Project text during midterms: 




 Through the research of my hometown Tapiola, I am investigating the effect and control of an area on one’s inner world and daily routines. As Tapiola is a concept city built in the 60s, it is well thought out and designed to the last detail. Due to the disregard of reconstruction, the town center is left empty while a new mall is built as its replacement. With the theory of psychogeography and situationism I have investigated the feel of everyday life in Tapiola. I am viewing the city as a set design, and playing with the idea of making the city changeable to your needs and daily rituals. I am using this methodology to move from urban structures to social structures, and investigate the designed path for life. I want to explore spirituality and knowledge systems that existed before the internationalization of many spaces. By gamifying the daily life experience, I want to express through my research how an individual is in charge of their own inner life and outlook on life. As well as, by reimagining tools from Finnish history and tracing Tapiola back to Finnish mythology and folklore, I can explore one’s imagination regarding their view of their daily rituals. 



FEEDBACK 

Project Title/Theme: Tapiola - Urban Environments and Individual Rituals Research question:
How can an individual take charge of their inner life and daily rituals and how much is defined by environment?

Feedback:
Well done for your in depth research and analysis of Tapiola within the context of modernist urbanism and utopianism centred around the nuclear family.
Your project was beautifully curated with your cutout installation and the research leaflet was thoughtfully crafted.
You identified the significance of maintenance (or lack of) and its impact on the urban environment over time.

Could you further develop this framing as an alternative approach to urban architecture as something that is more incremental,
sustained by maintenance and care of multiple people and communities, in opposition to the top-down, single-genius patriarchal approach represented by modernism?

How are you interpreting and reframingarchival material?
What do you want to focus on?

Interesting experiments with 3d scanning houses and walking through city - could this experience of walking become a mode of empowerment and a key driver of your design output?

Working with cutouts and nets suggests interesting comments around facades and flatness. 

Imposition of way of life on community:
Have a look at shifting and contemporary ideas around community involvement and engagement in urban planning.
What are the contemporary issues in Tapiola and how do they compare to the modernist framework?
What are you trying to poke at in terms of the modernist city plan and the more recent capitalist mall development?

Difference between imposition of modernism and convenience of mixed use integrated development.
You have identified a key point regarding the construction of cities and the intersection of urban and social structures.
How do communities take ownership over spaces that are imposed upon them from above?
Reference: Hip hop architecture by Sekou Cooke (explored specific context of hip hop but also discusses wider themes around formation of subculture in urban environment and turning that into an urban movement itself)
Finnish folklore - why is this the focus?
Is it relevant for the communities living in these neighbourhoods and structures?
Is there a risk that you are imposing a projected idea of what is natural and original onto contemporary society?
Could you be more speculative/hybrid in the mythology and symbolism you are using?
What is your agenda?
Is there a spatial element to the game?
Look at techniques of community engagement - a board game could be an interesting way for people to have a voice in shaping their environment - particularly young people?
Can your game and DIY techniques such as cut and paste and paper / boardgame be a way for people to take empowerment over their space?
What is the most important thing you take out of all the research and how can this be translated into your design output?
Is the game the whole thing or just one part of your output?
Who is your audience and who is this project for?