Architecture and Design Days offer different perspectives on architecture, design and working together

Architecture and Design Days will be celebrated all over Finland on 2–8 February. The week of events will be crowned by Flag Day on 3 February, when Finnish flags will fly in honour of Alvar and Aino Aalto and Finnish architecture and design.

The theme of this year's festival, ‘Together’, highlights the importance of collaboration and co-creation. During the week, Helsinki will host several events, panels and tours focusing on the city’s architecture and design. 

The event in Helsinki will include activities such as drawing workshops at Alvar Aalto's studio, a self-guided architectural walk in Kalasatama and discussions on sustainable building and design. 

All events can be found in the ArchInfo events calendar(Link leads to external service) . 

Energy advice developed through collaboration between engineers and designers

Multidisciplinary collaboration is needed to tackle challenges such as climate change and overconsumption of natural resources. The themes of sustainable design and future design will be explored at the Sustainable Design Talks seminar for professionals of the field on 4 February at the Helsinki City Hall. The seminar will feature designer Emma Berg, who has been working with the City of Helsinki to develop energy advice for housing companies.

The thoughts of Berg and special planning officer Tapio Kumpula on the benefits of design in building a sustainable city can also be heard on video: Helsinki muotoilee taloyhtiöiden energiaratkaisuja(Link leads to external service) (‘Helsinki designs energy solutions for housing companies’) 

Increasing number of Helsinki residents’ services bear the handprint of a designer 

In Helsinki, architecture and design are central to the development of both the built environment and the City's services, and to building a good day-to-day life. One example of the use of design and cross-sectoral collaboration is the development of proactive services.

‘Proactive services’ refer to use of data to identify and respond to service needs. In addition to AI and algorithms, proactive service can include service design, where the client's path is thought through from start to finish, and the service is provided before the client even knows to look for it.

The aim is a service experience that saves time, reduces unnecessary bureaucracy and helps city residents access the service they need at the right time. 

“The aim of our work is to make services simpler for both City employees and the clients,” says Pasi Rautio, service manager developing proactive services at the City of Helsinki.

Read more about proactive services et the Design Helsinki website(Link leads to external service) .

Text: ArchInfo texts used as a source