Towards More Accessible Photo and Videography Learning Opportunities at HAMK Design Factory

The Design Factory at the Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) has increasingly started to focus on examining the possibilities of multi-purpose spaces. Among the reasons for this are the changes in the number of facilities and the feedback from the users. HAMK is also strongly moving towards the Design Based Education (DBE) model, which has an impact on how different spaces will used at the university centre to strengthen interdisciplinary learning (HAMK, n.d.-a). The HAMK Design Factory has robust expertise in photography and videography, both of which have been utilised in various projects around HAMK. However, the HAMK Design Factory has never had a separate photography and videography facilities that would enable versatile activities for recording teaching sessions or traditional photography. The current facilities have also made it difficult to offer these opportunities to everyone who has received training in the space.

Multifunctional Snapshot Room

As urban development is more constrained, maximizing the potential of current built spaces and environments appears both as a sustainable and a practical solution (Vuscan & Muntean, 2025). Multifunctionality in this context refers to the capability of a space to accommodate various and intersecting use cases. This kind of flexibility increases the efficiency of facilities, allowing for adaptation and customization of the surroundings in response to changing user needs (Vuscan & Muntean, 2025). Such adaptability makes it more possible for these types of multifunctional spaces to develop over time, without requiring large modifications to the space (Kamara et al., 2020).

To respond to these challenges at the Design Factory facilities, we are setting up a snapshot room in the old HAMK Design Factory’s Info Point space. In this space, we have now hung trusses from the ceiling, making it possible to install various lights and other accessories on the trusses. This saves valuable floor space in the facilities, allowing for as much freedom of movement as possible, and it makes it easier to modify the space for different purposes. This space is also designed to enable 3D scanning, Virtual Reality work, portrait or product photography, videography and live broadcasting. Backdrops that are necessary for photo and video shoots will also be installed in the space. In addition to this, we are installing a green curtain to cover the entire truss, which will enable more efficient 3D scanning. The space will also be supplied with mobile lighting solutions which the space administrator can modify according to the needs of the users. The cameras needed for photography and video in the space can either be borrowed from HAMK’s LeaD team or directly from the Snapshot room.

Who can use the space?

We are planning a five-credit course in English that serves as an introduction to using the space, and it will be open to all Häme University of Applied Sciences students. The course will start in spring 2026, and it will provide the students with basic skills and knowledge of photography and videography – and they will get to use the Snapshot room. The course is also designed so that it can be completed, for example, with the student’s own phone camera. The need for this type of a practical course comes directly from students in various fields, as they wish to learn more about photography and videography. Also students who currently are, or previously have been, on the HAMK Design Factory’s Product Development Project (PdP) course have requested teaching in this regard. While HAMK does already offer courses in photography and videography, at the moment they are only open to specific degree programmes. As HAMK Design Factory is committed to providing students with a variety of skills learning opportunities, following the strategy objectives of HAMK (HAMK, n.d.-b), we felt that it is important to open this opportunity for all HAMK students.

This planned Design Factory Photo- and Videography course focuses on the practical and theoretical aspects of photography and videography. On the practical side, the course deals with, for example, filming in a controlled environment, low-light photography and taking moving video images. After completing the course, the students will have the necessary skills to use the space for their various future projects. Also HAMK staff will be able to use these facilities after receiving personal guidance to using the space. This will ensure that the space is used safely, and it helps to avoid possible breakages in equipment or furniture. We will also create a reservation calendar for the facility to ensure the availability of the space and to make it possible to investigate possible damage to the space.

Challenges in versatility and open space

Especially in this type of space, where we want to enable as versatile and open an environment as possible for different users, we need to think carefully about potential risks. Since the space will be multifunctional, nothing has been made to work on a simple plug-and-play principle. This means that we need to assign responsibility to the user for modifying the space and for rearranging it after use. Versatility also increases the risk of equipment breakdowns if the user does not have the necessary training for the equipment of for using the space. To manage these risks, we are creating clear instructions and rules for the users – and we are planning to make clearly reviewing these instructions a key part of introducing the facilities to the users.

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