A Public Toilet –a Window to Values and Wellbeing of Society

`A Public Toilet –a Window to Values and Wellbeing of Society´ is a study of public toilets in the context of an indoor public space. The partner of the process is the Helsinki City Library. The topic is explored from various perspectives to get a holistic understanding of everything that should be considered in public toilet planning and how the created solutions influence the user experience. The study concentrates on the new Central Library, which scheduled to be built in 2017. It describes the often so neglected topic with fresh perspectives and can be used as a planning phase guideline and inspiration to other public buildings as well

Benefits of design practice in fieldwork: How ‘Artesanía para el Bienestar’ emerged in the field as a concept to Improve access to Healthcare in a Mayan Community in Campeche, Mexico

Design, as a discipline can make significant contributions through framing complex issues. This paper explores the values that design practice can offer in the field that cannot be created from a distance with a traditional solution seeking process. This paper presents research showing the benefit of having designers in the field and is based on a project taking place in a Mayan-community in Campeche, Mexico where design thinking was utilized as a tool for achieving sustainable societal change and increasing proactive planning in the community; specifically by generating concepts for improving healthcare. The case study herein presented, ´Artesanía para el Bienestar` (Artistry for Wellbeing) includes fieldwork that took place in the community in 2013. The goal of the fieldwork was to find solutions to increase the community´s access to healthcare and to involve a specific group of stakeholders, artisans, to this process of developing the future of the community. The essence of this paper is not to examine the result of the design process in regard to concepts and solutions created around the topic of healthcare, rather it presents the values and multiple benefits a design process in the field can bring apart from the “end-result” solutions. This case study contributes to the discussion of the role of design, and encourages designers to try new possibilities and directions in design. To achieve sustainable societal change, these aspects of design should be considered and recognized as values in future projects. Research in emergent areas such as social design and social innovation need to grow to support this process. Fuad-Luke (2013) argue that the potential of design research work to lever positive change is significant if it can move beyond the confines of academic discourse, scale up, and find mutually interested partners for these projects to capture the popular imagination

Betoni-istuin : betonin olemuksen avaus

Opinnäytetyöni purkaa ja esittelee betonin olemusta. Betonin käyttökohteet sekä luonne ja ominaisuudet materiaalina avautuvat kuvamateriaalin kautta. Lähteisiin tutustuminen ja tiedon hankkiminen toimi pohjana suunnittelutehtävälleni. Analysoin betonin ominaisuuksia ja tein tuotehaun. Tein päätelmiä siitä mihin betoni soveltuu parhaiten. Ideoitteni pohjalta syntyi betonituote Conto. Tuotteen on tarkoitus ilmentää betonin olemusta parhaalla mahdollisella tavalla sekä tuoda jotain mielestäni raikasta ja uutuusarvon omaavaa tuotemuotoilun kentälle. Rajasin suunnittelutehtäväni julkitilan istuimeen, joka ottaa kantaa ns. ”passiivisen paikallaan istumisen” - kulttuuriin. Conto on istuin, joka on suunniteltu ulkokäyttöön. Se omaa mahdollisuuden aktiiviseen liikkeeseen istuessa. Conto toimii visuaalisesti yksin sekä ryhmässä. Sen tarkoitus on piristää julkitilan, kuten puiston, ilmettä sekä käyttöä.My graduation project defines the personality of concrete. The features and characters as a material open up through images. Finding the sources and getting the knowledge worked as a starting point for my design task. I analyzed the features and I did a product search. I made conclusions where concrete fits the best. From my ideas I created a concrete product Conto. The product aims to represent concretes essence in the best possible way and it tries to bring something fresh to the field of product design. Getting to know the material and analyzing already existing things worked as a starting point for my design task where I created a concrete product Conto. The product aims to represent concretes essence in the best possible way and it tries to bring something fresh to the field of product design. I defined my design task to a seat for public space which pays an attention to a so called culture of “passive sitting”. Conto is a seat for an outdoor use. It enables a possibility for an active motion while sitting. Conto works visually alone and in a group. It aims to refresh the public space visual appearance and usability