The workshop was accompanied by students from our Capstone Project and organised together with Dan Phillips from RCA, Smart…
This was the first trip and workshop by a group of students and teachers from Finland to China after…
The assignment was to design a Maritime Centre to Toyosu area, Tokyo. The activities of the centre are educational, scientific and…
Advanced Building design course Spring 2022 was organised in collaboration with the Architecture Department of Shibaura Institute of Technology…
Antti Ahlava and Natalia Vladykina from Group X have contributed to Goethe Institute Singapore’s project Culture | Smart City…
Main Street – the collaboration study project between RCA’s Service Design and Aalto University’s Architecture has been part of…
In spring 2021, Group X organized a building design studio course (Advanced Building Design Studio) at Aalto University Department…
The Light & Space Academy wing of Group X (led by post-doc Julle Oksanen and doctoral researcher, architect Hannu…
After the huge success of School as a Service (SaaS), comes the new project Aalto Main Street! In process…
School as a Service has received its 7th award, and 2nd international award since its creation in 2015. The…
Identity of Space From Think Corner To think Buildings, Helsinki University Central Campus After having turned its administration building into Think Corner – an…
This course is part of ‘Lähiöfest’ – a festival of neighbourhoods that aims to create discussion and catalyse new…
Download the catalogue here The Art of Heat Exhibition is presenting the results from a multidisciplinary studio in the…
It was in 2017 when the first edition of the course “Introduction in Architecture & Architectural Lightning Design” started…
Light and Space Academy at Group X started to collaborate with Leibniz Institute in Berlin, Germany. The main target…
Students Think Otaniemi Architecture Stoa is the Greek term for a publicly-used outdoor, covered walkway where the public debate…
ARK-E2003 Building Design Studio 2A design course for max. 30 master level students 8.1.-9.4.2019Tuesdays at 13-17 Responsible teachersprof. Antti…
The book Challenging the City Scale: Journeys in People-Centred Design has just been published by Birkhäuser Verlag. Edited by…
The Exit School of Architecture exhibition will be shown at the 13th Tallinn Design Festival on September 10-16, 2018…
The final Human Cities_Challenging the City Scale 2014-2018 event will be held in Tallinn during the 13th Tallinn Design…
The Thinking Incubator in Otaniemi studio course will hold its Final Review next Tuesday 15.5 at 13:15 at Aalto…
The publication Human Cities_Challenging the City Scale 2014-2018 / Investigation has just been launched. Published by Cité du design…
Group X’s Professor Jarmo Suominen, together with artist Bao Xiying, have received with their artwork “Light of my life”…
We at Group X have just published the catalogue of the exhibition “Exit School of Architecture”, held in the…
A new form of platform economy is revolutionising teaching at the Aalto University campus. The School as a Service…
Dietmar Eberle, Professor of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich Department of Architecture and founding partner of Baumschlager Eberle…
WORKSHOP AT AALTO UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE November 24, 2017, 10:00-18:00 / Miestentie 3, room 127 INSTRUCTORS > Belinda…
Bilbao 15-18 November 2017 The travelling Human Cities exhibition in 2016-2018 presents the process and results of co-creating activities…
WORKSHOP AT AALTO UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE November 10, 2017, 10:00-18:00 / Miestentie 3, room 127 > 10-12 Introduction…
Light & Space Academy holds a new course called “Introduction to Lighting Design” this Autumn Semester 2017 at the…
Find in the next link the summary of the past Human Cities Helsinki 2017 group of events held in…
Group X is collaborating again with the Professorship of Building Design (Prof. Pirjo Sanaksenaho) in the studio course on…
We are happy to announce that Group X member M.Sc.(Arch.) Julle Oksanen, one of the Light & Space Academy…
In September 2017 Group X representing Aalto University, Helsinki partner in the Human Cities network, welcomes the other partners…
Aalto University and MIT Media Lab wish to use Aalto University Otaniemi campus and its surroundings as a Living…
Group X will participate in the Sri Lanka Hambantota International Cultural Exchange Centre and Innovation Expo Action Plan Workshop,…
Human Cities Event / Ljubljana 23–27 May 2017 PUBLIC SPACES FOR LOCAL LIFE / Shared values in diversified urban…
Architecture Building Design Master Course exhibition presents projects, which are based on a real initiative and need for spaces…
Final Review for Studio Hong Kong: Diversifying Forms of Living with the Aalto University Department of Architecture presents the…
Group X’s postdoctoral researcher Fernando Nieto is the new innovation agent for Aalto ARTS in 2017. He will represent…
Human Cities_Challenging the City Scale/Saint-Étienne 2017 Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne 9th March – 9th April 2017 After the launch…
Human Cities_Challenging the City Scale 2014-2018 March 13-14, 2017 Biennale Internationale Design Saint-Étienne 2017 Context The Cité du design,…
Belgrade Design Week welcomes its partners from eleven European cities to a unique international creative event “HUMAN CITIES/ SHARING…
The project School as a Service (SaaS), developed conceptually by Group X at Aalto University Department of Architecture in…
PhilaU – Aalto – UofO – Sustainable Luminaire & Lighting Design Competition 2016 The International Lighting Competition “InnoLight” has…
The studio course on Housing Design and Diversifying Forms of Living titled Superimposed Verticality will be presented tomorrow Wednesday…
Service Logic in Architecture course welcomes students to design architectural solutions with a social, instrumental value for users, basing…
Group X’s member Janne Saario has been selected Next Generation Leader 2016 by the prestigious American Time Magazine. Janne…
Sino Finnish 100 Challenge is organized during 2017 in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangdong in co-operation with Finnish and Chinese…
Two seminars are served as the warm up events for two architectural exhibitions: “People’s Architecture: Architect HSIEH Ying-Chun and…
Welcome to Tongji-Aalto Postgraduate Seminar on Sustainable Design ——Service logic for shaping future living environment Date: 7th October 2016…
Group X’s members Fernando Nieto and Claudia Auer will take part as teachers in the Building Design studio course…
The project called School as a Service (SaaS), developed by Group X at Aalto University Department of Architecture and…
The architectural office of Group X leader Antti Ahlava, helsinkizurich Office Ltd, has recently been awarded twice internationally. The…
A school of today and the future is more flexible and connected to the society. Old patterns of teaching…
The public sauna Löyly has just been opened in Hernesaari, Helsinki. The building has been designed by Avanto Architects,…
Ateljé Sotamaa, where our Group X’s member Kivi Sotamaa is one of the two principals, has just finished the…
Next Thursday June 2nd, the exhibition with student works in the studio course Dance House Helsinki will be opened…
Next Tuesday May 24th (09:00-14:00) we will hold the final review of the studio course at Master’s level Typological…
Aalto Festival is back again, showcasing the talents of Aalto University students, graduates and faculty. Aalto Festival 2016 will…
Kivi Sotamaa will take parte in the exhibition and symposium Archeology of the Digital. Complexity and Convention at the…
Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano, from Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos and Alvar Aalto Medal 2015, will be lecturing at the…
Group X’s member Teemu Kurkela, from JKMM Architects, will be lecturing within the Contemporary Finnish Architecture lecture series. The…
Group X’s member Claudia Auer, from Auer & Sandås Architects, will be lecturing within the Contemporary Finnish Architecture lecture…
In the context of the Human Cities partners meeting, to be held in Milan on April 13th-15th, the exhibition…
Human Cities_Challenging the City Scale/Milano will host the Human Cities annual meeting involving more than 30 participants from the…
Next Thursday January 14th at 18:00, Juan Herreros & Jens Richter will be lecturing with the title…
Images courtesy of estudio Herreros Typological Hybridizations An Urban Mixed-Use Complex on Otaniemi Campus (Mountain Man Hybrid Block) A…
The seminar JOT-Flexible Learning Places on new learning environments based on the concept of JOT project (Joustavat Oppimisen Tilat),…
Next Monday the final review of the studio course “Interactive Dance House Helsinki” will be held in the old…
The Italian magazine on architecture and design Abitare includes in issue 550 an article on the housing system Atelier…
Today Group X and the Labs for Learners studio attended the launch event of the new school based on…
Group X will be present at the 7th Annual Symposium of Architectural Research in Finland ATUT 2015, to be held…
The City of Espoo has announced the project to create a new learning environment for schoolchildren in Otaniemi in…
The second Human Cities key activity, Recode the City Festival, will take place in London on September 21th to…
As a part of the Human Cities project all the partners will host a meeting and prepare an experimentation…
Group X’s member Kivi Sotamaa is lecturing at the College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado Denver, next…
Group X is taking part in the studio course Interactive Dance House Helsinki, a Building Design studio course at…
Group X and the Aalto University Department of Architecture will organize a summer workshop & studio in collaboration with…
Next Thursday May 28th, Fernando Nieto from Group X will be presenting the paper in coauthorship with Antti Ahlava…
Next Monday May 18th at 18.00 the exhibition Final Works – Architecture Exhibition will be opened in the ground…
Our Group X’s members Antti Ahlava and Kivi Sotamaa have been awarded with an honorable mention in the international…
The first Human Cities workshop will take place in Saint-Étienne on March 16th to 18th, and Group X is…
Group X has developed programmatic ways to approach current development-related subjects
in the field of design. The subjects are approached from an architect’s point of view.
We bring the architect’s way of operating to new fields of culture.
Metaxography means the study of relationships. We work on the speculative hypothesis that architecture is not only about designing entities – such as buildings and blocks – but also about designing relationships between them and between people and the object world. Might there be types and dynamics of relationships that can be classified? Could they help us in recognizing hidden logics and exploring unknown territory in architecture? Can we learn from the study on relationships made in other fields – drama, literature, painting, or music? Can we read classics of architecture and urban design from a new perspective on relationships? Is it possible to liberate architecture from the tyranny of technocratic problem-solving? Metaxography can contribute to the theoretical and experimental development of computational architecture, where there may be found new algorithms for relationships in architecture. This emphasis concerns for example our Advanced Building Design course.
We have had many joint design projects with friends from other fields outside architecture and especially interior design, fashion design, service design and environmental design. We have accomplished integrated projects, where designers from different fields have analyzed a design task and created a concept together, followed by discipline-specific designs fitting nicely together. Almost all of our cross-disciplinary projects in building design have also been international collaborations with such institutions as Royal College of Art (service design), Shibaura Institute of Technology (urban planning), Tongji University (environmental design) and Donghua University (fashion and interior design). Our USP Capstone course is part of the interdisciplinary programme in urbanism, including political and social sciences as well as art and landscape architecture.
Instead of concentrating in technical (environmental) sustainability, which is definitely also important, our focus is on social sustainability. This refers to such themes as diversity, tolerance, memory and projection, belief and meaning, enquiry, learning, consumption, livability, cultural explorations and competence, quality of life and identity. We let others work on CO2 and the energy performances of materials and technical installations. Our past projects related to social sustainability include speculative design explorations based on the consumer generations of Japan, streetification (turning modernist road environments into lively streetscapes) and School as a Service (school environments supporting social learning).
Edited by: Andrea Esquivel Velázquez, Alejandro Campos Uribe, Antti Ahlava
Exhibition production: Andrea Esquivel Velázquez, Alejandro Campos Uribe
Professors: Antti Ahlava, Pirjo Hirvonen
Tutors: Laura Juslin, Lilli Maunula, Natalia Vladykina, Tiina Rytkönen. Visitors: Martti Kalliala, Anna-Mari Almila
Course organized by Group X with ARTS School Aalto University: Architecture + Interior Design + Fashion Design Departments, Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation SCF, Donghua University, Fashion brand Deepmoss
Human Cities final publication
Publisher: Birhäuser Verlag Basel
Editors: Cité du design Saint-Étienne, Clear Village London
Group X contributors: Antti Ahlava, Mia Hertsberg, Fernando Nieto, Saana Rossi, Jarmo Suominen, Natalia Vladykina
Edited by Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi, Antti Ahlava, Fernando Nieto
Artistic and concept direction: Antti Ahlava, Fernando Nieto
Exhibition production: Saana Rossi, Natalia Vladykina
Exhibition and graphic design: Johanna Brummer
Exhibition and participation in conference in Tallinn, Estonia
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Cité du design Saint-Étienne, 2018
Group X contributors: Antti Ahlava, Mia Hertsberg, Fernando Nieto, Jarmo Suominen, Pekka Tynkkynen
Exhibition and workshop in Graz, Austria
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Conference and workshop in Cieszyn, Poland
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Exhibition and workshop participation in Bilbao, Spain
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Edited by Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi, Antti Ahlava, Fernando NietoArtistic and concept direction: Antti Ahlava, Fernando Nieto
Exhibition production: Saana Rossi, Natalia Vladykina
Exhibition and graphic design: Johanna Brummer
Exhibition “Superimposed Verticality” at Department of Architecture, Otaniemi campus, Espoo
Content selection: Frances Hsu, Fernando Nieto
Exhibition design and organisation: HC Helsinki team (Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi)
Graphic design: Babi Brasileiro, Juho Heikkinen
Aalto University, Helsinki
Exhibition “Exit School of Architecture” in Dipoli, Otaniemi campus, Espoo
Content selection and organisation: HC Helsinki team (Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi)
Exhibition design: Johanna Brummer
Exhibition photography: Alisa Javits, Johanna Brummer
Aalto University, Helsinki
Exhibition “Human Cities projects” in Dipoli, Otaniemi campus, Espoo
Content selection and organisation: HC Helsinki team (Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi)
Exhibition design: Johanna Brummer
Graphic design: Babi Brasileiro, Juho Heikkinen
Aalto University, Helsinki
Workshop “School as a Service. Shared freetime activities” in Dipoli, Otaniemi campus, Espoo
Content selection and organisation: HC Helsinki team (Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi)
Service design: Leyla Nasib
Graphic design: Babi Brasileiro, Juho Heikkinen
Aalto University, Helsinki
Workshop within “City Science Lab @ Aalto” project with MIT Media Lab on Otaniemi campus, Espoo
Participants from Group X: Jarmo Suominen, Antti Ahlava, Anssi Joutsiniemi
Participants from MIT Media Lab: Ariel Noyman, Luis Alonso, Ryu Akatsuki
Partners: Aalto University, MIT Media Lab, City of Espoo, Aalto University Campus & Real Estate (ACRE)
Photo by Ariel Noyman
Exhibition and workshop participation in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Natalia Vladykina, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Exhibition and seminar participation within Belgrade Design Week in Kragujevac, Serbia
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Pekka Tynkkynen, Saana Rossi
Aalto University, Helsinki
Author: Natalia Vladykina
Supervisor: Jarmo Suominen
Department of Design
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
Aalto University
Teachers: Lou Yongqi, Jarmo Suominen
Supporting teachers: Kristiina Erkkilä, Antti Ahlava, Fernando Nieto
Organizer: Tongji University, College of Design & Innovation, City of Shanghai
Supporting partners: Group X, Aalto University, Helsinki; Royal College of Arts, London (Service Design); Human Cities (EU program); City of Espoo
Workshop and exhibition in Politecnico di Milano
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Pekka Tynkkynen
Exhibition content: Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Mia Hertsberg
Students works: Joshua Page, Iulia-Elena Radion, Sophia Holl | Exhibition preparation: Pekka Tynkkynen, Fernando Nieto, Saana Rossi |
Partners: Group X, Department of Architecture, Aalto University; City of Espoo
Project leaders: Jarmo Suominen, Kristiina Erkkilä
Co-creation briefings in Helsinki
Participants: Alice Holmberg, Antti Ahlava, Jarmo Suominen, Fernando Nieto, Pekka Tynkkynen, Mia Hertsberg
Participants: Antti Ahlava, Pekka Tynkkynen
Participant: Antti Ahlava
Participant: Pekka Tynkkynen
Postal address:
Department of Architecture
School of Arts, Design and Architecture
PO Box 31000
FI-00076 Aalto
Visiting address:
Otaniementie 14
02150 Espoo
Finland
info@groupxaalto.fi