LUCI Annual General Meeting
Helsinki- Speakers

Mikko Aho, Director of City Planning, Architect, City of Helsinki

Mikko Aho is currently the Director of City Planning at the City of Helsinki. Previously he served both as Municipal Manager and Director of Development of the Municipality of Sipoo. He has also been the Technical Director of the City of Karkkila and City Planner at the Municipality of Mäntsälä. Aho began his career working as an architect and designer in several architectural offices. He also served as a jury member in architectural competitions and held various lectures on city planning.

Riitta Jalkanen, Architect, City of Helsinki

Riitta Jalkanen is an architect and has worked for the Helsinki City Planning Department from 1974 to 2013. During that time, between 2002 and 2013, she was the leader of the Kruunuvuorenranta project. She has also taught at The Technical University of Helsinki (Aalto University) between 1983 and 1987 and from 1991 to 1998.

Over the course of her career, Riitta Jalkanen has given lectures concerning city planning at several universities and congresses. She has also written the book “Planning of Residential Areas” with a group of authors, had articles published in professional publications, and been a jury member for several architectural competitions.

 

Olli Markkanen, Office Manager, Public Works Department, City of Helsinki

Olli Markkanen graduated in 2001 with a Master of Science from the Helsinki University of Technology. In 2002 he started as the manager of Outdoor Lighting at Helsinki Energy. The network and organisation moved this year to the Public Works Department, where he is currently the Office Manager. Previously he has also been in charge of the lighting design for the neighbouring cities, and Helsinki Vuosaari Harbour project.

Tapio Rosenius, Director, Lighting Design Collective, Madrid Helsinki London

Tapio Rosenius is the founder and design director of the Lighting Design Collective (LDC). The company has three studios based in Europe (Madrid, London and Helsinki) and operates globally. LDC specialises in customised architectural lighting solutions and light art, with a uniquely integrated portfolio covering cutting-edge services such as digital content creation, software development and design strategies.

Originally from Finland, Tapio worked in Great Britain from 1998 until 2009, when he founded the LDC studio in Madrid, Spain. He is a designer and an artist with over a hundred completed projects in 23 countries throughout Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His work with light has been recognised by numerous received awards from the fields of lighting design, architecture and art.

Juhani Sandström, Lighting Manager, Public Works Department, City of Helsinki

Juhani Sandström graduated from the Helsinki University of Technology with a Master of Science (Tech.). He has been working as the Lighting Manager at the City of Helsinki since 2003. He is responsible for outlining the quality, targets and financing of public lighting in Helsinki. Before his current position, Juhani Sandström has been working as the project leader at the City of Helsinki, in a private design company and the Finnish Road Administration.

Roope Siiroinen, Principal Lighting Designer, Owner, VALOA design Ltd.

Roope Siiroinen received a Masters Degree in lighting design from the Department of Lighting and Sound Design of the Theatre Academy in 1995. In 1996, Siiroinen founded Valoa Design Ltd., one of the first lighting design offices in Finland specialised in architectural lighting. He has since been the CEO and head designer of the company.

Siiroinen has won several national and international lighting awards, including the city.people.light award 2005, Edison Award of Excellence in 2007 and Special Citation in 2008. Of his most recent projects, the most significant ones are: the Senate Square in Helsinki, Valovoimainen Pirkanmaa – the regional masterplan for Pirkanmaa county, and Valoviikot – the annual, traditional lighting festival in Tampere.

Eveliina Juntunen, Research Scientist, D. Sc. (tech.),VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Eveliina Juntunen received the Master of Science (Tech.) and Doctor of Science (Tech.) degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Oulu, Finland, in 2004 and 2014, respectively. In 2004, she joined the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, where she works as a research scientist in the Intelligent sensor systems business area. Her current research interests are in the area of LED lighting including smart system integration, packaging and thermal management.

Tülay Schakir, Visual Artist, Lighting Designer, Doctoral student, University of Arts, Helsinki

Tülay Schakir is a lighting designer and visual artist. Currently she is a doctoral student at the University of Arts Helsinki and her research title is “Light, Perception and Being as Art”. She has worked on diverse projects including stage design, stage lighting, architectural and environmental lighting and visual light art. She has received various awards for both lighting design and visual arts.

Visa Salojärvi, Meteorologist, Foreca Ltd.

 

Visa Salojärvi began working as a meteorologist at the Finnish Meteorological Institute. During that time he also worked as a part time meteorologist for the first Finnish commercial TV channel MTV3. Since 1999, he has been working for Foreca Ltd., the largest commercial weather forecasting company in the Nordic countries, and from 2000 as a full time meteorologist at MTV3.

Piia Pasanen, Journalist

Piia Pasanen is a Finnish journalist and TV presenter. She has worked for Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE for almost 20 years in different programmes, mainly as a news anchor. Piia Pasanen also works as a moderator.

 

Jari Lyytimäki, Senior Researcher, Finnish Environment Institute

Dr. Jari Lyytimäki is a senior researcher at the Environmental Policy Centre, Finnish Environment Institute and Adjunct Professor at the University of Helsinki. His research areas include environmental communication and management of emerging environmental issues such as light pollution. He has co-authored an award-winning Finnish-language book on light pollution (2013, University of Helsinki Press).

Pia Rantanen, Architect, Public Works Department, City of Helsinki

Pia Rantanen has an architecture degree from Tampere University of Technology. She has also studied lighting design, industrial design and naval architecture at Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture. While working in the Public Works Department at the City of Helsinki for the past six years, she has specialised in urban design and city scope, bridges, public art and light art, outdoor lighting and service design.

Sirpa Laitinen, Interior Architect, IMIAD, Design Studio, WSP Finland Ltd.

Sirpa Laitinen has been working for the Finnish based company WSP since 1989 on versatile urban environment projects. She is an experienced project design manager in the Design Studio unit. Laitinen is specialised in urban lighting and accessibility. It is her ambition to research and develop accessible lighting for all users. Recently she has finalised a study on station environments for “Lighting For All”. She did her postgraduate master thesis in international interior design in 2008 on the experience of using metro stations and their accessible lighting.

Pia Salmi, Industrial Designer, MA, Design Studio, WSP Finland Ltd.

Pia Salmi is an experienced industrial designer who works as the Design Studio’s unit manager. She specialises in urban townscape design, service design and architectural lighting in multidisciplinary WSP projects. Over the past ten years she has been actively developing the use of user-centric design methods and constant interaction with the citizens and stakeholders in their projects.

Ilkka Paloniemi, Artistic Director, Lux Helsinki

Ilkka Paloniemi, the artistic director of Lux Helsinki is a lighting designer, artist and leading consultant in performance art spaces and technologies. He holds a Master of Arts degree and a degree in pedagogical studies. Since 1981 his work has included several lighting designs for the theatre, opera, music, contemporary dance and festivals in Finland and on the international scene. He has given lectures and taught courses at all the main art schools in Finland. He has been a head designer of several events and shows. His light art installations have been presented, for example, in European Cultural Capital events in Helsinki 2000 and Turku 2011.