Nina Edwards Anker is set to defend her PhD thesis ”Mediating Sunlight: Sensing Solar Cells” at AHO on Monday 7th of November.

Trial lecture 10.00: "Climate Diversity and Adaptation: measure and meaning in architecture"
Disputation 12.00 Disputation 

PhD thesis​:
What can solar cells do for design? The current approach has been dominated by answers in terms of effectiveness, technological and financial. With a point of departure in the continental tradition of architecture writings and philosophy, this thesis seeks to explore the potential affectiveness of solar design. It discusses the new technology in view of the phenomenological tradition, as in the writings of Karsten Harries and Judith Butler, and their predecessors, such as Jan Patocka, and especially Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

The designs are at the core of this dissertation, which consists in reflecting upon eleven of the author’s works, made as an integral part of the PhD, and seven works by others. They range in scale from products, furniture, architecture, to urban/landscape installations. The central theme is that of the dynamics of perception. In the moment of perception named the affective encounter, solar designs can connect human beings in mind and body with their natural environments. Exploring the layers of affective fields in solar design can help us to understand the relations between nature, technology and perception. Most importantly, architects and designers can begin to integrate photovoltaic panels in terms of how they work affect-wise. Given the environmental crisis we are living in, this technology presents an untapped resource, offering designers fertile opportunities for engagement.

Candidate:
Nina Edwards Anker (1971) is an architect and designer. She received her Master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (2001) after having completed two years at the Architectural Association. Edwards Anker started NEA Studio, an experimental design collaborative that integrates environmental principles into design, in Oslo in 2006. In addition to practicing architecture, she has exhibited her solar lights and furniture widely, and she won the 2015 Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design Award for her Landscape Sofa. Her work is currently on display at New Lab in New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she is a researcher, designer and architect.

Supervisor:
Professor Bjørn Normann Sandaker, Institute of Architecture, AHO has been her supervisor. 

Adjudication Committee​:
Professor David Leatherbarrow, Department of Architecture, School of Design, University of Pennsylvania. First opponent.
Docent Marie-Claude Dubois, Department of Architecture and the Built Environment, Lund University. Second opponent.
Professor Andrew Morrison, Institute of design, AHO. Third Member and Coordinator