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Space21 Newsletter #1

Published:
24 different projects. 3 community events. Films developed with coffee, doughnuts for economics, apocalyptic games. Welcome to the Space21 newsletter #1.
Indoor green plants on a windowsill with text overlay: SPACE21 NEWSLETTER #1

What does creativity look like, when given a space to bloom?

This past summer at Space21 has been full of life, with 24 different projects bringing warmth and activity to this lovely community corner of Aalto University. Let's take a peak inside to see what it's all about!

Author: Duc Chu

No comparable space exists on campus!

a Space21 Tenant, in the Space21 annual survey

TENANTS' HIGHLIGHTS

Apocalyptic games, doughnut economics, sustainable film cafe, and more! Here are some highlights from our amazing Space21 Tenants.

Classical painting of a human hand reaching toward a red‑tipped robot claw among soft clouds
Group of people chatting around a long wooden table with drinks and snacks in a bright kitchen
Three people crafting at a large white table covered with colourful fabrics and art supplies in a bright studio

Playing games at breakfast!?

Community Breakfast is our monthly breakfast, hosted by different tenants who can present their work to the Space21 community.

This time the host was Lakeside Games, an indie studio presenting a demo of their apocalyptic adventure game. Check out their first game Twilight Ferry on Steam  or Get to know them through Discord

Group of people chatting around a long wooden table with drinks and snacks in a bright kitchen
Three people crafting at a large white table covered with colourful fabrics and art supplies in a bright studio
Office kitchen counter with blue film dropbox, camera, mugs, cookies on a plate and a white sculpture.

Donuts every Monday!

Not the kind of donuts you think! Doughnut Economics Finland Initiative (DEFI) hosts a Donut Doing every Monday - a focused and action-oriented session trying to put into practice a holistic economic model, which focuses on wellbeing of people and planet as the goal for the 21st century rather than the 20th-century goal of infinite GDP growth.

If you're interested in DEFI, you can join the DEFI Telegram group

or come to Donut Doings every Monday from 16-18!

Three people crafting at a large white table covered with colourful fabrics and art supplies in a bright studio
Office kitchen counter with blue film dropbox, camera, mugs, cookies on a plate and a white sculpture.
Hand-painted green and white banner on a table reading: PLANT BASED CAMPUS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

Films made with coffee!

Luigi's is a experimental project focusing on making film & photography more sustainable and beautiful. They are testing developing films with coffee grounds from their own pop-up café. Their base operations are in Space21, but they also host café pop-ups in Väre and photowalks in Helsinki. Book a film development service with Luigi's

Office kitchen counter with blue film dropbox, camera, mugs, cookies on a plate and a white sculpture.
Hand-painted green and white banner on a table reading: PLANT BASED CAMPUS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
Classical painting of a human hand reaching toward a red‑tipped robot claw among soft clouds

Do you want a chocoball?

The first greeting you get when you talk to any Plant-Based Aalto (PBA) members! PBA is part of a global network pushing for a more sustainable food systems in campuses, and are now using Space21 to make their banner and host meetings. And making chocoballs too!

Get to know them on Instagram

Join in on the action on Telegram

Hand-painted green and white banner on a table reading: PLANT BASED CAMPUS FOR SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
Classical painting of a human hand reaching toward a red‑tipped robot claw among soft clouds
Group of people chatting around a long wooden table with drinks and snacks in a bright kitchen

Robot looking for humans!

Wanna build a robot that reads you and responds through action and craft — one meant to surprise you in how it interacts, not just what it does? 👀 

As part of the Summer Robotics Challenge by Robotics Nation, the XLeRobot by RoboMates is already up and running (teleoperation, multi-camera + depth sensing, calibration), and right now they are teaching it to complete its first real mission. They're looking for 1–2 people excited about robot learning, imitation learning, or human-robot interaction to help push this into a polished demo before October.

Contact RoboMates to join in the Summer Robotics Challenge!

COMMUNITY LIFE

This section describes how people have come together to contribute to the community life at Space21, whether through cleaning up, or co-designing the House Rules together. 

Large black community notice board covered with printed flyers and notes, framed by green painted vines
Through a participatory process with the tenants, Space21 Community Notice Board was made for Space21 tenants to interact, draw, and cross-pollinate among different projects. The notice board is continuously updated to keep the most relevant info visible.
Poster in white hallway advertising Space21 Cleanup Day with free pizza, drinks and music, hand holding a cup.
We came together to clean up Space21 before the semester, with free pizza of course. Many people chipped in and we cleaned the whole space within 2 hours. The Cleanup Day will be a regular community event for people to help upkeep Space21 together!
Group of young adults sitting around a table cooking and talking in a bright, plant‑filled room
How do we govern a common space together? Inspired by commoning principles, tenants were invited to co-design the Space21 House Rules - a living document that outlines how we manage the premises in a creative and collaborative way.

UPCOMING EVENTS

What would be happening in Space21 in the next months? Check out:

  1. September 4th - TiLA! Opening Party: a grand opening for a creative co-working space for creative companies, just upstairs in the same building as Space21!
  2. September 24th - TiLA! & Space21 Open Doors: a public event for anyone to come and see what is happening in the creative corners of TiLA! and Space21, with light guidance and good vibes.
Bright empty industrial room with ducts and large TILA! text in bold blue across the space

TiLA! Opening Party (external link)

Join the TiLA! Opening Party on Sep 4th 2026 and peek into creative work, the emerging community and entrepreneurship in the creative fields!

Poster for Aalto University open doors event in modern studios, with bold blue text and date details.

Space21 & TiLa! Open Doors - September 2026

Come and find out what happens when creativity is given the space to flourish!

– Events

Subscribe to the Space21 Newsletter to know about the next newsletter!

Interested in staying up to date with the creative side of Aalto University? Subscribe to the Space21 newsletter to receive an email every time a new issue is released!
Subscribe to the Space21 Newsletter

CREDITS:

  • Contributors: Fabio Ravera
  • Updated:
  • Published:
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