FIRST YEAR OF STUDY, ARCHITECTURE

Credits autumn: 20p. Spring number of credits: 18p
Led by Siri Moseng and Anna Røtnes
Other teachers: Mads Øiern, Petter Kveseth, Lone Sjøli, Colm O´Brien and Sindre Wam

Studio teaching provided in the first year of architecture can be defined as a web in which all the threads of study of architecture begin. Students are introduced to the entirety of the subject through the design of buildings and built structures with increasing degrees of complexity throughout the year. The basic components of architecture are emphasized, such as spatial quality and configuration, construction and use of materials, programme and context. Architecture’s role in society and the profession's responsibilities are also highlighted in the studio assignments.

The teaching marks the beginning of a coherent course, and the knowledge and skills the student acquires are further built on throughout the first three years of studying architecture.

The pedagogy is based on the idea that many projects, each with a clear focus and demarcation, is the best way to develop the students’ skills at the beginning of their studies. Central to the first semester is a full-scale project, where students complete a design process from the first concept right through to a built result. This provides an important and basic understanding of the commitment that lies in designing, and what a line on a sheet means in practice. The autumn semester also contains assignments where analyses of existing buildings through text and drawing form the basis for the students’ own projects and professional understanding. In the spring semester, students are given a series of design assignments. The themes vary from year to year but the logic and teaching methods behind them have been gradually developed over many years. 

We have developed several formats in which reflection on one's own and others' work takes place regularly throughout the year, using texts, presentations, and group discussions. This is to give students a greater awareness of their own work processes and their professional development

Baukunst is the ability to realize an architectural and artistic ambition in built form. Achieving this requires an independent artistic point of view as an architect, and we seek to establish this in the students throughout the first year of study.