Project Exhibition, Architecture and Design Museum’s Studio until 31 May 2025
The Architecture and Design Museum & Ornamo’s Design Academy explore and share knowledge on how design can be used in school-based learning. The activities are supported by the City of Helsinki. There is every reason to celebrate our long-term work – the Design Academy has been active in Helsinki schools for fifteen years!
More than thirty designers from various fields have brought perspectives on sustainable development into schools, engaging children and young people in designing their own living environments. The activities have taken place in over twenty different schools, across all educational levels.
Over the years, school indoor and outdoor environments have been improved, spatial solutions for preventing bullying have been explored, additional features for existing products have been designed, and self-expression through fashion has been studied. At the same time, the Design Academy’s designers have gained valuable insight from the perspectives of children and young people. This past winter, the designers working in schools were Paula Karvonen, Inka Saini, and Hannakaisa Pekkala.
The studio exhibition showcases a learning module created by pupils in grades 1–4 at Käpylä Comprehensive School. The course themes “ME, OTHERS, THE WORLD and US” guided the children in exploring space from different angles – starting with personal spatial experiences and culminating in a creative group project where bodily sensations of individuals merged into a shared whole. Each theme built understanding of how the body and space are connected, offering the children opportunities to learn creative problem-solving and develop their own design thinking. As a final project, the children built The City of Emotions – an installation made from recycled materials, which will be exhibited at the Design Museum in January 2025.
Hanna Kapanen
Curator of Learning
+35850 30168 38
hanna.kapanen@designmuseum.fi
Photo: Anni Koponen
