The ideas of children and young people to be utilised in the planning of the Kulttuuriaukio Square in Tapiola – Workshops open to everyone coming in February

School of Architecture for Children and Youth Arkki offers basic architecture education for children and young people aged 4–19 in Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa.One of their branches is located in WeeGee in Tapiola, which means that cooperating on the plans for the Kulttuuriaukio Square in Tapiola felt natural to both parties.  



“With the help of the teachers at Arkki, we could get amazing, thought-out and inspiring ideas from children and young people. Analysing the ideas has been a joy and we were happy to pass them on to the designers,” says Tuuli Aaltio, Interaction Specialist at the Espoo Urban Planning Department.  

In spring 2022, the Urban Planning Department sent the Arkki students a video that presented draft-stage illustrations of the Kulttuuriaukio Square. Children and young people were asked what would make them spend time in the square and how nature or urban greenspaces could, in their opinion, be present in the square. 

During the spring lessons, the students familiarised themselves with the Kulttuuriaukio Square and developed their ideas under the guidance of the Arkki teachers. The end results were used to compile two videos that were sent to the Urban Planning Department for analysis.  

Urban greenspaces and pleasant places for hanging out were highlighted in the suggestions from young people. They had come up with ideas about a variety of greenspaces, semi-heated pavilion spaces, edible plants, and benches that have plants inside them. Different kinds of water elements and having height differences in the open spaces were also a recurring theme in several suggestions. Watch the video compilation of the suggestions young people had for the Kulttuuriaukio Square. (external link, opens in a new window)

Above all, the ideas collected from the children were connected by functionality. The core of the suggestions consisted of different variations of parks that promote playing or exercising. Different types of water elements and height differences that enable climbing or other activities were also recurring themes in the children’s ideas. 

“The ideas collected from children and young people included a lot of good proposals and things that are worth examining.They have been presented to the people working on the Kulttuuriaukio Square project and we will take them into account in the planning whenever possible.Even though it is unlikely that any of the ideas will be included in the final results as they are, the contribution from children and young people is important to us and it will influence the overall result,” says Tapiola architect Sampo Sikiö from the Espoo Urban Planning Department. 

 

 

In February, the Urban Planning Department and Arkki are holding open workshops intended for people of all ages. The purpose of the workshops is to make plans to support the planning work for the Kulttuuriaukio Square. The results of the workshops will be utilised in the preparations for the plan proposal.The proposal will likely be made publicly available in early autumn 2023.

The two-hour-long workshops will be held on 1 February and 14 February.in the Louhi Hall of the Espoo Cultural Centre, Kulttuuriaukio 2, at 17–19. The first workshop is about coming up with ideas about the future Kulttuuriaukio Square, Tapiontori Square and the Aarne Ervin aukio Square and the pedestrian and bicycle connections in the area.The second workshop will focus on developing further the ideas through three-dimensional drafting.  

Register for the workshops(external link, opens in a new window) (Registration for the 1 February workshop by 30 January) 

Read more about the workshops