Toni Kauppila

Toni Kauppila’s professional profile is two-faceted, to say the least. He holds a degree in architecture, and in his ongoing PhD dissertation work he also has a strong foothold in pedagogical studies in art. At the moment, his time is divided between two academic institutions: he is finalizing his dissertation for Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture, and he also works as the professor and the head of spatial and furniture studies at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

In addition to having established his architectural office rather early on his career, he has also been a visiting lecturer and guest teacher in various Finnish and international academic institutions since 1999. Furthermore, Kauppila has developed a practice on the field of product and spatial design. For instance, his Tatit stool has been featured in several design magazines internationally, as it won the Wallpaper Design Award in 2010. Also, such Finnish brands as Marimekko and Stora Enso have had their stores designed by Toni Kauppila.

The combination of interests within the realms of built space and nurturing through art has surely shaped Kauppila’s PhD project. The Space for Unforced Errors – Choreographing the Architectural Drama of the Everyday is a body of research that asks how to develop architectural design methods to better serve dynamic and active urban spaces.

The project has its origins in a research group called School of Unforced Errors that Kauppila co-founded in 2008. In his dissertation, Kauppila examines architectural spaces as phenomena that encompass rich urban, social and anthropocentric elements. During his one-month stay as the FCINY’s artist-in-residence, he will advance his research by exposing it to the architectural discourse in New York.

In New York, Kauppila will also organize a live-installation to support his research in the cross section of performative arts and architecture. As a collaborative effort with a local academic institute, the installation urges the participants to discuss social aspects of the urban environment, as well as the potentiality in design and architecture to contribute to the development of urban culture.