Offices and work locations

Our team’s basic principle is that anyone should be able to take part, no matter where they are. In essence, this means we act remote-first and anything in-person is a bonus. We do occasionally have whole-team in-person days, and everyone should come to these if at all possible.

(To put this directly, there is much less pressure to compromise between other obligations such as child care and work Wherever you need to be, you can be and we will make it possible for you to take part in the team. I’d recommend getting a good remote work setup: at least one monitor, keyboard, etc. to feel comfortable. Officially Aalto doesn’t pay for remote work stuff, but some old supplies can sometimes be found. However, standard things that move like headphones can be bought for use at home, of course.)

Despite being “remote-first”, we should have a very low threshold for meeting in-person when it will help, especially for brainstorming or planning. Don’t forget to switch to in-person meet-ups when it’s appropriate.

Officially, people are supposed to work on-campus 40% of the time. In our team, no one is going to force someone to waste time coming to campus when we have good remote work practices going on (and it would end up fracturing our team since our online work, which everyone can participate in, will suffer). If you mostly work remotely, you should really try to come to all the possible in-person events (outreach events, in-person seminars, development days, etc.) because it will let you get to build a network outside of your main team.

You aren’t officially allowed to work outside of Finland, though, and you should not plan on this. This is probably because it affects tax stuff. But see Human resources formalities for the opportunity to work abroad for two weeks per year from some places.

We have offices scattered around the campus, and you can work wherever makes sense. Offices include:

  • CS Building (many spaces - this is the default work space for most people)

  • Kide (physics) (one spare space)

  • NBE building (one or two spare spaces)

  • TUAS building, AI Factory Hub (six ad-hoc places in shared room)

In practice, as of 2026, we do not have enough space for everyone if everyone started showing up. We will get more space if needed. This is likely to evolve in the next few years, so this may be out of date.

You can book meeting rooms around as needed. They are mostly “free” to us, so use them as you need them. For larger or all-day meetings, we have various special options, ask around. Common special meeting places usually reservable for a whole day include:

  • Donor’s Lounge (CS building - three rooms including kitchen facilities)

  • AI Factory Hub (TUAS building - big room dividable into two)

  • Emeriti Lounge (Main building)