From a course project to a design competition in London – Arcada’s students of Cultural Management Moa West and Emmi Koskenvesa made it to the finals in the global student competition RSA Student Design Awards. Their project focuses on how to repurpose an ageing commuter train station building.
Moa and Emmi participated in RSA Student Design Awards as a part of the course in product- and concept development. The competition is based on service design within current social issues, focusing on social, economic and sustainable solutions.
The two students chose to create a toolbox that can be applied to old and outdated train stations to develop and make them more user-friendly.
– Our idea includes suggestions regarding lighting, environmental friendliness, sound environments and convenience, says Moa – who at this point does not want to reveal more details.
– We chose not to focus on just one station, but instead create tools that can be more widely used. We invested a lot in the background work and learned a lot on how to plan public spaces, says Emmi.
It all started with an internal competition. All first year students worked in pairs with their own projects and two of them were chosen to participate in the RSA Student Design Awards. In the beginning of April Moa and Emmi got the happy news that they made it to the finals. Now they are waiting for the big final competition in London.
– The competition was a part of the course and it has been a rewarding and motivating learning method. We brought up different themes and got to use our knowledge in a concrete way, says Emmi.
The RSA Student Design Awards is the world’s oldest competition in service design. The organizers work closely with several partners and companies to develop project proposals, and continue to support and develop the winning ideas.
– It feels great to go to the finals in London. We are interested to continue to work on our idea, so we hope that we get support from the jury, says Moa.
