2018 Høst

Start semester

80 314 Self-publishing Design and Architecture

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Self-publishing Design and Architecture

Course code:

80 314

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

Norwegian / English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Course content

Course responsible:

João Doria

Self-publishing Architecture and Design aims to equip its participants with a basic but solid typographic design and graphic production toolkits. We will do so through actively discussing the transposition of design decisions taken in architecture and design processes of all scales towards the specific space of the book, with a particular interest on what makes a self-publishing venture into a thing in the world.

The course will unpack editorial, visual, distribution and circulation strategies present in select cases of serial self-publishing from the twentieth century within literature, the arts, architecture and design. Said cases will make an argument for editorial and typographic design as tools and spaces for diffusing discourse, creating situations for debate and exploring the functional, poetic, political and social aspects of what self-publishing is and does.

With a focus on resourcefulness and low-cost production through available printing and binding resources on campus and local copy-shops, participants will produce a modest body of work ranging from ephemeral material such as posters, flyers and zines (understood as quick prototyping spaces) and culminate in a fully fledged Reader publication — an edited and designed compilation of material relevant to each participant’s personal interests.

Learning outcome

Participants will learn how to slide back and forth between the production–display—circulation spaces with a hands-on approach, being prompted to show their work to a larger public by the course completion, eventually initiating an AHO’s student imprint that can constitute an own archive and section at AHO’s library.

Lectures will contextualize how typography and visual language have been historically intertwined even in the absence of text, expanding and exploring of the temporal and material aspects of the book and what can it do for architecture and design in the current historical moment as well as in each participant’s personal/current moment of practice.

Working and learning activities

The course backbone leans on the pursuit of a deeper understanding of typography as an aesthetic position and as a drawing and information/language-structuring tool through tutorials and discussions on editing, typesetting, prescriptive versus generative grid-making, printing and binding.

Excursions to binders and printers in the city of Oslo will be conducted. Skype calls with an international network of designers and editors involved in contemporary artistic, architectural and design discourses will complement the course in the capacity of guest lecturers or critics.

Students hold individual responsibility for sourcing content for each tutorial and the course leader will provide clear guidelines and the necessary feedback during group/individual meetings. A basic list of materials will be shared by the beginning of the course. Basic prototyping resources (printer, folding machine, cutter, stapler, binder) present at The Ventriloquist Press at Carl Berners will be made available for select tutorials.

Curriculum

Selected readings will be taken out of the publications listed below and expanded through lectures.

Core readings

Gerstner, Karl, et al. Designing Programmes: Five Essays and an Introduction. Lars Müller, 2007.

Lupton, Ellen. Thinking with Type: a Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students. Princeton Architectural Press, 2010.

Hochuli, Jost. Detail in Typography: Letters, Letterspacing, Words, Wordspacing, Lines, Linespacing, Columns. Éditions B42, 2015.

Pipes, Alan. Production for Graphic Designers. Prentice Hall, 2009.

Extended readings

Tavares André. The Anatomy of the Architectural Book. Canadian Centre for Architecture, 2016.

Colomina, Beatriz, et al. Clip, Stamp, Fold: the Radical Architecture of Little Magazines, 196X to 197X. Actar, 2011.

Decroos, Bart, et al. Oase 100. The Architecture of the Journal / De Architectuur Van Het Tijdschrift. nai010 Uitgevers, 2018.

Müller-Brockmann Josef, and D. Q. Stephenson. Grid Systems in Graphic Design: a Visual Communication Manual for Graphic Designers, Typographers, and Three Dimensional Designers = Raster Systeme für Die Visuelle Gestaltung: Ein Handbuch für Grafiker, Typografen, Und Ausstellungsgestalter. Niggli, 2017.

Smet, Catherine de., and Le Corbusier. Vers Une Architecture Du Livre: Le Corbusier: édition Et Mise En Pages, 1912-1965. Lars Müller Publishers, 2007.

Redstone, Elias. Archizines. Bedford Press / Architectural Association, London, 2011.

Birdsall, Derek. Notes on Book Design. Yale University Press, 2004.

Hochuli, Jost, and Robin Kinross. Designing Books: Practice and Theory. Hyphen Press, 1996.

Bringhurst, Robert. The Elements of Typographic Style. Hartley & Marks, 2016.

Tschichold, Jan. The Form of the Book: Selected Essays on Questions of Book Design & Typography. Hartley & Marks, 1991.

Goode, Simon, et al. Making Books: a Guide to Creating Hand-Crafted Books by the London Centre for Book Arts. Pavilion, 2017.

Keller, Christoph, and Michael Lailach. Kiosk: Modes of Multiplication: a Sourcebook on Independent Art Publishing, 1999-2009. JRP Ringier, 2009.

Philpot, Clive. Booktrek: Selected Essays on Artists Books (1972-2010). JRP Ringier, 2013.

Ponge, Francis, and Beth Archer Brombert. The Voice of Things. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1974.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail

Start semester

70 502 Interaction Design 1: Tangible Interactions

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Interaksjonsdesign 1: Rik interaksjon

Credits:

Course code:

70 502

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Nicholas Stevens

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed foundation level (BA-level) courses at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS.

Useful Skills

This course builds on some interaction prototyping skills, such as arduino, learnt in the undergraduate course at AHO. Knowledge of this and simple electronics will be very helpful, but is not a requirement.

Course content

Interaction Design 1 - extends the students skills in the world of interaction design, focusing on core skills and materials used in designing physical and digital interactions. The course embraces and explores the creative opportunities made possible by recent developments in physical computing, sensor technologies and mobile devices, to consider physical everyday objects (embedded with switches, sensors and microcontrollers) as augmented interfaces for controlling digital experiences.

This is a practice-led course, starting with a series of short workshops dealing with a range of physical interaction technologies and approaches that lead into larger projects. Students will have the opportunity to work with Arduino microcontrollers, smartphones, Processing code and a broad range of sensors for prototyping and design-testing. The practical aspects of the course will be complemented by a series of lectures/talks and workshops by a range of practitioners and specialists in the field.

Learning outcome

KNOWLEDGE

Students will:

Get an overview of research and projects within the field of physical computing and the history of tangible interactions.
Get an overview of the approaches, issues and challenges faced by designers in the field.
Gain an understanding of historical and current technologies and practical applications.
Develop a critical framework and approach for the analysis and discussion of work in the field.

SKILLS
Students will:

Extend their skills in electronics and Arduino. All students will be taught methods and tools to make working physical prototypes, and gain practical abilities with electronics.
Explore and practice interaction design methodologies, embodied interaction, realtime interaction and social computing and iterations in a physical context.
Design experiential interactive objects with a focus on engaging experiences for communication, education and play.

GENERAL COMPETENCE
Students will:

Gain the ability to explore and understand connections between interaction design and the other design disciplines.
Further develop the ability to continuously iterate and explore concepts in order to refine them.
Further develop regular design attributes such as curiosity and experimental, inquisitive outlooks.

Working and learning activities

Core components of the course are exploration and developing experiential prototypes of concepts. These are developed during the course by number of smaller projects that culminate in a larger final project at the end of the semester. The majority of the work will be done as pairs (different pairs for each project) with some projects of individual work and others of larger groups. Projects typically have multiple presentations throughout in order to allow students to see and comment on each others work.

Typical weeks will have a presentation, possibly a lecture or workshop and then 1 or 2 opportunities for mentoring. Some projects may require a more intensive period with longer set hours during the week. This will be outlined at the beginning of the semester. The remaining time is able to be utilised as the student feels appropriate in order to develop the project, however it is encouraged that the majority of the time is spent working from the class studio in order to develop an inspiring and encouraging environment.

Curriculum

Shaping things - Bruce Sterling

Radical Technologies - Adam Greenfield

Where the action is - Paul Dourish

Making things talk - Tom Igoe

Digital by Design - Troika

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Exercise		Required	Students need to present and submit all projects in order to be assessed for the course. Students will be informed at the completion of each project as to wether they have any out standing submissions. If students do not submit these deliverables for what ever reason ( medical absences etc) they can deliver later in the semester but must deliver before the final project commences (unless they have obtained an extension from administration). If any students have difficulties or conflicts in working within their pair or group, they need to inform the course responsible and we can arrange a solution.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Group	Pass / fail	The final project will be graded pass/fail by an external assessor and this results in the grade for the course.

Start semester

70 501 Industrial Design 1: Technoform

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Industridesign 1: Teknoform 1

Course code:

70 501

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Steinar Killi

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed foundation level (BA-level) courses at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS.

Course content

Technoform is an advanced course in industrial design dealing with the interaction between new technology and advanced form generation. The course builds on the legacy of industrial design both in Norway and Scandinavia, aesthetic approaches are explored in a cultural context within a technological frame. This is approached through two extensive iterations. First an incremental viable solution that builds on and refine solutions already available. Then a more radical proposition within the same theme that requires an even more creative and inventive process. The outcome of the course will be physical products.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

By the completion of the course the student shall have knowledge about:

perform a design process for physical products within to paradigms; as an iteration and through recontextualisation. The first part would typically be an incremental process while the second pursues on a process that aims for more radical innovations.

Skills

By the completion of the course the student shall have the ability to:

work and research through new manufacturing trends, that could be the foundation for advanced form-generation
to use methods like Peer Creative development, backcasting and possibility driven design
sketching, mock up building and CAD are extensively trained during the course

Competence

By the completion of the course the student shall:

have increased their tacit competence in performing a design process
be able to perform design processes that is not human centered driven
be able to utilize form developing methods within a technological frame

Working and learning activities

Workshops, lectures, individual and in groups. Peer feedback is a core method in the course.

Curriculum

Curriculum will be presented at the course start and will consist of articles that can be downloaded from the Internet.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	The course has 2 main deliveries/studio projects. Both needs to be passed in order to pass the course.

Start semester

70 132 GK3 Design History 2

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

GK3 Designhistorie 2

Course code:

70 132

Level of study:

Bachelor

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

Norwegian

Year:

2018

Required prerequisite courses:

70 123 G2 Design history

Required prerequisite knowledge

Completed 70 123 GK2 Design History 1 or the equivalent.

Course content

The course provides broad knowledge of design and art history in relation to the present. Fundamental questions about what design is and has been will be discussed thoroughly. The course starts with an introduction to topics in art and design history, from ancient times until Romanticism. The focus then shifts to a review of important eras, perspectives, movements and episodes in design history, from the Arts and Crafts movement and the emergence of modern design in the late 1800s, to pop design and postmodernism in the 1980s and 1990s, still with an eye on the world of art. The course concludes with a contemporary review of how design history has developed from the turn of the millennium until today, focusing on the media and information revolution. The course will deal in depth with topics such as fair trade and sustainable design. The course does not aim to be exhaustive, but will focus on a complex set of aesthetic, philosophical and political motivations that have shaped art and design from industrialism until today.

Learning outcome

KNOWLEDGE

After completing the course, the students are expected to have:

Knowledge of the different eras of design history.
An overview of important designers and important iconic objects from the history of art and design.
Broad insight into key discourses and theoretical perspectives relating to contemporary art and design.

SKILLS
The students shall learn how to:

Analyse and give an account of styles and eras, orally and in writing.
Place contemporary design in a historical perspective.
See themselves, their professional practice and their stance as designers in perspective.
Independently raise interesting issues based on design theory or aesthetic topics.
Produce adequate visual responses to theoretical or historical challenges.
Give an account of and discuss theoretical texts.

GENERAL COMPETENCE

One of the main goals of the course is to develop students’ understanding of their surroundings, and to raise their awareness of the importance of surroundings and the design of objects. As future producers of images, spaces, objects, visual expressions and social situations, it is important that the students develop an awareness of what they bring to life, not least considering the fact that we live in a visually overstimulated and frenzied consumer culture, which gives grounds for problematising the ever increasing production of materials and visual products.

Working and learning activities

The course Design History 1 is taught in the form of:

Lectures (2–3 hours every Monday morning)
Students are also expected to study on their own.
Self-study and reading texts are an important part of the course. The course includes a reading list.
At the end of the semester, the students shall submit a physical portfolio in which they have formulated visual ‘responses’ to theoretical issues relating to the different lectures.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail	• Submit physical portfolio • Submit a written discussion (essay) on a text from the reading list

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	A 80% attendance at lectures is expected.

Start semester

70 130 GK3 Interactive Products

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

GK3 Interaktive Produkter

Course code:

70 130

Level of study:

Bachelor

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

Norwegian

Year:

2018

Person in charge

Einar Sneve Martinussen

Required prerequisite courses:

70 110 Design Basics

70 120 GK2 Brukersentrert design

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed courses mentioned in prerequisite knowledge or equivalent.

Course content

The course gives students an introduction to the field of interaction design. Interaction design is about designing how we use and experience technology. Interaction designers develop digital products and interfaces, such as mobile apps, games, online services and social media. The field is closely connected to digital developments in society, and is an increasingly important part of the work of designers. The course provides an introduction to digital materials and design methods used to create experiences and expressions through technology. Traditional design materials like wood and plastic are used in the design of interactive products, but also technical materials and tools such as electronics, user data and programming.

The course focuses on products at the intersection between the physical and the digital, and thereby builds on practical and aesthetic skills acquired in previous courses. In addition to providing an introduction to interaction design, the course also addresses the relationship between culture, design, communication and technology. We ask: How can design shape our digital lives? How can design be used to understand and interpret technology creatively, and thereby create good user experiences and aesthetic expressions?

Learning outcome

KNOWLEDGE

The course is intended to give students a basic understanding of the field of interaction design, including terminology, history and discussions.
Students shall be familiar with and be able to consider the possibilities and challenges that interactive technology provides in a broader design context, for example in product and service development.
The course shall give students an insight into the relationship between culture and technology, and discuss how they relate to design.
The students will encounter topics relating to the use of technology in a cultural and social perspective, through discussions of innovation and the user experience, among other things.

SKILLS

The students will be given an insight into materials and technology used in interaction design, focusing on exploration and interpretation through practical projects. The main focus is on giving the students an introduction to and practice in basic interaction design skills.
The students are given an insight into and practice in tools and methods used to design interactions through aesthetic expressions and experiences over time. Through projects and exercises, students will be given an introduction to the practical skills needed to design interactive technologies, including electronics, programming and the interpretation and visualisation of data.

GENERAL COMPETENCE
Projects and workshops provide the students with practice in the skills needed for creative experimentation and testing through different forms of sketches and prototypes. The course will also give students training in communication through different media used to communicate interactive products, such as digital graphics, film and photography.

Working and learning activities

The course takes a practical approach to interaction design and is taught through a series of projects and workshops. Emphasis is placed on providing an overview of interactive possibilities and practical experimentation. The students will be introduced to electronics, computer visualisation, film, photography and web development, among other things. The focus will be on creative experimentation, prototyping and testing, rather than technical in-depth knowledge. The course consists of a large amount of group work, but also individual exercises. The practical parts of the course are complemented by a number of lectures and conversations with designers and specialists in the field.

Workload activity. Throughout the semester, the students will prepare, submit and present a series of projects and exercises. They shall also be documented online. Documentation and presentation requirements apply. The students must present and submit all projects in order to pass the course. The grade is set based on their development, process and results.

Reading list, workshop, excursions and other support: The course will teach the students how to use simple electronics. Necessary electronics kits must be ordered by the individual students. This will be organised at the start of the semester

Curriculum

The website for the course will contain a list of required reading that students follow through the semester.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	A-F	All submissions, presentations and assignments will form part of the assessment basis for the course, in the form of a portfolio assessment. All projects must be submitted online by the end of the course. For group work, all students are required to document their own contribution to the work, and this documentation will form part of the assessment basis.

Start semester

2018 Høst

80 513 Form Studio: Modular Vernacular

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Form Studio: Modular Vernacular

Credits:

Course code:

80 513

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Amandine Kastler

Erlend Skjeseth

Required prerequisite knowledge

Good understanding of written and spoken English
Intermediate to good level of digital modelling and draughtsmanship
Experience with and interest in building large scale material models is desirable

Course content

Form Studio: Modular Vernacular will produce new architectural forms for a historically sensitive setting. Design work will focus on the relationship between construction and context. The aim will be to propose new spatial models for the present-day inhabitation of a heritage site.

The studio will build on the long-term AA Visiting School project the Island Reader which has for the last four years developed alternative ways of investigating a place through collective analysis. We will continue to work with measuring and observation as our first act but construction and materiality will be the focus in our design studio.

The Coast

The studio will operate on the islands of Lyngør, off the south coast of Norway. Historically, the coastline of Norway has experienced a continuous influx of ideas from around the world as a result of its location within coastal trade networks. Architecturally, this has resulted in a diverse and fluid notion of style. This is in visible contrast to the settlements of the interior valleys, where local culture was preserved in more isolated communities. This dichotomy between the coast and the interior is fundamental to Norwegian cultural history and identity. The studio will travel between these different communities to study their variations in style and typology, abstracting our readings into new architectural forms.

Our aim is to instil a critical appreciation for the enduring benefits and limitations of vernacular construction beyond the pastiche. We will draw on the spatial and constructional characteristics of the vernacular, to determine the formal qualities that have evolved over time from the necessities of island life. By teasing these implicit characteristics, we will address a key question:

How ought architects design new forms within finite historic environments?

The Island

The studio will focus on Lyngør, where buildings have been frequently restyled to mimic continental trends. Throughout the history of the island, houses have been taken apart, reassembled, cannibalized and reformed into new iterations. Sailors brought home the world and remade their houses in its image. ´Southern Classical´ houses were hand-crafted objects, built from standardized and transportable modular elements. We will understand modular structural systems and standardization as fundamental to contemporary architecture. Notched logs, timber panels, and stone foundations were rational parameters that determined the plan. Buildings were designed alike in their construction logic, but with individual expression and variation apparent in their detail.

Lyngør is nestled across four islands, located near historic shipping lanes, where the North Sea meets the Baltic. The island community blossomed into a rich merchant village in the late eighteenth-century, with a burgeoning class of ship owners, sailors and boatbuilders. The main strait through the village was once the main highway around the coast of Norway, and much like the follies of Potemkin or the strip in Las Vegas, the houses turn their good side towards the water. Expensive paints and ornate windows winking flirtatiously at the boats passing by.

Failing to modernize with the arrival of the steam ships at the turn of the century, Lyngør remained preserved nineteenth-century village - at least on the surface. After a period of stagnation, the concept of modern leisure hit the island in the 1950’s. Often it was the decedents of the shipwrights that returned, with their cabin cruisers, sunbeds, and a thirst for the authentic. Buildings are markers of wealth, monuments to family history and symbols of cultural and financial capital. In Lyngør everyone owns the truth about what is authentic, and they are not afraid to tell you.

Many people will claim that it is logical for new buildings to mimic the prevalent classical style. Some call for UNESCO world heritage status, while others are concerned with the implications this could have for the local businesses. Like many other villages along the Norwegian coast, an upsurge in seasonal tourism has been accompanied by a decline in permanent residency. The closure of much of the basic infrastructure necessary to maintain a permanent community has seen tourism replace industry.

The local municipality will implement a temporary construction ban while a regulatory framework for the new development is established. The studio will regularly engage with the various stakeholders involved in this process throughout the semester.

The Building

To Read – to gather knowledge through surveying, recording and interpreting.

The Studio will actively collaborate with Utmark Architects from Bergen, a multidisciplinary practice of architects, digital surveyors, and construction managers (www.gamle3hus.no) The practice works between preservation and new built form. Workshops on land surveying, digital surveying and post processing of digital information will be held in Lyngør.

The studio does not consider research to be a separate exercise from propositional thinking, rather, it asserts that the act of surveying is propositional by nature and therefore inherent to design thinking. Readings will focus on architectonic thresholds, such as the relationships between foundations and topography, the domestic interior and the weathered exterior, traditional craft and contemporary construction. As part of the municipal framework, these readings will create a catalogue of built form in Lyngør.

To Build – to construct by assembling and joining parts or materials.

The current statutory regulations on the island limit the built footprint of a residential building to less than 200 square meters, while also regulating colour, material, and roof shape. The studio will question these parameters and test their limitations. Students will use their precedent studies to inform their proposals for new construction methods and future modes of inhabitation on the islands.

Projects will be developed through large-scale material models and architectural drawings. Learning from what has already been built on the islands, traditional craft will inform contemporary construction methods. Prefabrication, contemporary timber technology and digital fabrication will inform the design of modular details. For the last three years Kastler Skjeseth Architects have been building on the island. Students will frequently be exposed to a network of builders, artisans and construction sites in various stages.

Learning outcome

Proposing new architectural form in a conservation area
Analysing existing building typologies on the coast of Norway
Utilizing precise surveying technology in both analogue and digital form
Engaging actively with real stake holders including community groups, local municipality, and heritage authorities
Learning how to navigate and write requirements and regulatory framework
Developing present-day forms of dwelling
Experiencing historic craft methods and Scandinavian vernacular tradition
Reading basic theory on typology and preservation

Working and learning activities

As a studio we give great focus to understanding context. Students will be expected to stay on the Island for parts of the semester, including but not limited to, one week at the beginning of the semester and two weeks during the studio excursion week.

During the first week of the semester a joint workshop will be held in Lyngør with the students from the AA Visiting School Lyngør (lyngor@aaschool.ac.uk).

Accommodation on the Island will be subsidized. Students will live in a manor house dating back to the 19th century. The house was refurbished and modernized by Kastler Skjeseth Architects in 2017 (www.kastlerskjeseth.no). The accommodation on the island is generously subsidized by the house owners. Students can expect some costs of travelling back and forth to Lyngør but we will endeavor to keep this cost to a minimum.

The course structure and trips to Lyngør will be set in accordance with the design stages applied in practice. Activities will be supported by lectures and visits with local historians and experts.

When in Oslo, students are expected to work in the studio. Teaching will consist of twice weekly desk tutorials, seminars, pin-ups and reviews with invited critiques. Students are expected to be active participants, to attend all trips, studio meetings, pin-ups and reviews, while keeping up with a rigorous level of production.

The studio will be evaluated by submitting assignments and participation, judged as “passed” or “not passed” (according to AHO regulations for master studies).

Studio Trip

The studio will travel along the Norwegian coastline from Oslo in the east to Stavanger in the east, and track back through the mountains of the interior. We will stop to visit projects that deal with the translation of vernacular form into modern architecture as well as other historic villages along the coast.

Curriculum

The curriculum will be given out closer to the start date.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail	Pass / Fail and will be based on the following criteria in relation to the given assignments: The final grade in the course will be given based on: - Attendance and design production for twice-weekly studio meetings: 30% - Mid review and Interim review presentation: 30% - Final review presentation: 40% The oral presentation is a part of the portfolio assessment. Mid review, Interim review and Final review: Work presented for the mid review, the Interim review and the final review will be evaluated according to the following criteria: - Conceptual Clarity: Students should demonstrate proactive engagement with the material and self-motivated intellectual pursuits that enhance their own design ambitions. Students are expected to clearly articulate their ambitions and the intellectual underpinnings of their work in pin-ups and desk crits. - Technique: Students are expected to execute all assignments with care and precision. Assignments will be evaluated not only on the basis of the ideas, but also to a large degree on the quality of the execution. Students are responsible for planning sufficient time for developing appropriate and thorough representation. Portfolio: The care taken in the compilation and design of the portfolio the presentation of physical models will be considered in the final assessment. The portfolio is to be formatted and printed at A2 or larger. Each student will also be required to design a portfolio booklet at A3 to accompany the printed portfolio.

Workload activity	Comment
Group work	Students are expected to regularly work in the studio and to be active participants in the collaborative studio environment. Sharing knowledge, techniques, and ideas with your fellow students is incredibly important to your own creative development and to your success in this studio. Students are expected to keep the studio space orderly and to keep clear a large table and wall space for group meetings and pin-ups. Students are expected to be independent and to take initiative to find the resources and supplies that they need to complete their work. Since this course involves site visits outside of the school, students are expected to be mature and respectful when dealing local communities.
Individual problem solving	Deadlines and required deliverables are indicated on the syllabus and on individual project assignments and are not negotiable. Students must complete assignments by the given deadline. Students are responsible for managing their own print schedules backing up files. Loss of data is not an excuse for an incomplete project. Deadlines can only be extended in cases of illness or special circumstances, and requests for extensions must be submitted to the tutor before the deadline in writing, accompanied by a medical certificate when necessary.
Attendance	Students are expected to be present and working during all studio meetings, which occur twice a week. Students are also expected to be present during all seminars and reviews. Absences for social engagements, holidays, etc. will not be accepted. Absences from studio meetings and reviews will affect the final grade and multiple unexcused absences will result in course failure.

Start semester

2018 Høst

60 522 Campus Akerselva

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Campus Akerselva

Course code:

60 522

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Required prerequisite knowledge

Open for students in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Mandatory first semester course for Master in Landscape Architecture. Basic knowledge in architecture, urbanism and landscape.

Course content

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.

Learning outcome

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.

Working and learning activities

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
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance
Individual supervision

Start semester

2018 Høst

60 521 Objects as grounds

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Objects as grounds

Course code:

60 521

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Luis Callejas

Janike Kampevold Larsen

Course content

The course is the last part of a trilogy of studios dealing with geographic tropes to link architecture and landscape architecture. After focusing in the objectification and representation of the tropical high Andean mountains (2015) and the design of orogenic objects in the Norwegian island (2016) we will venture once more into the high altitude tropical Andes. If the first two studios focused on the potentials of understanding geographic entities as primal architectural figures, this course will focus on the pre-conceived scale-less figures that better establish relations with a heavily modified ground. In other words, we will challenge site specificity in landscape architecture by projecting form in two divergent scales: A building large enough to behave as a garden, or, a landscape small enough to interact clearly with buildings. The course ideally has balanced mix of architects and landscape architects.

Context and expedition:

Colombia ́s enduring war has reached a pivotal moment as the Oslo (and later Havana). Peace dialogues mark a turning point for the mediation of land redistribution. Five million hectares of rural land will be redistributed in the next 20 years.

For this course we will work in two easily accessible sites in Colombia, exploring the notion of the Latifundio and Minifundio as foundational canons for land tenure structure. This dualistic tenure system typical of Latin America system is characterized by relatively few large commercial estates known as latifundios, which are over 500 hectares, and numerous small properties known as minifundios, which are under 5 hectares.

Students will work in a latifundio located close to Bogota (500 hectar) and a minufundio (1 hectar) close to Medellin, both privately owned. The unique character of these two sites is that in both locations there is a possibility to engage with arts and craft as driving forces to open both sites to the public, as well as using arts as the motivator to think the post-conflict land´s future.

This structure of land tenure will provide us not only with a social context for our work, it will also allow us to test the capacity of certain forms to have effect at divergent scales under the same ownership structure.

To engage with questions of form and language, we will borrow from the late 80´s and early 90’s American minimalist gardens. These gardens had the potential to objectify the ground without the need of walls, breaking with the longstanding paradigm of the walled garden as well as taking distance from land art.

Attention to form, language and the formalized ground, will, however, be coupled with an attention to ground materialities such as soil, sand, live matter on the one hand, and to the extended network of political, social and economic forces at play in Colombia’s rural territories on the other hand. The aim is, in architectural and landscape architectural experiments to possibly effect land use policies and environmental regulations through beautiful interventions, and ultimately to activate the ground as a design medium with its own set of logics.

The course will work with a range of representation media; drawing, model making, photography and writing. Archival research will be reflected in short written texts, as will descriptions of ground conditions and agency.

In the case of Bogota, we will work with a private owner that owns an astonishing collection of abstract sculpture that is scattered across the state.

In the case of the minifundio in Medellin, the land is used by an artist and ceramist producing in a region with a beautiful tradition of ceramic production.

If the large site is about art exhibitions in the open air, and its potentials to direct the master plan for a large farm. The second, much smaller plot, will offer the opportunity of designing a very precise intervention linking the life of the artist in the context of an art town. Both models of ownership are common while the current use is unique. We will investigate the potentials of arts and craft beyond simple tourism.

The course will launch in Colombia on August 10th with a weeklong workshop on archival works. Our group will dig deep into the archives of the Colombian geographic institute as well as study some of the original works produced by naturists, cartographers, and artists to describe high altitude Andes.

Over this first week in Colombia, we will work together with architecture students from Universidad de Los Andes and other guest students that will take part in the open workshop. During the workshop, there will be a day of lectures by Colombian and Norwegian designers, as well as the launch of an exhibition by artists, architects and landscape architects working in the long-term research project between Colombian institutions and AHO. It is highly encouraged to join the trip to Colombia, but it is not mandatory due to ticket costs. It is recommended that the students arrive in Bogota on August 9.

The official field trip will end on August 19; the students are encouraged and allowed to stay one week more touring in Colombia. The first day of classes in Oslo after the trip will be August 27.

In October we will do a second field trip to either Paris or Madrid to do more archival work.

Preliminary schedule.

August 9. Students arrive in Bogota, Colombia

August 10. Students and faculty meet for the launch of course and workshop together with Universidad de Los Andes.

August 10 – August 17 Official field trip in Colombia

August 25. The first day of classes after the field trip. (Between August 17 - 25 students have time to tour on their own)

October: Second field trip to Madrid. Archival work on the botanical expeditions to Nueva Granada.

Learning outcome

Students will learn how to think and project architecture through landscape media (live matter and topography).

Students will learn how to think and project landscape through the manipulation of the ground.

Students will understand the relationship between form, environment and time.

Students will learn how design builds up as research, and how their interventions take part of a larger research project.

Curriculum

A reader will be made availible before the start of the course

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Other assessment method, define in comment field	Individual	Pass / fail

Start semester

2018 Høst

60 519 ARCHITECTURE = CITY

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

ARCHITECTURE = CITY

Course code:

60 519

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Halvor Weider Ellefsen

Course content

Housing, we have a problem! Confronted with the harsh reality of the Norwegian housing sector, architects often resolve to the marginal and exclusive to maintain latitude and nurse detail. But what if scale and volume not only represents negative constraints, but constitutes a leeway of architectural opportunity? By translating European large-scale housing concepts, development models and social housing strategies from abroad into Norway, this course will explore housing as an architectural and urban development tool at an infrastructural hub in the center of Oslo.

The first rule about housing: You don´t talk about housing. This course questions the Norwegian housing sector and the architect’s role within it, seeking to explore unveiled potentials hidden in the large scale housing project, and within the constraints of building regulations. It queries current paradigms of scale and volume in housing architecture, and challenge worn mantras of architectural form in the urban core. It believes that a fresh take on housing as typology is necessary, not only in terms of architectural quality, but also because large scale developments by single developers have a substantial impact on urban form and urban life. Ultimately, Social sustainability is a question of housing.

You had me at “housing”! The course sets out to explore the large housing project as typology, its historical role and impact in European cities, and its current role within urban development in Norway. Learning from more than hundred years of socially conscious large scale housing projects, our point of departure is the housing policies and typologies of Vienna, and its translation into one of Oslo´s future development areas, namely the Majorstuen station site. The forthcoming Fornebubanen demands a thorough restructuring of the Majorstuen station area, where a new underground station will accommodate both the existing metro and a new train station. In its most radical development scenarios, this development could discharge an area of roughly 25 hectares. Such reclaimed real estate would be an essential asset in financing the new station area for the Ruter company. The studio will thus also address the location and organization of the station area, along with support programs.

I´m not bad. I am just drawn that way. Housing as an architectural problem are among the most basic, yet complex questions of the discipline. As an industrialized commodity, it currently represents the branch of architectural production that is most thoroughly professionalized. Dictated by pre-accepted solutions and executed by a consortium of developers, contractors and brokers, the Norwegian commercial mass housing market is dominated by a few specialized housing producers building big volumes with small margins. The Norwegian de-regulation of public housing from the mid 1980s and forward also meant that standardized takes of spatial quality, organization principles and functional criteria developed by architects were replaced by an increasingly detailed planning and building act, meant to secure all technical aspect of housing production. Simultaneously, critics argue that regulations are too rigid and complex without being able to secure spatial quality or innovation, producing at best areas of standardized mediocrity.

First we take Vienna… The course holds that different European, and particularly the Austrian take on housing production and urban development as a model that can contribute to inform and discuss the Norwegian housing paradigm, and re-institute the architectural object as point of reference in large scale development projects. Meeting Austrian developers and architects for a workshop in Vienna will lay the ground for formulating a Viennese take on the Majorstuen context, including how these projects are developed in practice. To bridge the gap between the different contexts, we will, in addition to a larger selection of reference projects, accentuate two projects developed by Norwegian architects in Vienna, by respectively Helen & Hard and Malarchitecture.

Learning outcome

The studio will introduce students for large scale architectural design within complex urban environments, emphasizing structure, organization and rationalization as key for understanding and conducting advanced architectural designs in the city. It will envisage the complex interworking between politics, economics and architectural conduct, without over-emphasizing the constraints of building law. Instead, it focuses on the latent architectural freedom of design the large scale offers, and the interrelations between housing as architectural typology, and how the European city currently is shaped and developed.

Working and learning activities

The methodology of the studio is based on four main topics:

The Oslo context, its current development strategies -and patterns, the Norwegian building industry, and historical and current takes on large scale housing in Oslo.
The Vienna context, its historical emphasis on social housing and large scale architecture, and the role housing plays in urban design and development.
Analysis of the Majorstuen station site and possible infrastructural and morphological futures for the area.
Analysis of large scale architectural reference projects and organization principles.

The first phase of the studio will relate to the site and the Oslo context, including discussions with central housing developers and representatives from Oslo´s building authorities. We will discuss the quality of current housing projects, the social profile of the commercial housing market, and to what extent the need for alternative strategies is valid.

The second phase involves visiting and studying large scale housing projects in Vienna, and meeting local developers and involved architects in some of Vienna´s larger development areas, and formulating an individual approach based on the reference projects studied.

The third phase will focus on the translation of a set of rules and building principles into the Majorstuen context, formulating an “attitude” towards the station area and articulating a project narrative through model studies in 1:200.

The fourth phase will focus on the development of a limited selection of drawings and 1 individual model that represents the student project, along with a project description addressing a relevant problem or topic related to the work produced.

Curriculum

The responsible studio teachers are practicing architects with broad academic backgrounds that includes PhD’s in the fields of urban development and large scale architecture.

Halvor Weider Ellefsen has master from the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and a PhD from AHO. He is currently associate professor at AHO.

Mirza Mujezinovic graduated with a master in architecture from NTNU, Trondheim and Columbia University, New York, and a PhD from AHO. He runs the Office Malarchitecture.

The studio will encompass a broad curriculum of literature and reference projects relevant for the course, to be announced.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	1 individual model that represents the student project, along with a project description addressing a relevant problem or topic related to the work produced.

Start semester

2018 Høst

40 525 Studio Positions

Credits:

Full course name in Norwegian Bokmål:

Studio Posisjoner

Course code:

40 525

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2018 Autumn

Assessment semester:

2018 Autumn

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2018

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Lisbeth Funck

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed level bachelor in architecture

Course content

Definition

Studio Positions has a research-based teaching, with focus on in-depth individual research into a given topic. The student is encouraged to develop an individual formal language, and through different medias investigate fundamental architectural issues/questions.

The studio enables in depth studies of the four fundamental architectural categories that make up architecture; substructure, structure, space and material and how these categories together relate to an architectural program. The studio draws on established knowledge but also challenge our understanding of historical and contemporary buildings. We are preoccupied with not only how architecture is made but also the presence of architecture and the affect (aesthetic experience) it produces.

Title of course: Studio Positions #6 _Parallax

The semester task will be to develop a spatial structure, which can accommodate a public activity, based on the concept of parallax in architecture.

Parallax, from Greek parallaxis, “change”, is defined as the displacement of the apparent position of a body, due to a change of position of the observer. In the middle of the eighteenth century, an interest in parallax occurs becoming one of the prime sources for the establishment of modern architectural space.

The studio will discuss the concept of parallax in architecture, that is to say, the awareness of how the relation between humans and humans and humans and built structure changes through movement where different positions creates multiple spatial, structural and social relations. The concept of parallax will work as an inspiration and generating force in the development of an architectural structure.

Parallel to the development of the project the students are asked to produce reflecting texts and a final project text.

Pedagogy

With a practice-based research and a sensual approach to technical challenges, we aim at a deeper understanding of the fundamentals of architecture and thus position oneself in the continuous architectural discourse.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Practice based research
Awareness and ability to gain knowledge from own sensual experience of existing buildings and use this subjective experience in the making of architecture.
Ability to generate spatial structure towards an architecture based on aesthetical and or spatial concepts.
Knowledge and reflection on architecture fundamental elements; substructure, structure, material and space, and how they are assembled. Abstract geometry versus individual and intuitive design decisions.

Skills:

Ability to deal with issues of construction and thematic intent
Increased knowledge and skills in: Investigation methods, architecture programming, architectural properties
Use of references: to draw new connections, to interpret anew, to further develop by clarification.

Competence:

Ability to reflect on own work verbally and in writing
To develop an architectural position

Working and learning activities

The course will offer a series of lecturers from various disciplines that present different positions in relation to the semester task

Individual talks
Group discussions
Part presentations
3 reviews
Final review
Excursion: Japan

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	Architectural design. Individual investigation. 20 weeks semester task

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	• Lectures • Pin-ups presentations Announced studio meetings • 3 reviews with invited external critics • Final review, external sensor
Excursion	Study trip to Japan

Form of assessment:	Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)
Grouping:	Individual
Grading scale:	Pass / fail
Comment:

Mandatory coursework:	Exercise
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	Students need to present and submit all projects in order to be assessed for the course. Students will be informed at the completion of each project as to wether they have any out standing submissions. If students do not submit these deliverables for what ever reason ( medical absences etc) they can deliver later in the semester but must deliver before the final project commences (unless they have obtained an extension from administration). If any students have difficulties or conflicts in working within their pair or group, they need to inform the course responsible and we can arrange a solution.

Form of assessment:	Project assignment
Grouping:	Individual
Grading scale:	Pass / fail
Comment:

Form of assessment:	Other assessment method, define in comment field
Grouping:	Individual
Grading scale:	Pass / fail
Comment:

Workload activity:	Attendance
Comment:	A 80% attendance at lectures is expected.