or hard-to-recognise subjects.Other recurring themes in abstract photographic art include an investigative orientation, experimentalism, a focus on the working process, and commentary on technical reforms. Medium- related self-referentiality is key: the subjects of abstraction often include the history and characteristics of photography, and the materials of the medium. Throughout its existence, the main subject of photographic abstraction has been photography itself. Furthermore, abstract photographic art is pictorial, non-narrative, and non-verbal. However, this does not mean that abstract photographic art could not be political. Throughout its history, abstract photography has been used as a means to criticise the features and changes of the art world and society in large. Time after time, abstraction challenges the traditional forms of expression and methods of photography, and functions within this medium as a force promoting renewal and vitality. Abstraction reﬂects the historical changes in photography over the past century. It highlights the technical changes in photography, but also the relationship between photography and the issues surrounding it, such as science or other art. The history of abstraction reﬂects the essential questions in the ﬁeld of photography in each era. Finnish contemporary photographic abstraction returns to 19th-century scientiﬁc photography, 1920s avant-garde photograms, and studies of motion. With the emergence of new artists, however, each decade sees a change in content. What all abstractionists have in common is a desire to break the representational character of photography and to boldly study different aspects of photography. Makers of photographic abstractions are always required to consciously work against the norms of photography. Abstraction is bold thinking.
Accelerating the energy transition toward zero-emission district heating systems through policy codesign
(2024) Auvinen, Karoliina
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
Achieving zero-emission energy systems is necessary for mitigating climate change. This requires replacing fossil fuels with energy-saving measures, low lifecycle-emission primary energy sources, energy storage, and smart control systems. A significant portion of fossil fuels is consumed in district heating systems in cold climate regions worldwide. The main research question in this thesis is: "How can the energy transition toward zero-emission district heating systems be accelerated with policy codesign?" My research intersects with literature on socio-technical transitions, energy system decarbonization, transition management, and codesign. My research was conducted in collaboration with four research groups in Finland. The research methods included a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative approaches, such as interviews, energy system modelling, and prototyping. In the context of transition management, we designed and developed a mid-range pathway creation toolset and a transition arena process, which we then experimented with high-level influencers. Furthermore, by engaging with investors and other key stakeholders, we investigated socio-technical barriers and formulated policy proposals aimed at decarbonizing district heating systems. Finally, we proposed a transition pathway model for Helsinki, incorporating heat auctions to promote third-party access to the local district heating network. Our research in Finland confirmed the presence of numerous barriers to energy system decarbonization. Our research experiments indicated that mid-range transition arena processes, along with other policy codesign events, have the potential to produce effective policy suggestions for accelerating zero-emission energy transitions. Achieving energy system transformation requires wide-range policy interventions. However, implementing these in formal policy decision-making processes is contested and challenging. Transitions produce uneven costs and benefits across society. Transforming energy systems requires destabilizing the existing regime, and incumbent actors often resist this change due to path dependency. In conclusion, I propose a transition management model to accelerate the zero-emission energy transition, aiming to achieve emission reductions within district heating systems that are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement's timeline. Transition management and codesign approaches need to evolve toward institutionalization in order to create societal impact, and they must develop further in order to handle the related tensions and conflicts. However, given the current paradigm and system complexities, achieving a rapid energy transition appears improbable.
Adapting Interaction Based on Users' Visual Attention
(2020) Serim, Barış
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
Successful interaction with many information systems depends on our ability to visually attend to the system feedback as well as to our own actions. However, at a given time, we are able to attend to only a portion of the available information. Among other constraints, what can we attend is limited by the spatial acuity of our eyes. Aware of this limitation, researchers have long pursued interfaces that decrease our dependence on visual attention during interaction. The newly proliferating sensing technologies such as eye and head tracking as well as methods for user modeling provide a novel venue for addressing this limitation: An information system can utilize users' visual attention information to change how it responds to user actions. This thesis contributes design knowledge about adapting the interaction based on users' level of visual monitoring during input through a series of prototypes that have been developed for different use cases. I first distinguish between different implications of visual attention information for interface design, and identify visual attention as a measure of user awareness as the main focus of the work presented in this thesis. Lack of visual attention during input decreases users' awareness of the environment. In these cases, the system can adapt the interaction through a number of methods such as handling input more flexibly or remediating the lack of visual attention through novel visual feedback techniques. These interaction methods have been formulated as part of a constructive research program and applied to single-user applications that require users to split their visual attention between multiple interface regions during pointing and also to collocated and synchronous multi-user applications. User studies provide evidence for the increased uncertainty during input with low visual attention and also show in which situations these interaction techniques can improve performance. The dissertation discusses these empirical findings in terms of the previously identified trade-offs between time and spatial multiplexing, and between predictability and adaptiveness in interface design. The thesis also makes a theoretical contribution to the general design challenge of building adaptive or context aware systems through an analysis of the concept implicit interaction. Overall, the thesis contributes to the existing line of work on attentive interfaces by developing interaction methods that specifically target handling user input with low visual attention, and contributes to the ongoing discussions about the integration of eye tracking into human–computer interaction.
Advancing Sustainability Transformations - Co-design for Sustainable Development Policies
(2024) Lähteenoja, Satu
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
We are living in an era of multiple environmental and social crises. Sustainability transformations are needed since no country has reached sustainability as yet and none are on the way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Multiple challenges with SDG implementation have been identified, such as the integration and coordination of cross-sectoral topics, policy coherence, institutional capacities and local contextualisation. There is a call for new mechanisms with which to guide nations towards sustainability. Co-design for transitions, or transition co-design, is an emerging area, bringing together the scholarships of collaborative design and transition management. More empirical studies are needed on what transition co-design actually means and what it can offer for sustainability transformations, especially in the governance and policy contexts. This dissertation contributes to this research gap by empirically studying sustainable development policies and the possibilities for co-design to advance them. The research consists of four case studies approaching the topic from different angles, ranging from national to local SDG implementation, as well as from broad, systemic sustainable development topics to the narrower target of increasing renewable energy production in housing companies. The research is based on qualitative methods, including document analysis, interviews and co-design workshops. It consists of five interrelated articles. The findings of the research highlight the role of small wins in sustainability transformations. While sustainable development policy that is only based on small wins can be too incremental and slow to meet the sustainability challenges of our time, the small wins seem to pave the way for more transformative policy changes. However, to achieve sustainability transformations, small wins need to contribute to a shared ambition at a higher level. The research introduces a policy edition of the transition arena, wherein some of the earlier assumptions have been readjusted to cope with policy realities, thus enabling the tools' closer integration into official policy processes. The policy edition was developed and tested during the creation of the national sustainable development strategy, led by the Prime Minister's Office, Finland. According to the results, this method can provide a safe space for facilitated discussion on difficult topics with conflicts of interests. After co-designing positive future visions and mid-range transition pathways, the participants of transition arenas experienced increased understanding of complex systemic changes and better understood the agency of different actors in sustainability transformations. The final strategy raises difficult, transformative topics as being important for further work. While there is a need for more empirical studies on the topic, the research recommends utilising transition co-design methods in the agenda-setting phase of complex sustainability-related policy processes.
Aesthetic Praxis In Translation - Introduction and Translation of Alberto Híjar Serrano's: Aesthetic Praxis. The Aesthetic Dimension of Liberation
(2020) Muñoz Alcántara, David
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
To the question of Praxis engaged at its Aesthetic dimension, this work proposes to intersect the necessity of translation as a militant method for the articulation of broad and concrete signs of art as the class-struggle in the imagination. This study is centered on Alberto Híjar Serrano's profound critical understandings of the aesthetic-political significance and limits in historical materialism, and the impossibility to separate practice and theory. It contextualizes what the author refers to the aesthetic praxis –providing an unavoidable source, to engage in contemporary aesthetic discussions without overlooking its social aspects and beyond sole interpretations. This document is divided into two sections: SECTION I. Functions as an introduction to the significance of Hijar's body of knowledge; not by summarizing a record of achievements but by incorporating and mobilizing his conceptual framework through the action of translating as a cognitive entanglement. SECTION II. Presents the first English-language translation of Alberto Híjar Serrano: La Praxis Estética. Dimension Estética Libertaria [Aesthetic Praxis, The Aesthetic Dimension of Liberation] published in Mexico, 2013 by National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature–INBA. An anthology compiled by Miguel Angel Esquivel. In sum, this study articulates conceptual and concrete forms of poetic revolutionary praxes and their memory. It contributes to the recovery of what Híjar Serrano names "the other history." A knowledge that escapes the dialectical rationale and constitutes the source and power of social-revolutionary transformations in practice.
The aesthetics and architecture of care environments : a Q methodological study of ten care environments in Japan and the European countries of Finland, Sweden, the UK, France and Austria
(2019) Ståhlberg-Aalto, Freja
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
This study explores the aesthetic dimensions of the care environment as experienced by the users and stakeholders of ten case studies in Japan and the European countries of Finland, Sweden, the UK, France and Austria. The evaluation of the built environment in a comprehensive manner is both challenging and topical. The surrounding environment influences us in a multitude of ways and healthcare buildings, in particular, are complicated and their effects on the users difficult to estimate. To overcome these problems the study applies experimental Q methodology for this context in search of a new way of evaluating care environments. The aims are to increase our understanding of care environment aesthetics and architecture, and thus contribute to the design of future care buildings that fulfil the values and expectations of the users. In previous research, first-hand user experiences have been overlooked in favour of comparing medical reports, survey questionnaires or environmental features, thereby leaving many of the underlying reasons unaccounted for. The aesthetic is often reduced to the appearance of things, assessed by random respondents reacting to photographs. This study instead approaches the aesthetics of care environments in a holistic manner, founded in the multisensory experience of architecture, and affected by contextual, social and functional considerations. The study compares different types of healthcare buildings; hospitals, clinics, rehabilitation centres and facilities for the elderly, by asking users and stakeholders to react to their actual environment. Differences are explored in the aesthetic definitions and solutions of the different building types, the cultural contexts and the user groups. In a broader sense, the study touches on the role of care environment aesthetics in users’ perceptions of wellbeing and quality of life. To operationalize this framework, a Q methodological study was conducted on ten case studies in Japan and five European countries. Q methodology is a qualitative method used for systematically analysing human subjectivity. In accordance with Q methodology, I invited 45 respondents – including patients and residents, family members and visitors, care staff, administration and architects – to arrange a set of 48 statements describing the aesthetic features of the care environment on a scale of preference. These preferences were statistically analysed, identifying five aesthetic discourses: the ‘putting patients first’ (ADI), the Nightingale discourse (ADII), the nature – wellbeing – personalization (ADIII), the ‘my home is my castle’ (ADIV) and the rational wayfinding system (ADV). The findings show that although some aesthetic values and solutions stem from building type specific and cultural considerations and that they reflect users’ and stakeholders’ backgrounds, there also exist shared aesthetic values that transcend the specific. A set of consensus statements was uncovered revealing aesthetic preferences shared by all discourses. As a synthesis, best-practice features are put forward as lessons learnt from the case studies. In the future, reconciliation between the various aesthetic discourses is called for in order to respect the values of all stakeholders and users.
Against Method: The Portability of Method in Human-Centered Design
(2012) Lee, Jung-Joo
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
Design researchers have recently been active in developing new design methods aimed at greatly improving their understanding of people’s subjective felt-experience, and their creativity and values. Although these innovative methods were developed as alternatives to more traditional means, human-centered designers (especially in HCI) have shown a tendency to use a traditional, scientific rationalization when applying them – essentially, “method as recipe.” The study analyzes these misinterpretations of innovative methods and seeks a more constructive way of understanding and describing how they actually work for understanding culture and social action. With the provocative title, Against Method, the dissertation seeks to promote reflection and sensitivity among practitioners, researchers, students and educators in human-centered design.
Ambient learning and self authorship : human minds, cultural tools, immersive worlds
(2015) Kelly, Owen
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
This thesis begins with an examination of the Marinetta Ombro project, a lengthy exercise in building a virtual culture, carried out by staff and students at Arcada, a university of applied science. Arcada's experience in Second Life revealed much about the ways people think, feel and act inside synthetic worlds, and about the ways in which they live their lives as narrative. The second part of the thesis examines the implications of these findings with reference to the work of artists and writers, philosophers, theologians and neuro-scientists. It looks at how we relate to the world, where our ideas come from, what "it is like to be" us; and concludes that, in contrast to our usual view of ourselves, "we are stories all the way down". In the final part of the thesis the author looks at how we can apply this knowledge socially and politically, in a world of ambient learning; and what tools we can build to assist us in authoring our (social) selves.
The Anartist and its intervention-machines
(2019) Biagini, Gian Luigi
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
The dissertation is composed of 7 articles, some published and others rejected, which concern the Anartist’s interventions. The Anartist (Artist Anarchist) is a figure that has arisen, even in his name, as an avatar revealed in my expressive practice (which then became research). The praxis, which emerged from a pre-subjective need of the flesh, consists in the destratification of an authentic and heterogeneous refrain. The Anartist, in its deterritorializing intervention, can experience a chaosmotic event out of the constraint of a capitalist design implemented in the urban space. This subversive moment, that allows access to the pure experience of a destratification without external references and the appearance of the phenoumenon in itself, is also a mystical and foundational experience of a new ungrounded ground. This foundation is in the refrain itself, as singularity of a praxis connected to a general movement of deterritorialization. The avatar, in its emergence, intensifies its refrain which becomes consonant with that of the “chaosmogonic singleton” which stratifies and destratifies the biosphere as the center of our Being. Thus the practice of the Anartist grafts the subversive, the political, the magical and the mythological desiring production in a revelatory and divinatory continuum. Since the mask of the Anartist is trans-subjective, it also responds in original way to the problem of combining “one and many” in a Heteron, which is the central problem in “art activism” , which aims to unite the political with the artistic. The Heteron of the Anartist does not compress the potential Arete of each singularity as the Common does. The Anartist’s interventionism is part of an aesthetic current that unfolds from J.J. Rousseau, passing from the Situationists (Punk, Black Bloc), up to the current discourse that has its roots in the post-68 French theory. The main attitude that crosses this outsider current of art is to subvert artistic and political representation through a direct intervention in urban space. A “presentation” without the mediation of theatrical dispositives as galleries, museum and so on; a manifestation of the General Will in action, which also has mystical and chaosmological connotations of access to the “sacred” in a “profane” space. To be consistent with this attitude, my dissertation is a dissertation-intervention that intervenes on academic contextual and textual space, in such a processual way that, as praxis-objectile, it can “present” itself as a “shape” without being represented by a pre-emptive “form”. The articles and their “out of field” thus become pre-texts for an anti-institutional textual practice that recalls “Post-structuralism” in its contestation of the institution from the margins through the “writing” (Derrida), the “genre” (Lyotard), the “minor literature” (Deleuze and Guattari) and the “document” (Foucault) but also the Situationist-Intervention (Baudrillard) and the ethnomethodology of Erving Goffman based on subversive acting. However, the guiding spirits of this dissertation are many and have their roots in Aristotle (even if Plato can not be easily liquidated). The philosophical view of praxis that sustains my narrative is an intensification-reversion of Aristotle that begins with Nietzsche, Heidegger, Bataille, Deleuze and Guattari. Therefore, mine is not a theoretical dissertation, nor a poietic one, but one which takes place from the quasi-obscure point of view of “praxis”. In this case, it is more the percept that emerges from the intervention that founds the narrative synthesis than vice versa. The “Conclusions” contains a more precise mapping of the revelations, intuitions and synthesis associated with my experience of praxis that offers also a phenomenological “description” of the transcendental conditions of the field (basically “Difference” instead of “Identity”) and proposes tools and arguments to deal with the smooth, heterogeneous and paradoxical field of “artistic research” in a way in which one term of the edgy in-between, the academic, does not cannibalize the other (the artistic) through its anxiety of homogenizing “Knowledge” and depressing “Understanding”.
And. Phenomenology of the end : cognition and sensibility in the transition from conjunctive to connective mode of social communication
(2014) Berardi, Franco
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
(Ap)art : contemporary art and utopia
(2015) Hoyer, Dirk
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
Architects as 'Mediators': Socio-political roles in mediating the ‘temporary use’ of vacant spaces
(2022) Hernberg, Hella
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | G5 Artikkeliväitöskirja
Climate change, resource depletion, and other complex global challenges place urgent pressure on cities to develop more flexible and inclusive approaches to planning and the adaptable (re)use of existing built environments. In recent decades, the ‘temporary use’ of vacant spaces – such as the adaptation of empty offices or hospitals into spaces for artists, residents or entrepreneurs – is increasingly recognised by scholars and planners as a resource-efficient, experimental and inclusive approach for managing urban change. However, despite the growing appreciation of temporary uses and their formal deployment in cities of the Global North, temporary uses face challenging socio-political conditions, including structural barriers and tensions between the multiple actors involved. ‘Mediators’ are increasingly recognised as necessary actors in managing the socio-political dynamics and conditions in temporary use. Recent examples show architects often act as mediators; one example is my own work as an architect engaged in temporary use in Finland for over ten years.However, socio-politically engaged work of this kind expands beyond architects’ traditional training and competencies and thus presents a need for learning across disciplines. However, there is currently scant academic literature on mediation in temporary use. At the same time, relevant knowledge is rapidly emerging in practice. To contribute to the conceptualisation and analysis of mediation,this doctoral thesis aims to develop conceptually relevant and nuanced articulations of mediator roles in temporary use and outline the underlying socio-political conditions. I address this aim through a research approach that integrates knowledge from adjacent scholarly fields and professional practice. To elaborate the socio-political conditions in temporary use and conceptualise mediation work, this thesis integrates related perspectives from four scholarly fields: temporary use, participatory design, urban sustainability transitions and architecture. In addition, the thesis investigates mediation roles on and through practice in two empirical studies. In a ‘practice-based’ study, informed by qualitative ethnography, I studied my ongoing work as a mediator in a temporary use project in Espoo, Finland. To provide broader insights into mediation, I conducted qualitative interviews with five other mediators in four European cities. This is a ‘compilation thesis’, comprising four peer-reviewed academic papers and seven introductory chapters. The papers present complementary perspectives on mediation and its conditions. The fourth paper presents a detailed typology of mediation roles, further elaborated in the introductory chapters. As a cross-cutting finding, this thesis articulates three roles for mediators in temporary use: brokering the collaboration and partnerships between actors, negotiating the structural conditions and building capabilities for temporary use. This doctoral thesis offers conceptual and practical contributions relevant to different academic and practical audiences. Besides the three mediation roles, the thesis elucidates detailed activities and instances of such roles in practice, which also bring to light broader socio-political dilemmas.By articulating mediator roles in temporary use, the thesis highlights aspects of professional work that question our current premises behind planning,architecture and related expert work. Therefore, the thesis provides relevant knowledge for municipalities and practitioners aiming to develop approaches for sustainable, inclusive and adaptable urban development.
Architectural computation of spatial dynamics
(2024) Han, Yoon J.
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
In the current era, digital technology is ubiquitous throughout diverse aspects of architecture. This omnipresent condition undermines spatial discourse despite engaging with ample discussion concerning formal approaches. The research acknowledges that space and form in architectural experience are inextricably intertwined and should therefore be considered as such. In order to frame the discursive context, the thesis traces the development of an architectural understanding of experiential space through interrelations of aesthetic (bodily), spatial, and formal (geometric and topological) dynamics. The architectural understanding builds upon the conception of experiential space as field structures; the conception involves the three aforementioned dynamics and is conceptually interlinked with computational discourse in architecture. The research proposes systematic inquiries into aesthetic aspects of experiential space through a mixed-research strategy: designing a computational framework for spatial information construction and perceptual comparative analyses of the information. The computational framework in the thesis maps and visualises structural changes of experiential space as dynamic field structures, rendering abstract spatial information more tangible. Three study cases are presented showcasing the operations and behaviours of the computational framework. For each study case, the mapping results are also analysed in comparison to the existing body of architectural literature, including diverse written accounts of architectural experience based on phenomenological approaches. The comparative analyses of the study cases suggest that some qualitative descriptions of architectural spatial aesthetics can be constructed through digital computation, where resulting digital spatial information can be visually communicated. The thesis also discusses potentials and implications of the computational approach introduced in the thesis, particularly in relation to digital spatial information, digital media as cognitive extension, and digital tectonics.
Architecture and technology : Alvar Aalto's Paimio Sanatorium
(2016) Heikinheimo, Marianna
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
The doctoral dissertation of Marianna Heikinheimo, Master of Science in Architecture, Master of Fine Arts, in the field of architectural history Architecture and Technology: Alvar Aalto's Paimio Sanatorium discusses the relationship between architecture and technology in Paimio Sanatorium (1928-1933), designed by the renowned Finnish master architect, Alvar Aalto. The building is considered the turning point in Aalto's career and one of the most significant works of international Modernism in the inter-war period. In the face of increasingly rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, European architecture was at the time undergoing a dramatic ideological shift. Aalto came into contact with avant-garde architects through the organisation Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) from 1929 onwards. Aalto's aim with the design of Paimio Sanatorium, the most challenging assignment of his career so far, was to apply the new approach to architecture. The theoretical underpinning for the study is the actor-network theory developed by the French sociologist Bruno Latour (1947). Besides the social theory, it also assigns a role for material factors in the evolution of technological systems. In this theory, the relationship between social and material actants is reciprocal, an observation which opens up interesting angles into architectural research. For the purpose of this dissertation, I understand symbolic expression in architecture as a system with its own logic and, in contrast, construction as a technological system forming the framework within which the practical problems of building are resolved. According to the British architect and scholar Alan Colquhoun, symbolic representation and empirical building are parallel systems. Symbolic representation is based on facts while architecture is bound to a given social, technological or economic situation in time. A building with all its qualities and features has, in the present study, been understood as a technological system formed by people, organisations and material actors. The case study deals with the interaction between the architect and the other stakeholders within the scope of one building project. Aalto won the open architectural competition in 1929 and was able to influence the overall design solutions of the building from the very beginning of the project. This study investigates how Aalto managed to reconcile international ideology and local building culture in a country where the degree of industrialisation in the building sector was relatively low. Specific attention has been given to the solutions that were new at the time, such as the heating, ventilation, sewage and electrical systems: who knew how to implement them and what were the critical points to consider in developing the solutions; were the systems sufficiently ready to be used as such, or did the architect or other project stakeholders contribute to their development; is it plausible to understand them as being part of Aalto's tectonic approach in a way similar to the well-known concrete frame of the sanatorium?
Architecture in Consumer Society
(2002) Ahlava, Antti
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
Background: This is a study of the foundations of architecture’s position in Western consumer society as well as its potential for future actions. Method: 1) A bibliographical research of the background to the problematics. Of central importance here is the French sosiologist Jean Baudrillard, who has broadly theorised the principles and manifestations of consumer society. 2) A qualitative analysis of both architectural works related to the main problematics in consumer society and the strategies of certain architects in answering to the changed situation in the developing consumer society. 3) The mythological character of architecture, as well as its current stage of development, is demonstrated by comparing it to another medium, moving images (cinema, television, video, moving digital images), that is, the typical art of the consumer society. 4) The work concludes with practical proposals for architectural design. Here the author applies a method developed earlier in the thesis, where he analysed architecture’s means of influence in consumer society. Baudrillard’s theories on symbolic exchange and ‘fatal strategies’ have been used as the main starting points of the method. Results: The work results in the following conclusions: a) Architectural issues are simultaneously functional, aesthetic, organisational and economic, but the decisive level is social (collective) and mythical. The eventually aimless and purposeless control realised through myths takes place through reproduced and mass-promoted principles of individualism, techno-optimism, pluralism, regionalism, personalization, alternativity, flexibility, usefulness and aestheticism. b) The newest phase of consumer society (mass media society) tackles the impact of digital consumption: the new information technologies, the liberated market economy, realtime communication, and globalization. These tendencies manifest themselves in contemporary architecture in the new possibilities for alternativity: pluralism, "open" architecture, the flexible interrelationship between producers and consumers, interactivity, and the notion of innovative consumers or users. All in all, the increasing possibilities for alternatives and flexibility in consumption cannot necessarily solve the problems with fragmentation, loss of reciprocity, the diminishing altruism in society and the increasing banalization of culture. c) Moralism against consumer society and commercial architecture does not work because it is characteristic of consumer society itself to spread moralities concerning how people should live and in which kinds of environments. Neither architecture-without-architects nor pragmatist architecture are likely to make better architecture in society, because these phenomena are already included in the mythologies of the consumer society. The author proposes two spontaneous and case specific strategies that should increase communal welfare according to the theoretical background used in this research.
Architecture's discursive space : photography
(2016) Goodwin, Marc
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
This research asks the simple question: Do images make buildings? More specifically, it asks how. The research question is addressed via four articles, published in peer-reviewed journals from 2013 to 2016. Each looks at a different aspect of the question: visual conventions, visualising atmosphere, photography as visual data, and the repeatability of these experiments. In addition, the dissertation includes extensive photography section that both illustrates the texts as well as dialoguing with them.A brief description of each article follows. Ultimately, I conclude that conventional architectural photography is reliant upon one atmosphere – the blue and white of eternal summer that has replaced the black and white photography that came before it. A simple system of visual categorisation through grids became my working method for dealing with terabytes of data in the form of photographs. The grid, it is argued, is at the core of architectural depiction, with origins in Renaissance treatises. As a contemporary editing system, however, grids make it easy to spot patterns in purchased / published images, and cross-check statements made in interviews and in writing with photographic statements. ‘Nine Facts About Conventions in Architectural Photography’ published in the Nordic Journal of Architectural Research (NJAR 1/2014). ‘Grey Matter’, to be published in the first 2016 edition of the International Journal of Education through Art. This study is one of the first to use content analysis of images as a means of interpreting architectural discourse. Nine facts were extracted froma detailed analysis of images that appeared in 3493 pages of the Finnish Architectural Review (ARK) between 1912 and 2012. Close attention was paid to the types of images used repeatedly in order to focus on key editorial and photographic decisions. Editorial decisions consisted of type, size, chromatic scale and number of images. Photographic decisions consisted of human presence, weather, depth-of-field and camera orientation for interior and exterior photographs. Data, which quantifies the frequency of each type of image, indicates that there is a strong reliance on visual conventions in ARK. When considering the limited range of images usedin the publication, it becomes clear there is little correlation between the complexity of architectural language and environments and the simplicity of its depiction. That discrepancy suggests there is a need for research and development in the field of architectural photography in order to better inform readers about the diversity of architectural practices. ‘A Hinge: Field-testing the Relationship Between Photography and Architecture, in the Journal of Artistic Research (JAR 3/ 2013). This article seeks to share the methods and preliminary results of an artistic research project in the field of architectural photography. A central concern is the representation of atmosphere in place of the standard depiction of objects. Important also is an attempt at co-design through an interview process with architects based on the notion of the dialectic. This aspect of the study is important not only for this experiment itself but is also crucial for analysing the scalability of practices pursued in this investigation. Findings include excerpts from interviews and examples of photographs. More than just a project about photographic practices, however, this study is part of a larger investigation into the relationship that has developed between photography and architecture, focussing especially on Finland and Denmark, and the institutional practices of architects, publishers and photographers working in collaboration. As mentioned in the article on atmospheres, it was important to test the repeatability of this research. Could others use atmospheres as a system for classifying images? Is it useful to look at conventional photography as one such atmosphere? Could the classroom be used as a research lab to test the viability of non-conventional atmospheres in the world of architecture. The second phase of the nine-month course ended in a highly successful exhibition and talk at the Finnish Museum of Architecture. The course and exhibition were called Grey Matter because images sought to reflect the lived experience of autumnal Helsinki, testing claims that good architecture must be shown in good weather. Findings in this research challenge received wisdom about ‘objective’ photography of architecture. They suggest the need for scrutiny of conventionalised practises and argue for an expanded field of architectural photography. That new architectural photography would be informed by the notion of atmosphere and its categorisation into a panoply of responses to site conditions.The architectural atmosphere sine qua non, known as objective photography, is taught in schools and enforced through repeated global publication. This research suggests that interdisciplinary courses between photography and architecture departments might disrupt the current beliefs and practices of educators and publishers alike. This dissertation argues in favour of such a disruption.
Art education in the post-digital era - Experiential construction of knowledge through creative coding
(2018) Dufva, Tomi
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
This dissertation examines the questions and problematics of code and digitality brought forward by the post-digital era. In particular, it focuses on the role and the means art education has in awakening a critical understanding of the digital constructs in our society. Moreover, this dissertation proposes creative coding as an art educational method to gain a first-hand comprehension of digitality. Increasing digitalisation is augmenting and altering our culture as well as society in general. Digital technologies mediate everyday life so much that not using them becomes a declaration of alternative values. The term post-digital delineates a world where the digital is complexly intertwined with the physical world. As such, digital technologies participate in the construction of society and everyday life. Post-digital presents multiple challenges in regards to everyday life, as well as to culture and society, which requires comprehension of these technologies and their underlying code. Without an understanding of how these digital systems work, we are unable to fully participate in the construction of contemporary life. Creative coding, generally, refers to programming where expression is more important than function. This dissertation widens the concept of creative programming into activities that include programming as one of their components, such as physical computing and in some instances new media art. Furthermore, creative coding in this research is considered from the art educational perspective as an experiential activity that generates and requires creative and critical thinking. My research methods are primarily based on phenomenology, ethnography, and theoretical research. The research material includes theoretical literature from the fields of art, art education, philosophy, and craft education, and from a varied field of studies on technology. The ethnographic material consists of my research at the Robotti Art and Craft School (Käsityökoulu Robotti). The phenomenological research strategy blankets the whole dissertation from me being the active participant in both teaching creative coding in various places as well as practising it in my artistic work. The dissertation offers three key findings that have both theoretical and practical implications. The first is the observation that understanding digital technologies in general, and teaching programming in particular, needs to be understood from a broader perspective. The second is the notion of digi-grasping, which refers to the growing need to comprehend the complex and intertwined digital processes inherent in everyday life. The third is the implication that creative coding can be a beneficial tool in art education in acquiring knowledge and critical understanding of the digital systems.
Art from Home to School: Towards a Critical Art Education Curriculum Framework in Postcolonial and Globalisation Contexts for Primary School Level in Uganda
(2022) Muyanja, Michael
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (monograph)
Art from Home to School is an investigation, which examined various aspects to transform the school curriculum, restore a stronger sense of historical cultural awareness; promote tolerance and cultural diversity through art education at primary school level in Uganda. Art from Home to School argues against censored cultural heritage; earmarked as indigenous art and mother tongue use in primary schools of Uganda. It provides an inquiry into colonial and postcolonial educational policies that promote a Euro centered school curriculum that stresses rote learning, encourages school violence through corporal punishment and ultimately that may result in physical abuse, along with dropping out of school. Further, Art from Home to School attends to other antagonisms in the society and school where the student persists; which cause socioeconomic inequalities and exploitation by reason of globalisation in education. It builds its knowledge base on Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed to transform teaching and learning focused on social change. In it, ethnographic research was used to review art works produced by students as resistance to previously silenced voices and obtained results were used to plan a hypothetical critical curriculum of art education suggesting a captured vision of decolonising reforms.
The art of egress - Madness, horror, and the pedagogy of depsychiatrization
(2019) Koivisto, Mikko O.
School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Doctoral dissertation (article-based)
This doctoral dissertation investigates stereotypical cultural representations of people with psychiatric disabilities, or psychiatrized people, and delineates strategies for critically encountering them. Representations are interpreted as implications of larger power relations; not merely as indicators of the existence of such power, but as functional components of the power mechanism. Previous studies indicate that cultural imageries of psychiatrized people are generally dehumanizing and objectifying, and it has been argued that these representations can be challenged by promoting critical firsthand experiences of disability. However, this imposes the weight of responsibility on the disabled subject. The dominant stereotypes and images oblige the psychiatrized subject to convince the society that, unlike the typical psychiatrically disabled characters in television and cinema, s/he is, for example, able to work, able to parent, and able to not commit homicide. In complying with the requirement to defend oneself against the prejudices, the disabled subject inevitably ends up legitimizing the mechanism underlying and constituting the very requirement. What can the disabled subject do within these parameters? This dissertation argues that a profound critique and resistance of the hegemonic notions of psychiatric disabilities require approaches that go beyond the binary strategy of acceptance and disavowal. The body of data analyzed in the dissertation consists of the work by hip hop artists who have disclosed their experiences of disability through their work. Their works are interrogated regarding their potential to expose, acknowledge, and refer to stereotypes and prejudices while simultaneously refusing to neither approve nor disapprove of them. In addition to realistic, genuinely autobiographical accounts, some of these rappers have incorporated into their narratives pejorative stereotypes of violence and crime, enmeshing the overtly stereotypical imagery of psychiatric disability with the accounts of their subjective experiences. Through this enmeshing they not so much criticize the prevailing politics as they encounter the subject positions and stereotypes imposed on the disabled subject through their art; they confront the political forces of representation and subjection on the level of their functioning. Instead of arguing against them, they perform maneuvers through which they simultaneously embrace, reject, distort, and ridicule the dominant stereotypes and prejudices. This dissertation refers to these strategies of resistance provided by the rappers as egresses due to their capacity to escape the confining images and subject positions. The notion of egress enables art education to assume a critical stance towards ableist forms of representation, and pave the way for the emergence of a pedagogy of depsychiatrization—a pedagogical stance which acknowledges, and resists, the psychiatrization of disabled subjects through mechanisms of representation.

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