The urban landscape of Norwegian cities and towns is changing, so is the valuation of historical buildings and neighborhoods. The current urge for progress in the form of compact cities, planned to handle a substantial population growth, puts pressure on the existing urban fabric. In parallel with that, however, the ongoing ‘green shift’, with its emphasis on sustainability, urban denseness and energy-friendly solutions, also comes with a renewed understanding of the built environment as part of the green wave. Demolition is not always optimal from an energy perspective, especially not if historical buildings are handled, re-used and re-cycled in skillful and creative ways. Urban structures of the past can also boost social sustainability and strengthen neighborhood identity, potentially in dialogue with new additions.

For this reason, architects and planners will increasingly be asked to handle historical material in the future. An architectural brief very seldom comes without a historical perspective of some kind. Consequently, more knowledge is needed in order to manage this interesting challenge in practice. This course seeks to define and develop precisely that competence, primarily at an urban scale, through theoretical studies and practical assignments. The main question is: How can one reflect history and direct the future in one coherent process?

The aim of this course is to explore this question by studying various forms of preservation theories and cultural heritage strategies in relation to urban planning theory and practice. Experimental preservation is a key term in this respect, as is community work – to seek the engagement of local residents in order to improve social and spatial conditions within a given environment.

This term’s project looks at the morphological development of Oslo’s St Olav’s Plass and explores its sense of ‘community’ through those who live, work and use this definable ‘place’ in Central Oslo today. This traces its development since the 19th Century through to the late 20th Century additions which define its character today. The primary targets for investigation are the angular concrete Erling Viksjø and Inger A Dahl’s Domus Nova (1969) and Nils Holter’s Universitetsgata 2, (1962 & 71), the arguably Brutalist late arrivals who crashed the party at St Olav’s in the 1960s. We will use a combination of historical study and live community engagement, to understand the both ‘place’ and the relationships of people who live, work and move in St Olav’s Plass today, as a sense of fluid community.   

Archival research and maps and photographs will be used to understand St Olav’s Plass as a whole. This will be developed through community engagement (taught on the course) into a small pop-up exhibition about St Olav’s Plass, which will help to further engage with visitors and workers and the understanding of community relationships. Key in this will be uncovering whether and what type of tangible sense of community there is, insights into the relationships people have to the different aspects of the space (particularly DM & U2), and contributing to the identity of SOP through the project by providing the opportunity to discuss and raise its profile.

The approach behind this is drawn from a heritage narrative method being developed by Tom Davies (teacher) which will form part of the taught component. Students will learn about current value-based heritage work, how as practitioners we can engage with people and place. Course content will include architectural and planning background through Brutalist/Structuralist notions such as ‘As Found’ from Team X, Candilis-Josic-Woods to Christian Norberg-Schultz’ Genus Loci and more. Attention will also be given to the philosophy of habitat developed by Michel Foucault, Henri Lefebvre and Paul-Henry Chombart De Lauwe and other thinkers in this. The aim in this is to help the students to understand how today’s sustainability based planning emerged and how we can better work with communities through it.