The Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture is a Nordic leader in higher education for design, fashion, games, media, architecture, film, art education and art. We produce world-class research in art education, design and design thinking, digital media and visual culture, urban planning and architecture. Our graduates innovate in and beyond their fields, drawing on over a century of tradition, a humane and forward-looking approach, and the latest technologies. Our new campus in Espoo, just west of Helsinki, makes working together among and across disciplines easier than ever before.
The Department of Architecture at Aalto University is an internationally renowned education and research unit (within top 3% in the world in architecture). With respect to Finland’s esteemed architectural heritage, we search for new solutions to the challenges of sustainable development. To us, architecture is an art form that requires practical skills and individual artistic development, as well as knowledge on sustainability relevant to design and planning. We educate critical thinkers who accept their responsibility to research and design a socially, culturally, and ecologically sustainable built environment. The Department of Architecture offers degree programmes in architecture, landscape architecture and interior architecture. Currently, the BA level courses are taught primarily in Finnish whilst MA and doctoral level studies primarily in English. For more information, please see: http://architecture.aalto.fi/en/
The Department of Architecture invites application for the position of:
Assistant or Associate Professor in Interior Architecture (tenure track or tenured)
The position will begin on 1 August 2025 or as agreed, and it is placed within the Programme of Interior Architecture in the Department of Architecture. The professorship is full-time. The Aalto tenure track system principles are explained at
www.aalto.fi/en/tenure-track.
Interior Architecture has a long and illustrious history at Aalto University and its predecessor with consistent international visibility and recognition. To maintain its leadership in the field, Aalto ARTS has opened a call to find a tenure track or tenured professor in Interior Architecture whose task is to update the field to meet the complex demands of today and the future. The purpose of the professorship is to elevate and redefine the field of interior architecture by developing teaching and artistic/professional activities and creating an interface towards forward-thinking creative practice and research based on the strong tradition of the field, contemporary challenges, and future perspectives of sustainability. Activities of the department are located mainly in the Otaniemi campus of Aalto University in Espoo (Helsinki metropolitan area).
Your role and goals
As a tenure track or tenured professor, we expect you to teach/tutor students in their design projects, to introduce them to the history of interior architecture and relevant theory, and to conduct and lead practice-based and/or research activities advancing the field. This entails practice, theory and experimentation with existing and emerging skills, technologies and materialities. We also expect you to participate in service to the Aalto University community and encourage you to interact actively with society at large and the stakeholders outside the academy. In all levels of the tenure track system, a professor is expected to perform high-quality research and/or artistic activity with societal impact as well as teaching at post-graduate, graduate and undergraduate levels, to be an active member of the international design research and practice communities, and to exhibit academic leadership. Advancements in the tenure track are based on scheduled performance assessments, which consider the candidate’s merits in all these areas. We are interested in finding a colleague who has the ability to communicate and engage with students, the team and other faculty members in an inspiring and accessible way.
The applicants are evaluated in a holistic way. This means that an applicant is evaluated not on fulfilling every single criterion but, rather, on the overall combination and balance across dimensions and as relevant to the field and type of professorship. Please find more information on the School of Arts, Design and Architecture’s tenure-track criteria
here.
Your experience and ambitions
The emphasis of the position is in creative and forward-thinking interior architecture practice, and an ambitious vision to expand it beyond the disciplinary borders through teaching and research. Profound expertise in the field of the professorship is required, and international experience and familiarity with the Nordic countries is of advantage. The candidate should have experience in university-level teaching. Experience in leading academic or professional research projects is an asset.
For this professorship the applicant is expected to have:
· Broad professional knowledge and experience or a strong profile in conceptual and experimental practice in interior architecture
· Ability to teach and engage students at the university level. Pedagogical training is a merit.
· Experience in versatile collaborations with relevant partners in the field of interior architecture and its related businesses.
· Knowledge of sustainability and circular economy
· Strong competencies in interdisciplinary collaboration
· International networks within the field of design and architecture
· Experience of successful funding applications and/or collaboration in research in an academic environment is a merit.
· Applicants are expected to have a minimum master´s degree in interior architecture or relevant field. A doctoral degree in architecture, interior design, design or in some other relevant field is valued.
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Knowledge of Finnish and/or Swedish is of an advantage.
The applicants will be reviewed on the basis of the following areas: design merits; teaching, research and collaborative skills; and active participation and leadership in the professional or academic design community.
What we offer
We are located on the Aalto University campus in Otaniemi, Espoo, with several other neighboring research institutions and organizations. We offer you a possibility to work within a well-resourced learning, research, and art & design community. The School of Arts, Design and Architecture has a well-equipped infrastructure for research and artistic activities, including top-class audiovisual and workshop premises. We are the only university in Finland that offers studies and conducts research in the fields of architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture, as well as urban design and urban planning. The Professor will be part of an inspiring and supportive community of experienced professionals and highly motivated students. The Professor will also have the opportunity to use the Department’s extensive networks both nationally and internationally, and enjoy our great resources to build educational workshops, master classes and student productions with the help of our production service, Aalto Studios (
https://studios.aalto.fi/).
The salary will be defined based on the applicant’s qualifications and level of the position and will follow the
Aalto University salary system. In addition to the salary, Aalto University provides its employees with occupational health care and excellent learning and development opportunities.
Ready to apply?
To apply, we kindly ask you to submit your application materials through our recruitment system on
13 January 2025 (Eastern European time UTC +2) at the latest. Please find a link to the recruitment system at the end of this application announcement. The following application materials should be submitted in English and in pdf format (please note that the maximum size per document is 5MB):
· Motivation letter (1-2 pages)
· Curriculum Vitae according to the guidelines by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity
https://tenk.fi/en/advice-and-materials/template-researchers-curriculum-vitae
· Design and/or research portfolio including max. 10 most significant projects (max 20 pages, if size more than 5 MB please provide a link). In case of team work, please describe your role in more detail.
· A teaching portfolio, based on
Aalto University guidelines, including information on your teaching methods, responsibilities regarding course preparation, experience in supervising theses and feedback you have received (max. 8 pages).
· Statement giving brief overview of your ideas regarding the future development of the field and describing your vision of your research and/or artistic work and teaching in the field of Interior Architecture in case chosen to the position (max. 2 pages).
If you already work at Aalto University, please apply for the position by using
your existing Workday user account! Please see how to apply as an internal applicant
here.
In the second stage of the recruitment process, the recruitment team will select the candidates who will be invited to a site visit to the Department of Architecture in spring 2025. During the site visit, the candidates will be interviewed and asked to give a teaching presentation, for which the instructions will be provided in advance. Applicants will also have the opportunity to meet with staff and students and to present their work in a more informal way.
During the evaluation process, we will ask four external reviewers to give their individual assessment of the shortlisted candidates. Furthermore, Aalto University may use an academic leadership assessment for the candidates in the final phase of the application process. In the academic leadership assessments, we will evaluate candidates´ ability and potential to lead a team. Academic leadership assessments include preliminary tasks and self-assessment methods, interactive methods, and a consultant interview. The assessment itself is a coaching and objective situation, which also provides the candidates tools for their career development.
Aalto University reserves the right to leave the position open, to extend the application period, to ask for supplementary materials, or to consider additional candidates who have not submitted applications during the application period.
For more information
For additional information, please contact Chair of the Departmental Committee, Associate Professor Tomek Rygalik: tomek.rygalik(at)aalto.fi
In questions related to the recruitment process, please contact HR Specialist Satu Pöyhönen: satu.poyhonen(at)aalto.fi
About Finland
As a living and working environment, Finland is a great place for living with or without family - it is a safe, politically stable, and well-organized Nordic society. Finland is consistently ranked high in quality of life and was just listed again as the happiest country in the world:
https://worldhappiness.report/news/world-happiness-report-2024-most-comprehensive-picture-yet-of-happiness-across-generations/ For more information about living in Finland:
https://www.aalto.fi/services/about-finland
Visit Aalto University virtually on our
virtual campus tour.
More about Aalto University:
Aalto.fi
youtube.com/user/aaltouniversity
linkedin.com/school/aalto-university/
www.facebook.com/aaltouniversity
instagram.com/aaltouniversity
twitter.com/aaltouniversity
