2022 Vår

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 646 T A P - Building in Landscape

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

T A P - Building in Landscape

Credits:

Course code:

40 646

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Beate Hølmebakk

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Part of course series: The architectural project, T A P

Course content

The brief for the spring 2022 semester will be to design a medium sized project in a specific natural landscape. Some framework for the project will be given to the students as objective constraints concerning site conditions and building program, however the work of the semester will begin with further development of individual design criteria through subjective investigations into landscape qualities and programmatic potential.

There will be a set schedule with weekly program consisting of input (common reading, lectures from teachers and invited practitioners and relevant films), individual desk crits and pin-ups where the students are encouraged to discuss each other’s work.

Each student will be given an individual site and develop her/his project based on analysis, registration and speculation of both site and program.

The design process will be divided into distinct phases from idea to detailed project. Each phase will be reviewed collectively with an external critic.

An excursion to Europe will be part of the studio if allowed.

Learning outcome

By the end of the semester the student will have acquired:

Knowledge of:

The design of a medium sized building in a specific natural context
Strategies of how to relate to terrain, climate and vegetation
Tectonic response to local conditions

Skills in:

Architectural detailing
Architectural representation

General competence in:

Framing an architectural project
Definition of specific design criteria
Design methodology

Working and learning activities

The work of the studio will be caried out in models, drawings and text.

The project will be conceived and developed in two and three dimensions until it reaches completion.

Curriculum

Texts for common reading and discussion will be handed out during the semester.

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	Attendance and participation in the interim deliveries and presentations is mandatory.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	The students will be assessed on: Presence Commitment Ability to self evaluation Progress Quality of project

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	Participation and attendance in lectures, supervision at the desks in the studio, seminars and workshops is expected.
Planning assignment	The studio requires full time studies.
Excursion	Those who do not have the opportunity to participate in excursion will receive a task / a project that replaces this. Those who do not have the opportunity to participate in excursion will receive a task / a project that replaces this.

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 647 ACDL: Bridging water and land

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

ACDL: Bridging water and land

Credits:

Course code:

40 647

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

Norwegian / English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Søren S. Sørensen

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies.

Preliminary skills in computational design is advisory.

Part of course series: ACDL (advanced computational design laboratory)

Course content

The ACDL studio (advanced computational design laboratory) is a project studio placing a strong emphasis on computational tools as part of the design process and communication of ideas. The studio is research based, and not about digital tools per se, rather about an experimental approach to architectural design, design processes and methodologies.

The assignment is to design an architectural structure through a series of investigative and sequential experiments. The studio will continue to investigate the potential of parametric engineering and evolutionary optimization and the potential it could give to wooden structures.

Our ambition is to investigate fundamental architectural topics by means of both analog and computational tools in an iterative way. This focus on process and methodology throughout the semester allows the analogue and digital to be considered together as part of a holistic approach.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

of the architectural and computational design themes pursued by the studio.
of associative modelling.
of tools for analysis and simulation relating to building performance.
of successful built examples of equivalent projects.
of advanced architectural visualization.
innovative use of materials.

Skills:

in computational design in architecture.
in utilizing associative modelling systems for architectural design.
in using simulations, analysis tools and advanced visualization as part of the design process.
Reflective thinking and evaluation as a tool for developing design ideas within the design process

General competence:

The ability to develop designs based on specific performative criteria in an integrated manner from the conceptual stage to the material articulation through computational design.
The ability to set up and follow through a design process that leads to the desired result.
The ability to utilize design as a method of research in architecture that facilitates the conception of novel architectural designs.

Working and learning activities

The studio will focus on iterative design processes to test and evaluate performative aspects of designs in relation to spatial and functional demands.

The research by design will be done through a range of computational methods and tools based on the focus of each topic and design project in the studio.

Workshops are organized to provide the students with the necessary knowledge and skills to solve an architectural design challenge.

The topics of the studio narrow the focus, while allowing the students to do in-depth investigations simultaneously. The intention is to help the students develop their own design methodology while bridging analog processes and digital tools.

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	Attendance and participation in the interim deliveries and presentations is mandatory.

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

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 648 Timber Housing Cycles

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Timber Housing Cycles

Credits:

Course code:

40 648

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Ute Christina Groba

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS)

Part of course series: Timber

Course content

This is the fourth studio course in a series that focuses on timber construction and housing as means of sustainable urban densification. This time, we will explore the role of wooden building materials in a circular perspective.

Extending the life time of buildings and their components is key to more sustainable building practices, both in terms of environmental concerns, social relations and neighbourhoods. Both quantifiable and qualitative focus areas are important:

Buildings will last longer if their material, construction and detail choices are sound and robust. Timber will work as a carbon sink as long as the material is in use. The spatial and functional properties of a building will remain viable over time if they are general enough or adaptable to answer changing needs and technical requirements. The "lovability" of a building will also be part of defining its life time, as buildings that are liked are better taken care of and more likely to make users tolerate their standard when requirements for new buildings change.

The overall aim of the studio course is to understand and design for ways of extending the life cycle of urban residential timber buildings and their constructive components.

The course will be structured around a number of investigation areas:

flexibility concepts (1. generality 2. adaptability 3. flexibility; and how material, surface and detail choices both facilitate and communicate them)
circularity (1. inclusion of re-used building materials, 2. design for disassembly)
housing qualities
timber construction.

Based on lectures, literature and the study of example projects, the investigation areas will inform the student projects. Each of these areas are envisioned as chapters of a course book that also will include the students' final projects.

We are going to develop the projects through conceptual models, sketches, texts, drawings and working models.

Teachers: Ute Groba, Cathrine Vigander, Ona Flindall

Learning outcome

An introduction to timber construction, both in general and within a circular economy, exploring its challenges, potentials and design implications.

- An overview of different timber construction systems and detailing.

- Introduction to timber architecture within academic fields of discourse.

- The development and communication of a consistent architectural approach and its materialization in sketches, working models, drawings and text.

- Understanding the importance of integrating a project’s load bearing structure in early architectural concepts.

- The course will be documented in a course book that archives exploratory models, lecture notes, precedent analyses, and the students' final projects.

Working and learning activities

Activities:

- Pre-task / wood workshop

- Lectures and workshops with AHO staff / externals

- Regular supervision and desk crits

- Midterm Review and Final Presentation with external reviewer

- Exhibition / course book

- Each student will have a small extra task that benefits the entire class

Group work:

We aim for working in groups of two students. Final deliverables (such as number of drawings and models or degree of detailing) will be adjusted to the number of team members in case of different group constellations.

Site:

- Urban site in Oslo

Excursion:

- Yet to be determined, depending on restrictions due to the Covid-19 situation.

Main scales of the students' work (will be specified in each task throughout the semester):

- Urban strategy 1:500

- Architectural approach in plan, sections, facades 1:200 / 1:100

- Detail solutions / section perspective 1:50 / 1:20 (number of details depending on group size)

Deliverables at the end of the semester:

- Concept description in text and diagrams
- Drawings: site plan, plan drawings, sections, facades, details
- Illustrations/renderings/collages/model pictures

The above drawings will be part of your final digital presentation and must also be delivered in printable quality for a course book.

- Working model; model pictures (The model will be in use and under modification throughout the semester and is not meant to be beautiful, but useful)
- Final model; model pictures
- (Depending on chosen site: maybe collective site model)

- Lecture reports, precedent analysis and other documentation of additional tasks where relevant. These will be handed in during the course of the semester after each task is completed and be included in a course book. They will not be part of your workload towards the final delivery.

Requirements to pass:

Active participation in lectures, workshops, group meetings and desk crits are required, as well as the steady development of the project with regular supervision meetings. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet		Required	Requirements to pass: Active participation in lectures, workshops, group meetings and desk crits are required, as well as the steady development of the project with regular supervision meetings. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	-	Pass / fail	The final grade will be set on the basis of: -project assignment -oral presentation -exercise (delinnlevering) Details for project assignment, see list: Deliverables at the end of the semester. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Workload activity	Comment
Excursion	Those who do not have the opportunity to participate in excursion will receive a task / a project that replaces this. Those who do not have the opportunity to participate in excursion will receive a task / a project that replaces this.

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 649 Constructive Logic - Wasted !

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Constructive Logic - Wasted !

Credits:

Course code:

40 649

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Lina Elisabeth Broström

Claudia Andrea Pinochet

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Good understanding of written and spoken English.

Intermediate to a good level of draughtsmanship.

Interest in working with material experiments and large scale models.

Part of course series: Lightweight architecture

Course content

How can a better understanding of materials and the building industry guide our design choices? This studio is part of a series where each semester will investigate one particular material in depth, examining the full building process from the extraction of raw materials, production of elements, transportation, building technology and life cycle.

This semester we will study regenerative and recycled composites with low impact on our environment. Learning about their current use through a historical and technological lense, we will seek to understand their future potential in form-making and the architectural project.

This course will simultaneously examine the building industry, trying to get an overview of how it works and reflecting on its culture and environmental impact. Learning from traditional building techniques and material science, we will experiment with a range of new materials and discuss how we can develop better practices that can be implemented in new and innovative ways. We will research the manufacture of buildings and building components and develop prototypical designs for a medium size building project on a given site.

Wasted !

wasted | ˈweɪstɪd |

1 used or expended carelessly or to no purpose

2 weak or emaciated

3 in state of delusion

Waste, like money, is a human construct, a measure of use and value. The conventional way of thinking about waste, rubbish, trash, garbage, is as meaningless or worthless material. Yet, the thing, like the concept, is created. A broken bill is trash; a vintage record is gold. The status of waste is relative.

This studio will focus on the lack of understanding of the environmental impact of materials and their life cycle: how is raw matter extracted, processed and eventually disposed of or reused? We will look at resource extraction practices that leave great scars on the earth and an enormous amount of construction and demolition waste behind, putting land under pressure and disrupting ecosystems.

Take for instance, clay. Clay is a product found in large quantities around the world. When excavation for a construction site occurs, clay is removed and treated as a waste product. Clay however is an extremely versatile construction material that has fantastic structural, acoustic, thermal and aesthetic qualities. The same can be said for many other by-products from the agricultural and mining industry. Often seen as incidental or invitable secondary results, residue, they are discarded as garbage.

We will ask why earth, bio-based and reused materials are still not widespread in the construction sector; and we will reach out to different local industries in order to experiment with new material sources and explore their architectural potential. Some examples of such materials are low-carbon geopolymer concretes, earth and fiber composites and bio-based materials such as mycelium.

Learning outcome

Constructive Logic
The design questions raised by the studio will be addressed through an investigation of material technology and study of the building industry, letting form emerge from an understanding of the material properties, both physical and aesthetic, and the individual ambitions set out by the students.
Through an in-depth study of a given material, participants will gain an understanding of the complexity involved in the realization of a simple work of architecture. We will discuss architectural aesthetics and the craft of building as a creative endeavor. We will also address issues relating to resource extraction, division of labor, building ethics and the politics of the construction site.

Lightweight Architecture and the Life (Cycle) of Buildings
How can we think holistically about the life cycle of buildings and the materials we use? The studio will work with lightness as a design attitude, challenging more permanent and static building solutions. Another way of understanding the concept of lightweight architecture is to think about low impact building —everything that minimizes construction material, doesn't weigh much on the environment 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.

Working and learning activities

The studio will work with experimental characterization techniques, analytical drawing, model making and construction details. Revisiting the scientific method, we will discuss material science and study the specific and unique qualities of building materials in order to understand material properties, structural capacity and position in the industry. Getting our hands dirty, we will experiment and learn more about different types of regenerative and recycled materials.

We will work with big models and physical samples, and will embrace technical drawing, budget sheets, schedules and logistics plans, making discussion around labor and organizational systems an important component of the course.

Curriculum

Syllabus will be distributed on the first day of class.

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

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 650 Waterfront

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Waterfront

Credits:

Course code:

40 650

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Thomas McQuillan

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Course content

Play is an essential feature of humanity, and sport formalizes this play in a social space. This course is an examination of the spatial and architectural features of sport and leisure.

Sport is a central aspect of our society, as it has been for millennia. Both the ancient Egyptians and Greeks afforded a prominent place to sport, and throughout history, it has provided a space for both participation and spectatorship. From the most casual of games to the cutthroat world of professional sports, it provides its participants with excitement, confrontation, competition and personal challenge. For the spring 2022 semester, the topic is swimming.

Swimming is perhaps as old as walking, but it did not become a sport in itself until the 19th century. The first buildings for swimming were built in England in the 1830’s. While most early European swimmers used a breaststroke, native Americans introduced the overhand crawl, known to many indigenous populations. The development of this technique allowed for much longer swims, and by the late 18th Century, adventurers were swimming the Hellespont (4k) and even the English Channel (32k). An interest in the health-bringing effects of a cold dip spurred the creation of ocean baths, from the many that studded the edge of the Oslofjord, to the kallbad of the western Swedish coast. Modernism saw the emergence of the avant-garde facility at sites such as Ingierstrand and Hvalstrand.

This course is an exploration of the spatial and architectural features of swimming as a basis for designing an ocean bathing facility today. Initial research will focus on spatio-historical case studies through models and drawing. The project task will be the design of a swimming facility in the Oslofjord.

Learning outcome

Primary Learning Outcome

Ability to employ architectural research as a basis for original designs

Subsidary Learning Outcomes

How city, sport and architecture interact
How to communicate findings and designs
Experience with the architecture of swimming
Tectonic studies of building in a litttoral zone

Working and learning activities

The course consists of two activities: a series of lectures by architects, athletes and historians, and weekly reviews of progress. Our studies will lead us from the urban scale (e.g. 1:5.000) to the development of architectural space at 1:200 / 1:100.

This course is intended as an in-person arrangement, but activities can when needed be moved to the internet. Attendance at all activities is essential.

Curriculum

An extensive list of literature on the topic is under preparation and will be available at course start. The following are general references on swimming.

Bengtsson, Lars-Gunnar, and Per Jönsson. Ribersborgs Kallbadhus. Lund: Historiska media, 2016.
Gjerstad, Jo. Bergenske Badeanlegg. Bergen : Gamle Bergen museum, n.d.
Kjeldstadli, Knut. Badebyen Oslo - En Kulturhistorisk Svømmetur. Oslo, 1989.
Lind, Helena, Leandersson, Bert. Kallbadhus. Stockholm: Byggförlaget, 2004.
Orme, Nicholas, and Everard Digby. Early British Swimming 55BC-AD1719: With the First Swimming Treatise in English, 1595. Exeter: University of Exeter, 1983.
Perkins, PH. Swimming Pools. London: Taylor and Francis, 2000.
Stavseth, Reidar. Sjøbad og tradisjoner kysten rundt. Trondheim: Rune, 1981.
Thévenot, Melchisédech. The Art of Swimming. Illustrated by Forty Proper Copper-Plate Cuts, Which Represent the Different Postures Necessary to Be Used in That Art. With Advice for Bathing. Cengage Gale, 2009.

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	80% attendance is requred

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

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 414 Queer Space

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Queer Space

Credits:

Course code:

40 414

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Alma Elisabeth Oftedal

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Part of course series: A queer look at architecture

Course content

Queer theory has influenced a branch of the architectural discourse since the 90s. In this course we will investigate what queer space might be by reading relevant texts and by doing artistic research.

The course is divided in two parts. The first part is focused on critical discourse analysis and its relevance for discussions on architecture. Through the study of queer theory, traditional power-relations will be challenged, and ethical and political awareness increased. In the second part, the theoretical material is actualized within a creative and architectonic frame, through drawing-exercises based on a fictional text related to the course's topic.

Learning outcome

Knowledge of central directions in modern cultural theory.
Knowledge of how queer theory is related to architecture.
Knowledge of how to write a reflection paper.
Knowledge of how to explore the relationship between literary, cultural and architectural themes through drawing.

Working and learning activities

Literature studies, discussions, academic writing, investigative drawings.

Curriculum

Bauman, Celine. 2020. «Queer Nature». In: Archithese no. 2, p. 78-83.
Betsky, Aaron. 1997. «Aesthetic Escapades». In: Queer Space. Architecture and Same-Sex Desire, p. 56-97. New York: William Morrow and Company.
Betsky, Aaron. 2020. «Queer space reconsidered» In: Archithese no. 2, p. 70-77.
Bonnevier, Katarina. 2020. «Never Trust the Decor». In: Archithese no. 2, p. 86-93
Carson, Anne. 2010. Autobiography of Red. [1998]. London: Jonathan Cape
Chee, Lillian. 2011. «Materializing the Tiger in the Archive: Creative Research and Architectural History». In: Lori A. Brown (ed.). Feminist practices, p. 155-168. London and New York: Routledge.
Choquette, Eloïse. 2020. «Queering Architecture». In: Archithese no. 2, p. 6-13
Colomina, Beatriz. 2010. «A House of Ill Repute: E 1027». In: Tanja Jordan and Rikke Lequick Larsen (ed.) Female forces of architecture, p: 68-85. København: Kunstakademiets arkitektskole [Orig.published in: Agrest, Diana (ed.). 1996. As: «Battle Lines: E 1027». The sex of architecture. p. 167-182. New York: Harry N. Abrams].
Crowdy, Joe. 2021. «Queer Growth». In: Architectural Review no. 1478, p. 102-106.
Furman, Adam Nathaniel. 2019. «Outrage: Architecture represses plurality in favour of a heteronormative culture». In: Architectural Review no. 1459, p. 55.
Halberstam, Jack. 2020. «Unbuilding Gender». In: Archithese no. 2, p. 29-37.
Lange, Torsten. «Another Infrastructure: Queer Ecologies of Care». In: Architectural Review no. 1479, p. 20-25.
Lemey, Huw. 2019. «Out of space». In: Architectural Review no. 1459, p. 44-47.
Lepine, Ayla. 2015. «Queer Gothic». In: Architectural Review no. 1415, p. 110-111.
Sontag, Susan. 1964. «Notes on Camp». Lastet ned fra https://monoskop.org/images/5/59/Sontag_Susan_1964_Notes_on_Camp.pdf

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

Start semester

2022 Vår

40 415 Climate Design

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Climate Design

Credits:

Course code:

40 415

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Tine Hegli

Kristian Edwards

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Course content

Climate at multiple scales as a contextual condition for design.

In Climate Design we study external climate conditions at specific locations. We disseminate available data and we examine methods of generation of absent data – we critically analyse the value and validity of this information and apply experience to personify data. We look at the operation of translation between external climate conditions and desired internal climate conditions through building physics, the function of aperture and envelope in terms of daylight, energy and ventilation. Similarly we analyze and discuss multiscale external climates pre- and post- intervention.

We will learn to simulate and evaluate internal climate conditions and understand how design and specification can influence internal climate bot positively and negatively.

Responses will be discussed in the context of both contemporary climate and scenario-based climates of the future: A dedicated lecture series will examine the role of the built environment in climate and climate change the indicators and the drivers.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Accessible and applicable methodologies for forecasting or projection of climate, harvesting and application of information and experience.
Knowledge through exposure and use, enables critical appraisal of various platforms and methods that students will come in contact with throughout their careers in design disciplines.
Interventions in climate conditions wether contemporary or projective, require a valid response, the multidisciplinary approach allows for knowledge generation that broaches building physics, energy, daylight and ventilation as well as application of relevant strategies to create desired external and internal spatial conditions.

Skills:

Climate Design aims to equip the student with skills to generate actionable information through simulation, visualization. Application of findings and argumentation for inclusion in a considered design-based response is a primary indicator of understanding and a valuable record for further design work and pedagogic development.

General competence:

The student will obtain broad based, practice- applicable approaches to integration of climate of varying resolutions in design tasks. The student will gain a broad knowledge of the importance of location-based data, including long and short term temporal values, seasonal change and values for any location. The student will also be able to present an argument for design direction based on relevant accrued climate information.

Working and learning activities

A multidisciplinary team including practicing expertise are responsible for the pedagogy. Relevant strategies will be discussed and presented, Tutorials in various methodologies both computational and analogue are integral to the course. The course culminates in a self-programmed extended study of a specific aspect of climate relating to specific programmes from individual studio courses. A compendium of collected findings is generated for each elective course.

Students are asked to apply a chosen method relevant to aspects of their own design for concurrent studio courses and present findings.

Guidance for self-programmed studies will be offered in the closing stages of the elective course once focus areas are chosen.

Climate design targets expansion of the design toolkit.

Report material for elective course compendium will be a valuable documentation of the development of climate information as design conditions, thus offering indicators as to the level and uptake of climate as context in further studies and / or practice. Directly, Climate Design aims to create relevant Input to studio course design tasks, aswell as the generation of visualized climate information relevant to studio course and the development of the elective course over time.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Report	Individual	Pass / fail	Evaluation of individual report on project-based findings and presentation

Start semester

60 619 Billboards outside Oslo – Engaging flowscapes in the metropolitan area.

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Billboards outside Oslo – Engaging flowscapes in the metropolitan area.

Credits:

Course code:

60 619

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Sabine Muller

Miguel Hernandez Quintanilla

Zaccariotto Giambattista

Required prerequisite knowledge

Mandatory for 2nd semester Landscape Master students, open to Architecture Master students.

CAD 2D and 3D (Rhino), Adobe Suite, hand drawing, analogue and digital model making, GIS. Interest and experience in urbanism and landscape “materials” such as water, soil, plants.

Course content

Oslo: Blue, green, and the city in-between.
This marketing rhyme is constantly challenged with Oslo being at the very centre of a growing region. To accommodate the influx of inhabitants, capital and goods municipalities re-zone agricultural land, often on risk-prone grounds for the development of urban districts and commercial or logistical areas, announced by large billboards. Civil opposition, understandably riding the arguments of ecology, history and place are the consequences. In contrast, the studio is a call for projects that support an environmental imagination in which urbanism, ecology and an aesthetic position are informing each other. It asks:

What if we radically reverse the approach to urban development? And start from the ground, water and vegetal structures to generate contemporary forms of urbanisation?
There are reasons enough. Historically a water-rich area, weather extremes question the functionality of the cultural landscapes present in the Oslo region. While flooding and its impact on traffic, real estate and water quality in intensively used areas start to be addressed in municipal planning, the droughts of recent years shift attention to water supply – and with it to the rather extensively used, wider “support” territory. From a water perspective, the levelling of seasonal peaks asks for new cultural landscapes. Urban and landscape practices actively change and modify water flows and cycles. Can urbanism team up with water’s active role in structuring space, regulating climate and creating opportunities for cultural practices? The studio proposes a shift from water as a passive resource to an agent taking part in developing a future cultural landscape.

To be bold: Could urban development and the need to accommodate for flaws of goods be the incentive of the required hydrological and ecological transformation? Oslo: Blue, green, and the city in-between. The rhyme would then mean both to intertwine urban life into concise and perceptible landscape structures and to have human ecology play an active role in the re-adjustment of the hydrological cycle to the changing climate.

In sum, the studio explores landscape-based, water-active urbanism within the Oslo Metropolitan Region. In face of climate change with its increasing risks of draught and flooding, and continuing urbanisation pressure the studio will propose spatially concise landscape frameworks at the very basis of any new development. It engages the functional requirements of adaptation to changing environmental conditions as much as the spatial and environmental aesthetics of storing and cycling water as an agent of urbanism.

The studio is thus an inquiry into future cultural landscapes beyond perceived city/countryside or culture/nature or planned/unplanned dichotomies, and how these contribute to an idea of human nature.

Learning outcome

Knowledge: The design and research studio will provide students with the conceptual categories to address the interrelated issues of sustainability in an urbanising regional context. Based on a systemic view on the environment a focus of the studio will be a hydrological perspective on design, and the understanding of landscape as infrastructure. Form will be discussed in relation to performance as well as to space and place.

Acquaintance and discussion of notions of watershed, region, cultural landscape as a spatial product of geological and climatic forces as well as cultural, political and economical interests and practices layered in time
Basic knowledge of urban-regional metabolism as a concept to describe the flows of substances and energy between and within cities and landscapes; in particular: urban hydrology and integrated watershed management (retain, clean, reuse)
Basic knowledge of landscape as a productive, performative layer in human systems: ecological infrastructure, ecosystem services, and regenerative agriculture; in particular: historical precedents of water management
Advanced knowledge of form and urban form: emergent patterns, figures and fields, dissolution and abstraction
Basic knowledge of form as “informed” related to processes, both as a passive result of processes, and as an active modifier or catalyst of processes and flows
Basic knowledge of an actor perspective and user-centered design practice: “everyday urbanism”

Skills: Concretely, students will develop skills to envision urbanisation projects as cultural landscapes with the goal to ensure adaptability to climate change and promote participation. Research-driven, multi-layered and multi-scalar in its scope, the studio builds the capacity to conduct a layered and visual analysis of the territorial/ regional context, the ability to reference precedents, to fuse technical and aesthetic aspects of form giving, and finally to frame and argue for a well-resolved design proposal anchored within the scale of the territory.

Research: Capacity to select and sort, and evaluate data from greater information quantities; ability to conduct precedent analysis and transfer
Analysis: ability to carry out landscape and urban analysis based on map work (GIS and morphological analysis) and field work (photography, interviews); description of a territory through a synthesis of mapping, drawing, diagramming, and photography, with a special attention to hydrological systems
Strategy: capability to develop scenarios for a watershed, development of propositions related to water flows and cycles for concrete case areas and programmes out of the strategic approach
Iterative design process: trial and error to find adequate solution, successive and interrogative usage of drawings (section and plans), physical and digital models, as well as texts variants, to test and develop proposals, in favour for “unsafe” experimental approaches
Interrogative design: explicit discussion of a formal question, such as grids and figures organizing a spatial field; explicit discussion of an aesthetical question,
Design resolution: ability to work out a territorial approach on a detailed level, including grading, planting, surfaces and textures
Representation: capability to illustrate design through compelling plans, sections, and 3-dimensional images such as elevational perspective and collage, as well as digital and physical models
Communication: problem definition, framing of a task within the given context of the studio; skill to verbally and visually argue for a project through telling of a compelling narrative

General competence: The studio’s underlying thesis will encourage the rethinking of urban, social and environmental challenges as opportunities to develop place-specific, lived and just spaces for the future. The studio’s main competence goal is to equip students with the ability to state ideas, translate these into form, and to apply theoretical and technical background in project work. Students will develop the adequate background knowledge to frame their projects in a larger socially and environmentally relevant context, as well as to use the project as an investigative vehicle to address professional and disciplinary questions. Both individual and group work will be trained.

Working and learning activities

Individual and group work (2-4 students) is organised around 5 phases.

The phases will be supported by input lectures and readings to facilitate contextualisation and familiarization with discourse and state of the art in theory and practice.

Site, Scale, and Imagination: Measuring the site through human scale, and atmospheric interpretation.

Precedent Analysis: Understanding of cultural landscape techniques to modify water flows in order to irrigate land, to store, infiltrate and keep water clean. Familiarisation with contemporary policies of water management in Oslo and abroad.

Scenario: Portrait: Constructing the context through hand drawing of landuse, topographical and hydrological pattern; field work (Individual work), 3D modelling at varied scales, and archival research (Group work); Morphological analysis: map work, layering and comparison of relevant contemporary and historical layers, preparation for site plan; “Transplant” of urban models: acquaintance with historical landscape-based urban models, definition of water-relevant strata and sites, and possible water-building strategies within the examined watershed (Group work)

Project: Elaboration of site-specific blue-green, landscape infrastructures as a basis for urban projects (1: 5000, 1:2000) Group work. Elaboration of landscape and architectural proposals with a focus on public spaces (1:100 -1:50, 1:20) Individual work.

Communication: Visualization and “telling” the proposals to communicate to a broader audience. Production of an exhibition or website; and a studio booklet that can serve to advance the imaginary on the Oslo Region as a sustainable territory. Group work.

Curriculum

Bell, Simon. 2004. Elements of visual design in the landscape. London: Spon Press.

Bell, Simon. 1999. Landscape: pattern, perception and process. London: Spon Press.

Dee, Catherine. 2001. Form and fabric in landscape architecture: a visual introduction. London: Spon Press.

Diedrich, Lisa, Henri Bava, Michel Hoessler, and Olivier Philippe. 2009. Territories: from landscape to city. Basel: Birkhäuser.

Dramstad, Wenche E., James D. Olson, and Richard T. T. Forman. 1996. Landscape ecology principles in landscape architecture and land-use planning. [Cambridge Mass.]: Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Farhat, Georges. Landscapes of Preindustrial Urbanism. 2020. Washington Harvard University Press.

Foxley, Alice, and Günther Vogt. 2010. Distance and Engagement: walking, thinking and making landscape : Vogt Landscape Architects. Baden: Lars Müller Publishers.

Gali-Izard, Teresa. 2006. The same landscapes: ideas and interpretations = Los mismos paisajes. Barcelona: Gustavo Gili.

Girot, Christophe. 2016. The course of landscape architecture: A history of our designs on the natural world, from prehistory to the present. Farnborough: Thames & Hudson Ltd.

Ingegnoli, Vittorio. 2011. Landscape ecology: a widening foundation. Berlin: Springer.

Kravčík, Michal. Water for the Recovery of the Climate: A New Water Paradigm. Kovice, Slovakia: TypoPress, 2008.

Loidl, Hans, and Stefan Bernard. Opening Spaces. 2014. Basel: Birkhäuser.

Lobeck, A. K. 1939. Geomorphology, an introduction to the study of landscapes. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc.

Marsh, William M., and Jeff Dozier. 1981. Landscape, an introduction to physical geography. Reading, Mass: Addison-Wesley.

Marsh, William M. 2010. Landscape planning: environmental applications. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

McHarg, I. L. 1995. Design with nature. New York: John Wiley.

Mollison, B. C. 1988. Permaculture: a designer's manual. Tyalgum, Australia: Tagari Publications.

Motloch, John L. 2001. Introduction to landscape design. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Morton, Timothy. 2007. Ecology: Without Nature. Rethinking Environmental Aesthetics. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

Munari, Bruno. Drawing a Tree. Mantova: Corraini, 2005. Print.

Parrotta, John A., and Ronald L. Trosper. 2012. Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge Sustaining Communities, Ecosystems and Biocultural Diversity. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

Petschek, Peter. 2008. Grading for landscape architects and architects. Basel: Birkhäuser.

Pollalis, Spiro N. 2016. Planning sustainable cities: an infrastructure-based approach. Routledge (filter, barrier, source, sink, conduit)

Purdy, Jedediah. 2018. After Nature: a politics for the anthropocene. Boston: Harvard University Press

Reed, Chris, and Nina-Marie E. Lister. 2014. Projective ecologies. Cambridge, Massachusetts ; Harvard University Graduate School of Design : New York, New York ; Actar Publishers

Sarté, Bry and Morana Stipisic. 2016. Water infrastructure: Equitable Development of Resilient Systems. New York: Columbia GSAPP.

Tvedt, Terje, Terje Oestigaard, and R. Coopey. 2010. A history of water. London: I.B. Tauris.

Tvedt, Terje. 2016. Water and society: changing perspectives of societal and historical development.

Ungers, O. M. 2011. Morphologie = City metaphors. Köln: Walther König.

Viganò, Paola, Angelo Sampieri, and Viviana Ferrario. 2011. Landscapes of urbanism. Quaderni Del Dottorato Di Ricerca in Urbanistica / Universita IUAV Di Venezia, Dipartimento Di Urbanistica. Roma: Officina.

Spirn, A. W. 2010. The granite garden: Urban nature and human design. New York: Basic Books.

Wöhrle, Regine Ellen, and Hans-Jörg Wöhrle. 2008. Designing with plants. Basel: Birkhäuser.

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

Start semester

12 803 Diploma Landscape Architecture

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Diplom Landskapsarkitektur

Credits:

Course code:

12 803

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

Norwegian / English

Year:

2022

Person in charge

Hanne Bat Finke

Required prerequisite knowledge

Successful completion of 90 ECTS, successful completion of a pre-diploma report, approved by an advisor and the head of department.

Course content

The diploma semester at AHO is an independent research and design task on a theme chosen by the candidate. In consultation with a chosen advisor, the candidate is to produce a complete work of exceptional quality contributing to the discipline’s discourse.

Learning outcome

General proficiency

An understanding of the given natural, social, cultural and technological conditions that contribute to inform architectural, urban and landscape design work
Ability to see the particular approaches and methods of the discipline in relation to society and contemporary landscape situations.

Knowledge

Knowledge of the theoretical and policy-related elements pertaining to the field of research and practice within the discipline.
A mastery of the methods, tools and media inherent to urban and landscape design
An awareness of urban and landscape design’s historical, societal and theoretical background and context

Skills

An ability to undertake an independent and responsible project development.
Ability to conceive of, conceptualize and design a specific project pertaining to a specific situation or problem.
An ability to employ the range of knowledge within the discipline in the specific diploma research and design.
An ability to communicate design ideas and results to professionals and laypersons

Working and learning activities

The diploma semester is an independent study whose methods and topics are to be outlined in an approved pre-diploma brief. Interim presentations and a final presentation is mandatory.

The diploma semester starts of with an information meeting where both administrative and academic staff is present. Main source of information and updates during the semester is Moodle, and as a diploma student you are obligated to familiarize yourself with the AHO's diploma regulations. The regulations outlines the frame work of the diploma semester, and describes details concerning submission, reviews and assessment.

A diploma project may be withdrawn from examination by December 1st (Fall semester) and May 1st (Spring semester).

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet		Required	2 mid term reviews

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	Report and presentation of diploma project. External censors. The diploma project should be evaluated on the terms, problematics and scope that the students themselves have defined in their project and in relation to the criteria given by the examiner´s guide to diploma evaluation and the required learning outcome.

Start semester

2022 Vår

60 620 Urban design. Sustainable small town development. Gjersrud-Stensrud

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Bærekraftig stedsutvikling. Gjersrud-Stensrud

Credits:

Course code:

60 620

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2022 Spring

Assessment semester:

2022 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2022

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Andreas Kalstveit

Jørgen Johan Tandberg

Required prerequisite knowledge

Admission to AHO and successful completion of three years bachelor level studies (180 ECTS).

Part of course series: Urban Design

Course content

The studio will be a collaboration with the european research project: PAV (Planning for autonomouns vehicles). AHO is a partner in this project. and Espen Hauglin (AHO), Karl Otto Ellefsen (AHO) and Alan Berger(MIT) will be involved in the studio and lab.

The studio believes that "the green shift" as a political project will radically impact our built environment. This should provide a platform to critically examine the position of our own discourse, inevitably resulting in a paradigm shift.

The studio focuses on developing strategies for the sustainable development of small Norwegian towns, working with realistic cases in order to understand the typical challenges. Many small towns of a similar size and function have developed in phases which carry characteristics of contemporary political projects. Arguably, they are not so much the results of cultural continuity and traditions, as they are of sudden and modern breaks with the past. If the shift towards renewable energy and increased environmental consciousness can be said to constitute a new such politcal project, happening in response to a popular awakening, it is imperative that we as architects engage with local municipalities now, while this is happening. Architecture and urban planning should in this context not be considered separate discourses. Buildings are environmentally determined objects, their raison d'aitre - economic, social, political - necessarily expressed in their physical form. As such, we will treat the architect as a generalist, interested in seeing sustainability across all scales. On a regional level: where should we build? On an urban level: how should we plan our towns and cities? And on a building detail level: how should we build our homes and our public infrastrucure?

Our aim is to develop strategic building projects that can serve as exemplars for a new "aesthetics of sustainability" for the Norwegian small town. The proposals will be defined by a clear strategic purpose on a regional level, a defined building programme that is in actual, realistic demand, a rational, sustainable and economic means of construction, and a seductive public image. Our role as architects is also to bring these things into a higher unity. In being of and about our time, the work will by nature also be "modern", in the heroic and postivist sense of the word. The studio engages critically with technology, working with experts in various fields in order to be ahead of the game when it comes to knowledge about sustainable construction. As before, a large part of the semester will also consist of reference studies, where the merits of various role model cases are discussed collectively in the studio.

Semester:

The area of Gjersrud-Stensrud will be the case for the semester. The area is one of the last available development areas on the outskirts of Oslo. We will work with new modes of transportation (atomatic vehicles etc.) as a premise for urban development and architectural projects.

Research description from PAV:

Gjersrud-Stensrud er en av de siste åpne utbyggingsområdene syd-øst for Oslo.Utbygging har ventet på at området skal knyttes til T-banenettet. Dette kurset undersøker konsekvenser og muligheter av å utbygge området med et transportnett basert på AV (Automatic Vehicles) teknologi. Det skal lages ny byplan for området, transportnettet skal designes, det skal gis form til de romlige strukturene, program for utbygging skal diskuteres og boligtypologi skal utvikles sett i sammenheng med forutsetninger om framtidig livsform i området.

Byplanen utvikles som et fellesprosjekt av hele studioet, og innenfor byplanene velger vi individuelle arkitekturoppgaver som til sammen vil illustrere et framtidsbilde for området.

Kurset vil skje i samarbeid med RUTER som eksperimenterer med PAV innenfor Oslo/Akershus, og med OBOS som vil være utbygger i området.

AHO er en av partnerne i det Europeiske forskningsprosjektet PAV (Planning for Autonomous Vehicles). Ved AHO arbeider universitetslektor Espen Hauglin (prosjektleder), professor Alan Berger (MIT) og professor Karl Otto Ellefsen med dette forskningsprosjektet som skal avsluttes våren 2023. Våren 2021 gjennomførte AHO i samarbeid med Ruter et fordypningskurs (elective) som knyttet seg til Ruters «pilot» for AV i tettstedet SKI. Både Ruter og AHO ønsker å utvikle dette samarbeidet, og Ruter har nå foreslått av tema for vårens kurs skal være Gjersrud-Stensrud. Denne problematikken er for stor til å håndtere innenfor rammene av et fordypningskurs, og vi arbeider derfor med å utvikle kurset til et fullt masterstudio.

Ruters har lenge arbeidet med AV og gjennomført diverse fullskala piloter. Det rådende synspunktet er nå ulike former for mikromobilitet vil ta seg av transport i bykjernen, skinnegående systemer (jernbane og T-bane) vil binde det metropole bysystemet sammen, mens AV trolig i første omgang vil knytte stedene og boligområdene i semiperiferien sammen og gi tilgang til de skinnegående systemene. På Ski arbeidet vi med å innpasse AV i eksisterende områder, i det nye prosjektet utvikles ny romlig struktur og bygningstypologi basert på AV. Forutsetningen er at AV vil føre til en dramatisk reduksjon i bruk av privatbil og at dette vil ha svært interessante konsekvenser for arealbruk og bymiljø.

T-banesystemer er tung og svært kostnadskrevende infrastruktur som krever store trafikkmengder for å kunne forsvares. AV teknologi er lett, tilpasningsdyktig og forutsetter langt lavere investeringer. Dette innebærer også at diskusjonene om utbyggingstetthet og bygningstypologi kan bygge på andre forutsetninger, ulike de tette «drabantbystrukturene» som til nå er illustrert for området.

Learning outcome

-Increased knowledge about sustainable construction, detailing and urban planning.

-Ability to analyze the urban fabric of Norwegian small towns, and situate a strategic building project.

-Greater awareness of an architectural project’s impact upon its local context.

-Ability to reflect critically upon the extent of an architectural proposal as an intervention on an urban scale.

Working and learning activities

The students will work on one individual project throughout the term. However: sharing knowledge, details, maps, references and ideas is encouraged. The studio should be seen as a collective where common interests are discussed, and where we all help each other improve our work. Students can expect 4 reviews throughout the semester, weekly desk-crits, and pin-ups every third week. Working methods will include: simple analytical maps, reference studies, detailed drawings, large scale construction models - 1:50 or 1:100 (depending on workshop availability in fall term), realistic renderings. The studio is considered a full-time engagement.

The students will develop plans for a relatively number of housing units, as well as a medium-to-large scale public building/ housing type or similar.

The semester will consist of these phases:

Phase 1. Mapping

We begin the term with analyses of the place on a regional level and on a local planning level. Throughout the phase we will develop maps that will serve as a way of seeing the place, as well as a foundation for the project, as the drawings will establish certain scopes/scales for the final project. This common research will result in individual strategic planning diagrams, onto which we can test various building typologies.

Phase 2. Massing

Each student will produce massing studies of the entire program placed on the site area, directly testing strategies from reference studies in relation to the results from the Mapping-phase assignment (the individual maps). The most successful of these will serve as basis for further project development.

Phase 3. Detailing

The aim of the third phase is to develop a tectonic and architectural language for the project. Considering both the general theme of sustainability and the local context. The phase consists of reference studies, a rendering workshop and a detailed integration of technology and structural principles.

Phase 4. Architectural Project

In the final phase of the semester we will complete the design of a medium size building by confronting principles developed throughout the semester with a detailed program for a public building/ housing typology.

LAB

Each semester, the studio engages with a separate Norwegian town, working with representatives from its planning department to understand the local challenges. According to the "studio lab"-model, the individual strategies developed by the students will be collected in a publication, where our research is synthesized into more realistic recommendations. This will serve as an idea bank for local municipalities/collaborators in their future planning work. Over time, we can increase awareness in local municipalities of the value of sustainable architecture and planning strategies, and the studio considers this its long-term, strategic goal.

STUDY TRIP

During the semester there will be a study trip. Probably to the United States.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Oral presentation	Individual	Pass / fail

Mandatory coursework:	Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	Attendance and participation in the interim deliveries and presentations is mandatory.

Mandatory coursework:	Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	Attendance and participation in the interim deliveries and presentations is mandatory.

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

Mandatory coursework:	Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	Requirements to pass: Active participation in lectures, workshops, group meetings and desk crits are required, as well as the steady development of the project with regular supervision meetings. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Form of assessment:	Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)
Grouping:	-
Grading scale:	Pass / fail
Comment:	The final grade will be set on the basis of: -project assignment -oral presentation -exercise (delinnlevering) Details for project assignment, see list: Deliverables at the end of the semester. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Languages

2022 Vår

Start semester

40 646 T A P - Building in Landscape

Start semester

40 647 ACDL: Bridging water and land

Start semester

40 648 Timber Housing Cycles

Start semester

40 649 Constructive Logic - Wasted !

Start semester

40 650 Waterfront

Start semester

40 414 Queer Space

Start semester

40 415 Climate Design

Start semester

60 619 Billboards outside Oslo – Engaging flowscapes in the metropolitan area.

Start semester

12 803 Diploma Landscape Architecture

Start semester

60 620 Urban design. Sustainable small town development. Gjersrud-Stensrud

Pages

Workload activity:	Attendance
Comment:	Participation and attendance in lectures, supervision at the desks in the studio, seminars and workshops is expected.