Aalto University graduates as finalists for the Damy Future Award

The jury of the Damy Future Award for young architects and designers, has selected three theses as finalists, all approaching future-oriented design from distinctly different perspectives. The winner will be announced on Friday, 4 September, as part of the Architecture Focus Day programme at Habitare Pro, the professional section of the Habitare Fair.

All Finnish universities offering master’s-level education in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture or design were invited to nominate candidates: Aalto University, Tampere University, the University of Oulu and the University of Lapland. Each university could nominate one thesis completed within the past two years from each of its architecture and design degree programmes. A total of ten theses were nominated this year.

The finalist theses address current challenges and propose solutions

The award jury selected three finalist theses whose approaches to future-oriented design differ considerably. Two of the finalist projects were completed at Aalto University and one at the University of Oulu.

Agnesa Ademi, a graduate of Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Urban Studies and Planning in Architecture, explored vulnerable and contested coastlines in her thesis. Human activity is constantly reshaping coastlines, driven primarily by economic growth that often disregards natural systems. Ademi’s thesis focuses on the coastline of Singapore, which the thesis shifts from a fixed boundary towards a fluid, adaptive process. This framework envisions the coastline as a mediator zone, where human and non-human realms co-evolve and co-exist in a continual transformation. The speculative design is driven by temporality and adaptability, challenging the notion of permanence and highlighting a dynamic, process-driven relationship that embraces nature-based solutions, creating a harmonious design between human and non-human.

Suvi Heinonen, a graduate of Aalto University’s Master’s Programme in Architecture, explores how architecture can simultaneously create a sustainable urban environment and foster social sustainability. Her thesis is based on the principles of adaptive reuse, in which an existing building is given a new purpose instead of being demolished. The concrete design case is Monkola, the Lohja town hall, for which the thesis proposes a new role as a house for the people of the city. In the hybrid building, mutually supportive functions – including housing, shared spaces, workspaces and services – encourage interaction between residents and other city users.

Matias Virkamäki, who graduated as an architect from the University of Oulu, examined the conditions for preserving a nationally significant built cultural environment in Sorsakoski, Northern Savonia. The concentration of population and industry in growth centres poses challenges to the preservation of cultural environments in smaller communities. His thesis examines the past, present and future scenarios of the Sorsakoski industrial community, connecting the local case to the broader societal debate on preserving built heritage in an era of urbanisation and increasing regional inequality.

Acclaimed jury represents diverse perspectives on architecture and design

This year’s award jury consisted of three internationally oriented experts representing a broad range of perspectives in architecture and design: Maija Itkonen is an industrial designer, innovator and business executive known, among other things, for developing PowerKiss and Nyhtökaura. Ilkka Suppanen is an acclaimed interior architect, designer and glass artist who runs studios in Helsinki and Milan. Pia Sarpaneva is an architect with a long career as an architecture educator and designer in Finland and the United States. She also represents Damy’s board on the jury.

The winner of the prize will be announced on Friday, 4 September, at the Habitare Fair in Helsinki, as part of the Architecture Focus Day programme at Habitare Pro. See the full programme for the day here. 

Edit 7.9.2026: The prize winner is Agnesa Ademi. Suvi Heinonen and Matias Virkamäki both received an honorable mention, which is worth half the amount of the winner’s prize.