Andy and his desk in 2011

Overall, during 2010-2011 ADF states to have had 12400 visitors, 225 tours given around the premises, and 76 different nationalities present, according to its yearbook. In 2012 yearbook there was also an estimate of 3500 given for the number of students of design, business and engineering “actively involved in different activities” during the then-four years of operations.

During the time of my fieldwork in 2011, Aalto University was ramping up its operations and visibility, and ADF was indeed one important showcase for the interdisciplinarity that was

89 In 2014, there was a notably more ”official looking” reception desk for visitors.

stated as one of the university’s key goals. This is reflected in the high number of visitors and guided tours given during that time: during my stay there was a group visiting almost every day. The groups were of a great variety, ranging from interested parties within Aalto, to other HEI’s and commercial companies. ADF was also a usual stop when explicitly showcasing the new Aalto “in action”.

“The main goal for Design Factory-project is to be a source of inspiration. We want to be a showcase for the whole Aalto University in successful courses and ideas, which creates new kind of community and support Aalto’s goals.”

Design Factory News 2.3.2012, http://www.aaltodesignfactory.fi/aalto-design-factorys-new-life/

(accessed 21.11.2012)

The staff commented that this publicity is mainly a positive thing – indeed being a showcase is one of ADF’s goals as quoted above - as well as a sign that the practices of ADF have been noted.

Visiting ADF in November 2014 I asked staff about the current amount of visitors, and I was told that ADF in fact has to somewhat limit the amount of visitors due to practical reasons. At the same time, however, there have been a number of hig profile visitors at ADF; for example the King of Sweden visited ADF in November 2014, as well as the Prime Minister of Finland hosting the Northern Future Forum at ADF. The seminar was attended by eight Prime Ministers from the Nordic Countries, the Baltic States and the United Kingdom. This seems to indicate that ADF has established itself as a regular stop when showcasing Aalto University in action, as well as a venue for high-visibility events. “This is an explonatory platform for interdisciplinary collaboration, a kind of Aalto University in miniature size. That is the reason why the prestigious visitors to the University, such as heads of state, want to come here”, says Director Ekman in the Aalto University Magazine (October 2014)⁹⁰

However, there were voices that seemed a touch tired of being the showcase: “What are we, an Aalto tourist attraction, they come here because there is no other place to visit or anyplace else where anyone is allowed to go…?”, commented one member of the staff. This and other similar comments imply that the people of the ADF thought it was high time Aalto and its

90 http://issuu.com/aaltouniversity/docs/aum-11_pdf-www-hq_2. Accessed at 12.12.2014.

promises of interdisciplinarity and new ways of doing manifested in other ways as well than only ADF. I also found that people were worried that in Aalto’s context ADF was seen as being “enough of interdisciplinarity” for now, and these types of practices were to be confined to just its’ walls.

The showcasing of ADF shows how its practices are nested in the practices of Aalto and are affected by them – as well as how the practices of ADF affect Aalto. The practice of promoting ADF as the “proof” of Aalto University’s interdisciplinarity validates its existence, and at the same time it contributed to the branding of Aalto University (on the branding of universities, see e.g. Aspara et al. 2014). The image of ADF itself has been built to my eye very purposefully and with a PR-like zeal. ADF’s presentation materials, yearbooks and other flyers are of a very high standard, and great attention is paid to the visual design of various aspects within ADF. ADF is also “commoditized” as a concept, which has been implemented abroad.⁹¹

However, in my conversations with people, some did offer critique about the “inflated goals”

of the ADF when contrasted with the reality of numbers: the number of different students attending the courses held at ADF – and thus “affected” by the practices - is still relatively small compared to the overall size of Aalto. The ADF 2011-2012 yearbook states that ADF had 500 interdisciplinary students during the academic year, whereas the overall number of Aalto students in 2013 was just under 20 000⁹². The numbers become less when one looks at the very active members of the community. Based on my own observations, the most active students were the ones participating in the long courses. This amounts to approximately 200 students. In addition, the 60 students from the master’s program of International Design Business Management were also to some extent present. There were very active days at ADF, but also very quiet days. I also observed that the turnover of people seemed to be very slow,

91 The concept of ADF has been implemented abroad, and in 2014 there were four joint projects: Aalto-Tongji Design Factory with Tongji University in Shangai (opened in 2010); the Swinburne Design Factory with Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne (opened on 2011) and Chile Design Factory with the local partners Duoc UC and Pontificia Catholic University in Santiago (opened in November 2012). There is also a new type of initiative in Delhi, India, where Design Factory India is part of developing Design Village, a new Design University in Chandigar, India, as well as activities being developed in New York (Pace University) and Geneva (CERN).

92http://www.aalto.fi/fi/about/reports_and_statistics/ accessed 10.1.2014

meaning that on a typical day, the ADF community mostly consisted of the staff and the

“heavy users”, and indeed I came to know many of the “regulars” during my stay at ADF.⁹³

8.3 Puuhamaa: Show me your brain!

At the other end of the lobby there is a space called Puuhamaa (“Activity Land”) that in 2011 was the home-base of one of the long courses held yearly at ADF, Mechanical Engineering Course “Stanford” ME310, which engaged 19 students for nine months for the academic year 2010-2011. The students were allowed to make the space their own and indeed it looked like combination of a dorm room, a garage, a café and a laboratory.