Suggest a new name for Otakaari 2B building

The construction of the Marsio and Otakaari 2B buildings began in February 2022. University is looking for a new name for the latter one, the Otakaari 2B building, through a name competition open to the Aalto community. The competition time is 26 May to 7 August 2023.

Otakaari 2B brings approximately 5 700 m2 for teaching, research and office space to the School of Science and the School of Electrical Engineering. The building complements the range of facilities in the universities and brings flexibility to the operation of the higher education institutions.

The long-awaited new facilities significantly increase the number of research, teaching and office spaces for experimental research in applied physics and the needs of the Department of Information and Communications Engineering. The new building will be connected to the Nanotalo building and Aalto Nanomicroscopy Center, allowing for more collaboration in the field of nanotechnology.

Closest neighbours to the building are Marsio (Otakaari 2A), Nanotalo building (Puumiehenkuja 2), Computer Science building (Konemiehentie 2) and School of Business (Ekonominaukio 1). The university organised a name competition for Otakaari 2B's sister building Marsio in spring 2022. 

Name to reflect the current and future users 

The jury looks for a name that will reflect the above-mentioned disciplines, the activities of the School of Science and the School of Electrical Engineering, and also be suitable for use by an international audience. The ideal name is monolingual, easy to pronounce and takes into account the diversity of Aalto's community and stakeholders. Examples of monolingual buildings on the campus are Dipoli, Väre and Marsio.

The jury is primarily looking for proposals in Finnish or Swedish or that something that sounds like these languages, or for example, borrowed and recognizable scientific terms from other languages, or formulations referring to these, are desirable names.

Suggestions can also include separate Finnish, Swedish and English name options (for example Kandidaattikeskus, Kandidatcentret and Undergraduate Centre). Names starting with a separate letter A refer to commercial operators on campus, so these should be avoided when making a name proposal (for example, A Bloc and A Grid). Similar names to other buildings on the campus should also be avoided.