2018 Høst

The course is suitable for all design topics including architecture, urbanism and landscape architecture. The course ranges from micro to macro scale and students can develop and choose their perspective. The course has a main theme but even individual programming is possible. The course is well suited as preparation for the diploma.

Design for a complex world

Designers today are confronted with an increasing complexity. Constantly new fields and tasks are opened up for designers, and the importance of design increases. Designers address complex socio-technical problems, both in the development of solutions and processes. To be better prepared for this development, designers must learn to handle greater complexity, understand larger contexts, learn more about the consequences of our choices, both for businesses, customers, individual users as well as society and the environment.

Systems thinking

A deeper understanding of complex processes is called systems thinking. In Systems Oriented Design (SOD), we have developed an approach to systems thinking that is especially developed for practicing designers. It is the designerly approach to systems.

SOD is part of a larger movement with many approaches called Systemic Design (systemic-design.net). This movement was started by SOD teachers here at AHO and other people mainly from Canada, India, Italy and the US.

Read more on
www.systemsorienteddesign.net

www.systemic-design.net

Focus theme – autumn 2018: Design for Democracy

We are experiencing major unrest in the world, democratic values are at stake, people fleeing from their homes and from war. Many nations are heading to democracy, but it is a cumbersome way forward. Even established democracies are struggling, examples we have from the European Union and the United States. Norway is not an exception when it comes to the need for better participation and accountability of voters and citizens in general. The democratic systems' inherent short-term perspectives together with the complexity of the driving processes, makes it very difficult for citizens to voice long-term considerations and to know how to claim participation. Local democracy is underdeveloped compared to the major tasks that communities are confronted with. These range from sustainability to economic development and integration.

On the other hand, design has a long tradition of developing processes from a democratic perspective. Universal Design and Participatory Design processes are examples of this. Also, designers have been involved in democracy in designing voting processes and information distribution for a long time. But design for democracy can be developed further. Can we, through design, envision and describe a future that supports a balanced distribution of power, values and resources? Can we contribute to building democratic cultures and lowering the threshold for participation in democratic processes? Can we design processes that make it easier to think long term and through this encourage sustainable development? Can we, through the design of our surroundings help the emergence of democratic organizations?

The course is open to all students at AHO and it endeavors to think in transdisciplinary perspectives and to develop new perspectives or take positions that are not covered by the AHO disciplines. Examples include organizational design and design for action (action design) or entirely new perspectives.

The studio course sets out to explore the dynamic tidal zone in northern Norway using the 24-kilometre coastline around Tromsøya as the central case. This zone, known as “fjæra” in Norwegian, is not only home to some of the most diverse and productive ecosystems in the north, but also holds great culture-historical value. The tidal zone provided different resources used in the traditional household and was an important interface between sea and land. In the northern sea-culture where agriculture and fishing were interweaved or integrated, the landing place or “lendinga”, where the boats came ashore or left for sea, was often regarded as the most important place on the farm. As such “lendinga i fjæra” can be regarded a symbol of the fishing-farmers way of life, a place of public significance in northern Norway. In many cases, these landing places were shared by several farms, forming a common or “allmenning” that would function as a social arena.

The tidal zone in northern Norway continues to be of great importance today, although more modern forms of living almost entirely have replaced the traditional sea-culture. The zone is still home to valuable ecosystems, despite the fact that human interventions, such as land reclamation to sea, compromise their diversity and productivity in many cases. The interface between sea and land still holds public significance, although recreational activities might have replaced work-related activities. However, all in all, the tidal zone seems to have lost cultural significance as a public domain since the middle of the 20th century. 

As part of the studio course, students will be asked to investigate how the tidal zone can gain cultural significance as a public domain through design interventions that not only meet the needs of contemporary life but also reflect on and take into account the rich natural and cultural heritage of the tidal zone. A field trip connecting various coastlines around Northern Norway will allow students to get acquainted with different types of tidal zones and understand the Tromsøya fjæra from a larger perspective. The idea is to work with design interventions that might be relatively modest in scale while addressing changes and processes on a larger scale. Working with material qualities and atmospheres linked to the continuous changes in the zone – a zone in flux – will be a central task throughout the semester. Students will be asked to formulate a landscape architectural program informed by the site. Rather than superimposing a given program on to the site, the idea is to develop the program from the site itself.

Emnet er lagt opp som introduksjon til landskapsarkitektur med fokus på landskapet som romlig fenomen. Emnet gir en første innføring i formgivningen av et landskap ut fra egne observasjoner. Undervisningen og læringen er sentrert omkring et prosjektarbeid med flere mindre formgivningsoppgaver og inneholder opplæring i og introduksjon til:

• Formgivning og utvikling av prosjektoppgaver
• Grunnleggende arkitektoniske representasjonsformer
• Analytisk frihåndstegning
• Digitale tegne- og formidlingsprogrammer
• Bruk av skolens verksteder

Hva må man beherske for å drive en liten arkitektpraksis i Norge i dag?

Kurset tar utgangspunkt i dette spørsmålet og søker å besvare det gjennom kontorbesøk og forelesninger av praktiserende arkitekter, representanter fra den offentlige forvaltningen samt andre viktige aktører.

I tillegg til deltagelse i den informative delen av undervisningen skal studentene bidra til en kritisk diskurs som tar for seg emnet i hver forelesning.