Anssi Joutsiniemi’s research interests are centered on issues of complex system approaches in urban planning and his work include topics of urban modelling, morphological analyses and rule-based planning. His expertise is in GIS and computational methods in urban planning and design and his more recent research interests are in distributed urban modelling and simulation and algorithmic problem solving in a design process.

Joutsiniemi is appointed as Associate Professor and Director of EDGE Laboratory for Architectural and Urban Research of Tampere University of Technology, he is editor-in-chief of the Finnish Journal of Urban Studies and also holds an adjunct professorship at University of Helsinki, Finland and Curtin University, Australia. Before engaging in academic activities, he worked as an architect-planner in the planning department of the City of Espoo in the Helsinki Metropolitan area.

Álvaro de Oliveira has earlier organized several interdisciplinary urban development workshops in the European Network of Living Labs Activities in Brazil. His main areas of speciality include energy efficiency, climate questions as well as wellbeing and health. He is currently authoring of a book on Human Smart Cities.

Fernando Nieto is an architect (ETSA Valladolid, 2004), Master of Advanced Studies in Collective Housing (ETSA Madrid, 2006) and International Doctor of Architecture in Advanced Architectural Design (ETSA Madrid, 2014). His work as an architect has won several awards and mentions and has been exhibited widely. He does research activity through articles and conference papers and the management of the research platform HipoTesis. Since 2014 he is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Group X of the Department of Architecture at Aalto University in Helsinki.

Profile at Aalto University
Fernando Nieto architect

Claudia Auer studied architecture at Graz University of Technology (Ba arc) and at Helsinki University of Technology. (M. Sc.). She is teacher and coordinator of the Public Building Studio at Aalto University School of Architecture, Art and Design. Since 2014 she is a PhD Candidate and holds a research position at the chair of Building Design at Aalto University. Her work focus is on practice related and artistic research in architecture, on creative practices in public building processes and on learning environments. As practicing architect she has been working on pilot projects for sustainable and energy efficient architecture in Finland and has planned buildings and interiors for the schools of architecture at Oulu University and Aalto University. She is architect and partner in the Helsinki based office Auer & Sandås architects Ltd. Her work as architect has won several awards and has been exhibited internationally. She has also been jury member in several architectural competitions.

Auer & Sandås architects

Pekka Tynkkynen is a Helsinki-based architect working on a variety of fields ranging from digital manufacturing to emergent urbanism. He holds a 2011 master’s degree in architecture from the School of Architecture of Tampere University of Technology, in addition to studies at ENSA Paris Val-de-Seine and Aalto University. Employing himself as an architect, he has a background in architecture best-practices and multidisciplinary research projects. Pekka has organized and tutored design-research workshops exploring digital fabrication and new materials and lectured for universities and companies worldwide

Pekka Tynkkynen architect

Julle Oksanen is a doctoral student working on the relationship between lighting design and architecture. He is a lighting and luminaire designer in his company Julle Oksanen Lighting Design Ltd. Julle holds the degree of Master of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Tennessee, College of Architecture and Design, and PE (Electricity) from Helsinki Technical College. He has had visiting academic positions at the University of Oregon, Cornell University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Julle Oksanen’s and Hannu Tikka’s ‘Light & Space Academy’ arranges travelling educational activities in the USA, Asia and Europe.

Julle Oksanen Lighting Ltd.

Janne Saario is an architect who has been skateboarding for 25 years and been busy building and designing stuff to skate as long as he can remember.

Janne Saario Landscape Architecture
Street Unit Parkline

Kristian Forsberg graduated from Aalto University in 2014. He has studied both in Oulu School of Architecture and Aalto University, in addition he made his minor in Helsinki School of Economics. Kristian has worked in renowned architectural offices, such as K2S Architects and JKMM Architects. Further he has several awards in architectural competitions both as an author and as an assistant. He is a member of Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA).

Lilli Maunula has a multidiciplinary background and approach to her work, combining the fields of both Architecture and Fashion. Lilli holds a Master’s Degree in Architecture from Aalto University (2013) and has in addition to this completed studies at the Aalto Arts Department of Fashion and Textile Design. She has a professional background in Fashion Styling, having worked in London for publications such as Dazed&Confused, AnOther Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar. Most recently she widened her experience in to luxury retail Architecture by working in Stockholm for the architectural practice Bozarthfornell. Lilli is currently based in Helsinki, working in cooperation with fashion designers, developing spatial concepts for fashion brands.

Juslin Maunula

Mia Hertsberg is a Bachelor of Science in Architecture. She has studied at the Department of Architecture at Aalto University and the Faculty of Architecture at Czech Technical University in Prague. In her studies she has focused in urban planning and the use of wood in architecture, among other subjects. She was the student assistant of Group X from 2014 to 2015.