A mysterious hatch, a pile of sandals and a very own front door – take a look at these three association spaces and their features

AT SALTSU, THERE ARE SANDALS AND UNICORNS ABOUT

Where are we?

The Vice-chair of the subject association of health sciences Salus ry Jasmine Järventausta: We are in the Arvo building, at Kauppi campus, more specifically at Saltsu which is the subject association space of Salus.

Communications and event organiser Seela Tuutti: People spending time here are mostly members of our subject association. This is our very own social space.

What makes your association space cosy and comfortable?

The Chair Maiju Kahlman: This is not the kind of study space where someone would be working quietly, and others would not be allowed to speak. We try to keep the space so that everyone is always welcome here. We hope that all of our members would feel that this space is their own.

Event organiser Marika Kuntijärvi: I think people make this place feel like home. It’s nice to come here and brew a cup of coffee or two, when there are all these people around.

How many people use the space in general?

Järventausta: It really depends on the day.

Kahlman: If we have contact teaching there might suddenly be up to 20 people in here. If that is the case, all the seats will be full and some will be standing. At Saltsu, our members will always get coffee for free, which does attract people here especially after lunch time. We also have board members on call duty here on a weekly basis.

What is special or strange about your association space?

Järventausta: Well, we have these nice decorations that we have gotten as presents. On the walls we have Salus flags made by freshers. We have made those for two years now.

Kahlman: For some reason unicorns have become our thing. For example, Biopsi recently gave us a unicorn that has a lab coat on. Though we’ve been trying to fade out this unicorn theme a little bit.

Tuutti: We have a pile of sandals here, I guess that’s a little strange. Maybe we should get a basket for them.

THE MYSTERIOUS HATCH OF SKILTA

Where are we?

Corporate relations organiser of Sähkökilta ry Elias Korpi: We are currently in Skilta, which is the guild room of Sähkökilta, the Student association of Electrical Engineering. The guild room is located at Sähkötalo, at Hervanta campus. Often students come to Skilta before or after their lectures or they come in the evening to continue their study work. This is a space for rest, a bit of a pit stop. The students visiting the space are primarily members of our guild, but all students are welcome to visit.

Skilta might actually be the only guild room in Sähkötalo that is located above ground rather than below. All the other guild rooms are located in the basement of the building called Skellari. If I have understood correctly our guild room is the former workspace of the house manager.

What makes your association space cosy and comfortable?

The space is very versatile. It is not just one open space, as many other guild rooms are, but it’s basically divided into three different parts. You can do your math homework at the study corner table or just hang around and relax on the couch. At the back of the space, is the so called “rest in peace couch”. It is a dark corner where you can go get some rest if the light hurts your eyes a little bit too much in the morning. In addition, there is also a living room-type hang-out room, where you can find couches, a TV, and a Nintendo Switch.

How many people use the space in general?

Skilta has a lot of active members. Some people hang around here almost 24/7. They come here in the morning and leave in the evening, they’re almost like a part of the space at this point. Roughly one third of our members use the space, for example, between lectures. We have about 500 to 600 students, and perhaps 100 to 300 of them use the space.

What is special or strange about your association space?

Well, we have this hatch here, at the back of the room. The hatch leads to a small space where some students sometimes spend their time.

THE LONG HOPED-FOR SPACE OF TRANSLA IS NOT YET OPEN FOR EVERYONE

Where are we?

The Chair of Transla ry Iida Seppänen: We are in the office of Transla ry, i.e. translator and interpreter students’ office – I guess you can call this an office. The space is located at the city centre campus, in the C wing of the Main building. Last year, we finally got ourselves a subject association space that we wanted for a long time. Next to us is a common space, which we share with Lexica ry and Kopula ry. Each subject association also has one of these booths.

We have not yet opened the space for our members, as we have had some challenges with the Facilities Management. We would like to restrict access to the space so that only members of our associations could enter through the front door. There is an electric lock on the front door, from which every student can pass with a student card.

However, we are trying to keep the space open by having board members on call here. Personally, I hope the space can be opened to our members as soon as possible.

What makes your association space cosy and comfortable?

You can see outside from here and enjoy the view. There’s a little strip of yard here, and you can even exit the building from Kopula’s room.

I also love this couch in particular. We received the couch as a donation from a former board member because they happened to have one they didn’t need. It’s so comfortable and a great place to take a nap.

How many people use the space in general?

If we talk about the Transla office, then I would say there would be about 20 to 50 people going about, if we could just get the space in larger use. Of course, all our members won’t fit here at the same time.

What is special or strange about your association space?

The space that Transla shares with Kopula and Lexica has a TV. I’m not sure if having a TV is kind of a luxury or do all association spaces have one. Still, it’s a nice added bonus.