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MS-E1000 Crystal Flowers in Halls of Mirrors: Mathematics meets Art and Architecture is open to all students, from undergraduates to PhD students, from mathematics and engineering to art, design, architecture and chemistry to business.

A maximum of 50 students are expected at the course, and the application period ends 10 January 2023. The course is worth 15 credits and it is held once every two years.

An exhibition of the course will take place in spring 2023 at the Finnish Science Centre Heureka. A similar exhibition was also held at the Heureka in 2017, and as a result the exhibition received a lot of visibility for a period of six months.

Watch the video of the 2017 exhibition:

‘It's great that after the pandemic we have this opportunity again. Remote teaching and learning were very challenging, although in the end, thanks to the perseverance of the students, we were able to create a great exhibition in the courtyard of the main lobby of the Undergraduate Centre. We are looking forward to positive interaction between students, teachers and Heureka's designers,’ says Kirsi Peltonen, Senior Lecturer in Mathematics and responsible for the course.

As in previous years, the course will feature several guest lecturers in addition to the participating teachers Taneli Luotoniemi and Laura Isoniemi. For example, origami artist Paul Jackson from Tel Aviv will give a folding workshop for the students. Professor Marcelo Dias from the University of Edinburgh will shed light on the physics of the subject. Pirjo Kääriäinen, Professor of Design and Material Science, will bring her strong expertise in multidisciplinary collaboration to the course. University lecturer Luka Piškorec will bring an architectural perspective to the course and the exhibition will be produced by Markus Holste and Marco Rodriguez.

‘This course is group work, and it requires more commitment than participating in a theoretical course,’ says Peltonen.

The students can have a background in intermediate mathematics, but the course opens new perspectives also for example for the students with a major in physics or mathematics. Each group will be made up of students with as many different talents as possible. The course is therefore a unique opportunity to see the reality of people from other disciplines and to get hands-on. Previous courses have included students from all of Aalto's schools, from freshmen to graduate students.