Faculty of Built Environment (BEN)

The built environment has a significant impact not only on the well-being and safety of people but also on the social and economic functionality and environmental aspects of our society. Considering the long lifespan of buildings and public infrastructures, the decisions made about their construction and maintenance have long-term consequences. The Faculty of Built Environment (BEN) conducts high-quality scientific and applied research in the fields of architecture and civil engineering and provides higher education based on this research. We maintain close ties with the broader society and engage in extensive collaboration with industry and business.

Operational performance at the Faculty of Built Environment in 2022 was slightly divided. Strong progress was made in research activities and there was a record-high level of project funding received. There was a moderate slump in the results in education. This was caused, among others, by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and, for doctoral degrees, random variation between years. However, the faculty’s year as a whole went quite well and finances were under control.

Solid progress in research activities and record high-level of project funding.

New international degree programme aroused much interest

During the year, the operations at the faculty were developed in several ways. In education, the introduction of an international Master’s Degree Programme in Civil Engineering marked a significant new opening. The content of the education was designed and student marketing started during 2022. The programme will start in the autumn of 2023. At the time of writing, we already know that a large number of applications were submitted to the two fields of study, Sustainable Transport and Structural Engineering, which provides a promising starting point for the launch of new education. In the field of Architecture, an important educational opening was the one-year education tailored for Ukrainian architecture students, which started in the autumn.

Launching an international Master’s Degree Programme in Civil Engineering marked a significant new opening in education.

Sustainable built environment a key focus in research projects

We launched several new research projects and developed our experimental research infrastructures. In the field of building services engineering, for example, a five-year study Carbon-neutral Energy Solutions was launched, examining the energy efficiency, sustainability and safety of future buildings. Many research projects at the faculty focus on a sustainable built environment.

We launched several new research projects and developed our experimental research infrastructures.

Strengthening partnership networks and celebrating awards

In 2022, we aimed to further enhance collaboration with our key partners after the pandemic years. We went around meeting our partners, and in autumn we organised a partners’ event in Tampere in which we presented current perspectives related to the activities at the faculty.

During the year, many staff members and student representatives at our faculty received various awards for their work. Leaders of the Doctoral School of Industrial Wood Construction Markku Karjalainen and Sami Pajunen received the Rantasalmi award, architecture student Meri Korpela won the Science Park Galilei wood structure idea competition by the Finnish Science Centre Heureka, Minna Leppänen received the Finnish Foundation for Technology Promotion’s award for the Teacher of the Year, Markus Pöllänen received the TREY student union’s Teacher of the Year award, Iida Kalakoski received the Cultural environment award by the Council of the Tampere region,The ProDigial programme led by Kalle Vaismaa was awarded with the commendation for the achievements of municipal technology development projects, Pirjo Kuula received the Pikku Tömppä commendation for infrastructure construction, and Eero Okkonen received the Finnish Association of Architects SAFA’s Wuorio award for his Master’s thesis.

Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment Antti Lönnqvist looks at the camera smiling.

Antti Lönnqvist
Dean

Find out more about the Faculty at our website.
Faculties’ statistics (pdf).

Highlights from 2022

Healthier climate, healthier people.
All news items concerning the Faculty of Built Environment are available here.