Yrjö Sotamaa
[1] He earned his MA in Interior Architecture and Furniture Design from TAIK, where he studied with Kaj Franck and Antti Nurmesniemi.
In 1967 and 1968 he invited to the seminars leading thinkers in design and architecture of the time including Victor Papanek, Buckminster Fuller, Christopher Alexander and Hans Palmstjerna.
He also published their lectures and writings in the famous &/SDO Magazine 2/1968 in 1968 (Editor in Chief), which has been recently included to three major exhibitions of the cultural radicalism in 1960's: You Say You Want a REVOLUTION?
In 1975 Sotamaa entered the service of TAIK as head of Department of Interior Architecture and Furniture Design and was nominated by the Finnish Government to president of the university in 1986.
President Sotamaa had also a visible role in the development of the Art and Design City, the Arabianranta area of Helsinki where the university is situated, under the notion of the Living Lab.
The concept was first put forward by MIT Professor William Mitchell, in terms of a research methodology for sensing, prototyping, validating and refining complex solutions in multiple and evolving real life contexts.
Sotamaa was elected in 2001 to be the first President of CUMULUS, the International Association of Universities and Colleges of Art, Design and Media (2001-2007).
He has been member of the Steering Group of the Danish Center for Design Research (2004–2013), the Higher Education Funding Council of England Funding Review Panel for Specialist Institutions (2015–2016), the External Review Committee of Tsinghua University, PRC (2010), the International Advisory Board of the Austrian Program for Arts-based Research PEEK (Austrian Science Foundation (2008–2012) and the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 Delegation.
He has served as chairman of the Tapio Wirkkala Rut Bryk Foundation TWRB and the Japan-Finland Design Association JFDA (Finland).
An underlining theme of Sotamaa's activities has been related to forwarding sustainable development through innovative design and international collaboration.
The exhibition was first presented in the Royal College of Art in London and toured around the world in 1994–1996 in Rome, Berlin, Budapest, Barcelona, Sapporo, Taipei, Seoul, Linz and Helsinki.
[10] The most recent major projects chaired by Sotamaa were the Radical Design Week in Shanghai 2012, the largest Finnish-Chinese joint initiative since Finland participation to world Expo 2010,[8] The Sino Finnish Challenge (main event in China celebrating 100th year of Finnish Independence in 2017), and the five year Life in Future Cities Program based on Finnish-Chinese cooperation.
The latest publication edited by Sotamaa, Jokinen and Haapoja, Out of the Box, deals with the 2010 Finnish University Reform.
Sotamaa's speeches and articles were published by Aalto University in the book Vapaus olla paras (Freedom to be the Best!).
Sotamaa has been decorated with the Chinese Government Friendship Award 2014 (the highest recognition to foreign experts in China); Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, Japan; the Golden Medal of the City of Helsinki, Finland; Commander, Order of the Lion of Finland; Commandeur in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau, Netherlands; Knight, First Class of the Order of the White Rose of Finland.
