Campus

Otakaari 2A naming competition

A competition open to all entrants to name for one of the newest buildings at the heart of the Otaniemi campus – Gain the honour of naming our state of the art building, and win an iPad too.

Competition time 10 March - 10 May 2022

Naming competition for Otakaari 2A — Otakaari 2A. Illustration image: SARC Architects

Otakaari 2A is approximately 6,500 brm2 of state-of-the-art multifunctional space for teaching, research, art projects, productions, events and visits. All the spaces in this building utilise digital creative media technologies in a plethora of ways.

Construction began at the end of February 2022, with a plan to open the doors at the end of 2023. The building will serve the whole Aalto university and our key stakeholders, providing a platform that enables radical creativity, experimentation, and novel thinking. The key areas for teaching and research are virtualization (human & environment), visual computing, computer games, AR/VR/MR/XR applications, user-experience, AI in design and art & future cities.

Propose a name

We are looking for an iconic name with a global audience in mind, something that would bring alive the special characteristics of this building described above and in the walkthrough below. Ideally, it would be an easily pronounceable name that would work quite universally, taking into account the diversity of our community and stakeholders. However, the suggestions can also include separate Finnish, English and Swedish name options.

Illustration image set in sunset, depicting Otakaari 2 buildings in the future. People walking around and the lights are on in the building.

Outside Otakaari 2A

Whether you are traveling by car, metro, bus, tram or bike, you won’t have a hard time finding and reaching Otakaari 2A, as it is located right at the heart of the campus.

Illustration image: SARC Architects

Illustration image of Otakaari 2A event lobby with a speaker in limelight on the stage on the left and a crowd with a photographer looking at the speaker

Event lobby, 1st floor

As you enter through the glass doors, the first thing you will see is our visitor galleria – the building’s main meeting and information point, where you can learn about Aalto University and ways to explore the campus, and even take a virtual walkthrough of Otaniemi.

On this first floor you can also find large event spaces with high ceilings and cutting-edge audio-visual technologies (event lobby, event studio and e-sports theatre). Events in these spaces will offer a forum that will connect people from different fields and backgrounds, and will showcase Aalto University’s experiments in business, art, technology and science. The approach is digital-first, catering not just for the onsite audience, but also reaching to off-campus and global audiences.

The facilities, AV-equipment and services for producers will take Aalto University events to a new level, both on campus and virtually. In the data studio, researchers, students and partners will measure and understand collective human experiences in connection with different productions. Students and staff working on various creative projects will be able to loan the required AV and IT equipment from the Takeout. Last, but not least, the restaurant on this floor will keep everybody well fed and hydrated.

Illustration image: SARC Architects

Two people sit facing each other by a large editing table, intensily interacting with each other

Multicamera facilities, 2nd floor

Let’s take the stairs or the elevator to the next floor.

On this floor you will find a variety of AV facilities, such as a video and graphics hub and rooms for video editing, audio editing and color correction to name just a few. Main users of these facilities come from the departments of the School of Arts, Design and Architecture. In addition, this floor hosts digitalization of learning facilities for all and some general office spaces.

Photo: Aalto Studios

MAGICS visualisation, 3rd floor

The top floor of the building is where the magic happens. The national MAGICS infrastructure aims to fuel new research and innovations through the digitalization of perceptual data from humans and their surroundings.

On this floor you will find a variety of fascinating studio spaces used by Aalto researchers interested in virtual reality, immersive audio lab, visualizations, computer games, animation and user experience. In addition to these studio facilities, you will also find several project rooms that will be used by different research and arts projects, as well as some teaching spaces.

Illustration image: Igloo Vision Ltd

A person uses VR headset while another assists on the background

MAGICS VR studio, 3rd floor

All the facilities in this floor are interconnected to one another and the other floors through high-speed fiber network that enables, for example, the joint use of the Data Studio on the first floor and Behavioral Laboratory on the third floor.

If you think that this can’t get any better, picture also the e-sports and lanhub, self-service studio, green screen studio and smart stage, to be used for digitalization of learning, media production, innovative projects and events.

Photo: Aalto Studios

This naming competition is open to everyone.

Submit your name suggestion(s), and a short supporting explanation describing the inspiration for your choice (up to 200 words), through the form at the end of this page at the latest by the end of day on 10 May 2022. Late proposals will not be considered.

If the proposal is submitted jointly by several people, please only add one contact person in the form. If you feel especially creative, please note that one person may submit several proposals. All contact information will be removed before submitting the proposals for the jury review so that the suggestions can be judged anonymously.

The winner of the competition will have the honour of naming our state of the art new building, and will also receive an iPad 10,2” as a prize*. In the event that 2 or more entrants submit the same winning name, the judges will choose a winner based on their preferred written explanation behind the name.

*) Aalto University reports and pays the lottery tax. If necessary, the prize can be delivered by post, but only within Finland.

Naming competition is open for entries for 2 months (10 March – 10 May 2022). All the entries will be reviewed by the appointed jury during May 2022. Maximum of top 3 suggestions will be presented to the president and the communication’s director to make the final review and decision**. The winning name and the person who made the winning suggestion will be publicly announced in September 2022.

**) The winning name must not infringe already registered or established trademarks.

Members of the naming competition jury will choose up to three (3) name suggestions for final decision:

Janne Laine, Vice President of Innovation
Antti Ahlava, Associate Vice President, Campus Development
Harri Laakso, Head of Art and Media Department
Eivor Biese, Head of brand and creative
Laura Luoto, Advocacy and Communications Manager, Aalto University Student Union AYY
Mia Sirkiä, School of Business Alumni Advisory Board Vice Chairperson

Please send questions about the competition to the competition coordinator Anastasia McAvennie ([email protected]).

The answers to the questions that would benefit all the participants will also be added to the competition website, so please check the site regularly.