2023 Høst

The course will study a selection of landscape architecture projects from the late 19th century and onwards.

We will discuss the spatial qualities of these projects and the link between spatial qualities and the intellectual context in which projects are developed. By redrawing, 3D-modelling, reading, and writing, we will investigate them in order to understand how they have been created through design choices and the evolution of design techniques. This explorative work will allow us to also determine how they relate to and learn from past work and contribute to renew traditions, as well as how projects in themselves are a form of knowledge and derive into principles.

The projects will be placed in a historical and theoretical context, but we will also explore the role they play in the dynamic interplay between design and theoretical and historical interpretation.

Normally, we valuate buildings as singular and confined entities, naming their architects, concepts, forms and functions, and securely fixing them in time and place. Consequently, their components (construction, materials, colors, products, technical systems i.a.) gain value only by being parts of the whole, in place to support our conception of the work. Similarly, in historic preservation, valuable buildings are turned into monuments as wholes, leaving the components as servants to a grander idea.  

This seminar explores alternative ways of valuating buildings by taking their components as points of departure: where they are from, how they have been circulated, who their producers and distributers were, how they age and accumulate value over time, and how they can be recycled in new forms of architecture.  

The task is to investigate a number of existing buildings, using the conceptual framework of provenance to explore their reuse, transformation and preservation. The concept of provenance is normally used to document the chronological history of ownership, legitimacy, and display of artworks, manuscripts, and antiquities, but is also regularly employed in relationship to production of food, clothing, jewelry and building materials (fair trade, food miles, child-labor, etc.) To transpose this concept into architecture releases unexpected aspects of architecture traditionally not accounted for, like the histories of fluctuating ownership, dramatic events, political controversy, and social history. Triggering this potential might alter the way we reuse, transform and preserve our buildings.  

The seminar is part of the research project “Provenance Projected. Architecture Past and Future in the Era of Circularity”, run by Mari Lending and Erik Langdalen 

The diploma at the Institute of Design is the final project in the Master programme. The Institute takes a broad approach to the design profession that includes products, services, systems and interactive experiences. The education brings together aesthetics and technology, creativity and design methods, culture and research. The programme has roots in Industrial Design, but today also includes Interaction Design, Service Design and Systems Oriented Design. This is reflected in the width of our students’ diplomas, and the broad range of themes that they address.

The diploma concludes our five-year Master in design and is done in the final semester. The diploma is a self-initiated and self-organised project that takes place over 18 weeks. The students develop and define their own project-descriptions (the diploma programme) in a pre-diploma’ course, in the semester leading up to the diploma. During the diploma project the students have a main supervisor at the Institute, but can also seek additional input and guidance form across AHO and externally. Diplomas are typically done as individual projects, but can also be done in groups.

The diplomas at the Institute of Design are characterised by variety and breadth. The diploma projects are typically initiated and developed by the students, and they are free to explore different themes and formats. These can be creative explorations, product development and theoretical projects, or collaborations with commercial companies, public services or researchprojects. Diplomas can also be discursive design projects that seek to raise questions or challenge societal or cultural issues. Often our diplomas are ‘hybrids’ that bring together different methods and actors, or span across our different design specialisations.

The purpose of the diploma is multi-layered. The students have to bring together what they have learned throughout their education to define and develop their own project. A challenge here is how the project is followed through, how it is developed and how it is executed as a design project. In the scope of the Master, the diploma is a relatively large project that demands that the student is self-driven, organised, structured and creative. At the same time, the diploma is a possibility for the student to explore his or her own identity as a designer, to research topics she or he finds interesting, or to challenge the students acquired skills and methods. The diplomas should therefore be understood holistically as projects where the students get to choose their own themes, approaches and processes, but where the challenge is also about organising and developing the project itself. Defining and developing the scope and plan for the project is done both in the project-description (diploma programme), as well as throughout the process.

It is important to note that in doing a holistic evaluation of the diplomas, the focus should be on the project itself rather than how closely it follows the initial description or diplomaprogramme.

The ACDL studio 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 and practice based, with an experimental approach to environmentally-conscious architectural design, design processes and methodologies. 

Through exploratory research and design we will look at novel ways to develop the project assignment for the fall studio, a medium to large architectural structure. Central themes for the fall studio will be performance oriented; site specific climate analysis as part of the research and basis for design, - and various simulations to analyze and optimize your design for solar access, daylight factors, wind performance, structural efficiency and material utilization as part of the architectural design process.  

Associative computational modeling will be introduced, and used in an iterative manner incorporating design generation and analysis to refine the associative model that defines spatial organization, required building program and activity distribution. We will also look into how multi-objective optimization can be employed for design output generated by genetic and evolutionary algorithms, making it possible to negotiate complex performance requirements.  

The digital tools form the starting point for being able to handle complex issues, large amounts of data, scenario-based work methodology and ultimately to inform your architectural design decisions.