Course content

Field Stations — New Agenda for Times of Crisis
Often located in an outlying area or an area where research or a venture is under way, a field station is by definition a post, camp or place intermittently occupied to accommodate activity.

Understanding the field station as a small open structure that seeks to witness, sample and host recurring activities, we will work with the design and construction of a COVID testing and immunisation pavilion in Oslo.

With the current pandemic our existing life patterns have come to halt and a demanding a change in our behaviour and the way we inhabit the city. While the world is locked home, waiting for the promise of a vaccine, we will use the space of the studio to reflect on the current situation and practice practice.

The course will set up an interdisciplinary collaboration with the nursing school at OsloMet and SiO Health, which are currently supporting the testing effort of Oslo Kommune with two temporary test stations located at UiO (Blindern) and OsloMet (Bislett).

Lightweight Architecture
The studio will continue to work with lightness as a framework to build and challenge more permanent and static building solutions. Another way of understanding the concept of lightweight in architecture is to think about ephemeral building —everything that minimizes construction material, doesn't weigh much and, therefore, has special properties.

With this concept in mind, the studio seeks to understand the complexity of a building’s life cycle, trying to anticipate not just how it will be built and used, but also how it will be maintained and disassembled; and investigating the full potential of certain materials that have a low environmental impact or that are responsive to the environment.