Description of the studio series

The Climate Form studio aims to equip the student with a knowledge platform where architecture is examined within a context of environmental sustainability.  The studio curriculum and associated assignments will revolve around strategies for climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation and actively seek to integrate the understanding of these in form-finding processes and critical evaluation.

Deep knowledge of effects upon climate and ecology as a result of the practice of construction and the procurement of materials that forms and reshapes our physical environment is overdue as a fundamental driver for design in the Anthropocene. Resultant change in the prerequisites for design have duly created a demand for distinct changes in formal expression, a revivification of the architectural language of climate-adaptive existence. Examined through three proponents of change: Climate, Materials and Behavior, the studio seeks to engender future scenario thinking as multidimensional context to decode, integrate and react upon.

Description of studio assignments

The studio’s approach method is projective prototyping – examining typology, function, materiality and form as a result of contemporary understanding of climate change implications both regionally and globally. The main theme spring 2023 is circular design practice; reducing the environmental footprint from building materials seen in a lifecycle perspective. The material in focus; up-cycled plastics from marine industry.

The final architectural result will be a built pavilion, floating on the water by Langkaia in Bjørvika, Oslo, designed and constructed by the studio students, teachers and collaborative partners.

The pavilion will host activities revolving around the environmental collective Nordic Ocean Watch (NOW), an organization working with public outreach to increase society’s knowledge and efforts on marine plastic waste. NOW facilitate for groups and school classes to come and participate in plastic waste sorting, as well as letting the general public have access outside of manned hours.

The project is funded by Oslo Municipality, Bymiljøetaten (BYM) and is a forerunner for a larger permanent knowledge hub in Lohavn. Communication regarding environmental challenges and societal and technical solutions to marine ocean waste will extend to become part of the architectural design itself, including studies of material properties and environmental impacts, reversible construction principals and passive climatization strategies.

The studio will collaborate with Institute of design (GK4/Stein Killi) on the actual prototyping of plastic building elements and have involved several industrial partners to participate in the process with the aim to give AHO a role as a laboratory; a testbed for architectural explorations that can further inform our industry. NOW is involved in a network of organizations with similar initiatives both nationally and internationally, and has the ambition is to establish knowledge hubs in several locations along the Nordic coastlines.