2023 Vår

Landskapsteori med vekt på forståelse og lesning av nordlige landskap og steder. Kurset studerer stedsteori og visuelt materiale (kart og fotografier) som representasjon av steder i Nord-Norge.

Aktuelle steder velges før og under studieturen gjennom Nord-Norge, og gjennom resten av semesteret vil kurset diskutere og undervise metoder for å lese og analysere sted.

Videre vil kurset diskutere ulike måter å designe for sted, både med vekt på estetisk uttrykk og som del av en samfunnskontekst. Kurset vil diskutere forskjellene i tilnærming til tettbefolkede og mindre tett befolkede steder. Det vil diskutere design som estetisk form, som deltagende prosesser og som bottom-up strategi.

Videre diskuterer kurset den grunnleggende forskjellen mellom sted, som avgrenset geografisk og befolket område, og site, som en steds-spesifikk kontekst for design-arbeid.

Grunnleggende landskapsteori vil bli supplert med teori fra samfunnsplanlegging og kulturgeografi, og basert på disse vil studentene trenes i å velge metoder for tilnærming til spesifikke sted.

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.

Urban space and architecture have been one of the main themes of photography since the origins of this discipline. And it is through images, mainly photographs, that we know and study the architectural works of the past and today. Throughout the 20th century, photography became an instrument in the different stages of architectural processes: an essential tool for design, dissemination, documentation, theory, criticism, etc.

This course will study the relationship between photography and architecture through some of its most relevant chapters: the rules established by the first architectural photographers; the essential role of photographic images in the production and diffusion of mid-century modernism; its later role in criticism during the last decades of the century; and the meanings of the digital image in the contemporary architectural world. The study will emphasize the work of photographers and their relationship with architects, as well as the meaning of photographs in architectural publications: magazines, books, manifestos, etc.

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.