Students created visionary solutions to the campus question at Aalto BEST ? Competition

Aalto BEST ? Competition resulted in new angles and perspectives related to Aalto University’s campus question at Aalto Design Factory on Friday, 19th February.

The one-day case competition, open for all Aalto students, challenged the student teams of 4 participants to come up with creative solutions that answered to the what, where and why of Aalto University’s campus dilemma. In just six hours, the teams had to prepare a presentation of a novel solution to the future of student life at Aalto.

Great intensity, fresh thinking

The results showed that Aalto students are anything but narrow-minded. All teams approached the question from a different viewpoint. Some recommended an Otaniemi or a Helsinki-based campus, others saluted web-based campus solutions or innovative transportation systems. The practical concepts relating to the campus question ranged from Otaniemi bicycle tubes to Second Life applications. The winning team’s solution focused around multifunctional Aalto tower buildings that would enable Aalto students to live, study, work and interact together on a daily basis at a single campus.

“The competition showed that creative power can produce astonishing results in a very short time. It was wonderful to see young people work with such great intensity”, said Markku Lahti, one of the judges and a representative of the city of Helsinki.

“These students should be heard”

Kalevi Ekman, the director of Aalto Design Factory, had equally positive feedback for the competitors: “I think all Aalto professors and people involved in the transformation process should have been here today. When creating something new, the basic rule is to think big. The students grasped this and came up with some extraordinary solutions.”

The competition was organized by BEST, a non-profit European student organization whose aim is to bring students, universities and business life into closer co-operation that is profitable for all. The winning team was awarded a trip to the regional BEST competition in Copenhagen, Denmark, at the end of March.

More information:

• Aalto BEST ? Competition team, aalto.comp@gmail.com
• Antti Tanner, antti.tanner@tkk.fi