Open for students in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Mandatory first semester course for Master in Landscape Architecture. Basic knowledge in architecture, urbanism and landscape.
The aim of the studio is to address the topic of how to create a campus for AHO, in connection with the existing landscape and the city, by designing small scale interventions, to facilitate new use of the campus. Today, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design is situated in an area with a complex natururban tissue, integrating a wide range of programs and activities, structures and infrastructures, with many stakeholders and interests. There is a need to reimagine how the school relates, interacts, and contributes to define, its environment. The studio seeks to contextualise the site in its surroundings, taking on both a contemporary and historical view. We explore how human presence and natural forces have changed the landscape throughout time, and take into account the complexity of the interplay between historical forces,structures and elements. Using our understanding for an ever changing landscape as a premise, we design solutions for public spaces, that in addition to having a historical perspective, integrate the aspect of future sustainability. We will experiment with hypothesises for what characterizes concepts that are valuable over time, that integrate site-specifics, seasonal cycles, and achieves significant impact through small scale design intervention.
In 1933, Akerselva was the first area to be regulated as a water park in Oslo, by landscape architect and city gardener Marius Røhne. Today, the park area is widely used by the inhabitants of Oslo, all throughout the year. The area referred to as Campus Akerselva, is comprised of the areas between; and tangent to; the three university level educational institutions located just north of the Vulkan Complex. The institutions mentioned are the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (since 2002), Oslo Art Academy (2010), and Westerdals School of Communication (2011). Despite
the three schools being located closely together, and with overlapping and related disciplines, there is little to no sense of a campus tying the institutions together. AHO has recently initiated a new five year program for Landscape Architecture, the upcoming curriculum for which will be in need of more outdoor spaces and testing grounds for studio work, projects, and big scale landscape models. An assessment of opportunities has been conducted to map potential avenues of development, aimed at addressing these needs, as well as general development of the school, the shared campus, and the school surroundings.
Knowledge:
The course presents the students with a theoretical understanding-, and a framework for assessing and understanding the landscape, building on key concepts for designing and evaluating interventions in public spaces. Over the course of the semester we will engage in theoretical discussion, focusing on the application of different theoretical perspectives to specific cases, and aspects of the Akerselva Campus. As a student, you will acquire knowledge about the frameworks for mapping and understanding the complex dynamics of the landscape and its processes, complete with accurate terminology, building on relevant theories. In addition you will become familiar with mapping and design processes, knowing different stages, process elements, and other key concepts.
Skills:
The coursework relies on basic tools and software within landscape design in order to represent spatial and material conditions. Examples of these are Autocad, Arc GIS, Adobe package, 3D modelling programs (Civil, Rhino), and others. We will apply various tools for mapping, analyzing, and assessing sites, and capture insights about needs, challenges, and opportunities for design. Through the creative group process of integrating insights from mapping into feasible designs, you will learn key principles and tools for designing and running creative processes: Both individually and in groups.
General competence:
The course aims to develop the students ability to combine and integrate insight about the landscape in a creative process, leading to a specific design, that can convincingly contribute to achieve specific development aims for the area. Graduating from the course, students will have developed awareness of how various aspects and factors affects a specific site, and will be able to describe these factors from a theoretically informed perspective. Using mapping tools, they are able to derive insights about the specificity of the site, and review those insights in both a theoretical and an applied perspective. Finally, using a conscious creative process, they are able to integrate theoretical and applied perspectives to device designs that take site specific aspects into account, and make meaningful interventions.
The studio is organised around three phases:
01 Mapping phase. Group work. Contextualising the site. GIS-based mapping and series of walks on site. Lectures by experts, stakeholders and users.
02 Concept phase. Individual work. Study trip to Paris: park, gardens and public spaces. Addressing spatial and material conditions through models and maps. Reference lectures. Theoretical discussions.
03 Design phase. Individual/Group work. Formulation of project. Small scale design intervention. Reference and Methodology lectures.
Form of assessment | Grouping | Grading scale | Comment |
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Project assignment | Individual | Pass / fail |
Workload activity | Comment |
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Attendance | |
Individual supervision |