2024 Vår

Start semester

2024 Vår

40 667 TAP - Building for Art: Music

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

TAP - Building for Art: Music

Credits:

Course code:

40 667

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

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).

Course content

The main goal of the TAP - Building for Art studio is to give students disciplinary training as well as design skills. The studio will be oriented towards professional practice, focusing on the architectural design of a specific brief within a structured schedule. During the semester, students will develop an individual project of substantial size and complexity.

The brief for the fall semester is to make a proposal for a new concert hall in Oslo.

Plans for the project have been in the making for several years, however no design has yet been made.

The students will be presented with a program and a site at the beginning of the semester. Studio work will concentrate on conceptualization, spatial and structural organization, and architectural form.

Throughout the studio we will be in dialogue with the Oslo Philharmonic. We will also have input from acoustic consultants.

To handle scope and workload the semester will be divided into three distinct phases of varying scale, focus, and output. Each phase will be reviewed at the end of the project period. Thus, the studio will demand intensive work throughout the semester.

The three phases will be:

I: Context and building physiology

II: Spaces for sound and music

III Architectural character and tectonic logic

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

The students will have gained knowledge about the different design challenges related to the planning of a concert hall. They will also have acquired knowledge of the acoustic principles of large scale spaces for sound and music.

Skills:

The students will have acquired skills in managing a design process towards a comprehensible proposal for a complex public project. Furthermore, they will have gained skills in the use of the architects’ tools, and in the curation, representation, and communication of architectural content

General competence:

The students will have gained experience in working as architects in an early phase of a relevant and ambitious city project.

Working and learning activities

There will be a set semester schedule and detailed assignments every week:

Mondays: Lecture and plenum discussions based on relevant texts.

Wednesdays: Individual desk crit according to schedule.

Fridays: Pin-up where students are encouraged to engage in each other’s work.

Each project phase will be reviewed collectively with an external critic. There will be different critics for each project, each chosen for their relevance to the project theme.

Excursion to a central European city.

Curriculum

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	The students are required to take part in the studio teaching program, see above.

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

Start semester

2024 Vår

40 668 Animism in Architecture: Ecopoetics

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Animism in Architecture: Ecopoetics

Credits:

Course code:

40 668

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Rolf Gerstlauer

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

Course content

Body and Space Morphologies (B&SM) is a research-based teaching program in the Building Art department. Dedicated to Phenomenology in Architecture, the program offers Trans-Disciplinary master studios in explorative – architectural, pre-architectural and post-architectural - making, sensing and thinking.

We aim at preparing and enabling students to conduct their own interest driven investigation into Architectural Phenomenology - understood as Research Creation; a working mode creating an inspired, process focused and reflective Material Practice. We consider this to be the Artistic Parallel to both Traditional Scholarly Research and Common Architectural Design Practice.

Based on performativity and affordance theories, performance and performance studies, disability and neurodiversity studies as well as phenomenology and perception theories, the B&SM Studio Works investigate primal and/or pre-architectural material/processes/phenomena/conditions and develop or perform a series of experienced distinct objects that behave relational, that inspire imagination, that provide new knowledge, strong architectural interests and/or architectural narratives.

2023 marked the start of the second cycle of the B&SM course series on Acting and The Acted in a More-Than-Human World - structured into spring and autumn modules:

Spring semesters are dedicated to the topic on Animism in Architecture - studied and worked through a discourse on the various ideas, movements and awareness created in current ecoperformance, ecopoetic, ethnopoetic and ethnofiction works.
Autumn semesters investigate actual Ecoperformance in Architecture – studied and worked through a discursive design practice that seeks to establish porous architectural infrastructures which understand environment and body as inseparable dimensions of performative creation.

The semester task spring 2024 - Animism in Architecture: Ecopoetics

As a discipline, ecopoetics investigates how the human is situated within its habitat; how “home” is defined and built; where (or whether) borders exist between body and world, human and other, space and place; and how sense activities, physical presences, memory, and moments of thinking locate and assist the human desire to navigate the self in the world.

Ecopoetics, thus, contributes to the dissident project of resistance to dominant cultural modes of thinking. What is often written as the legacy of the Enlightenment—science, rationalism, the dominion of man over nature—is critiqued for its pernicious cultural legacy: a body of encyclopaedic “knowledge” deeply rooted in formulations of the world in terms of “classes” and “species.”

Bristow, Tom. “Ecopoetics” in Facts on File Companion to World Poetry: 1900 to Present Ed. R. Victoria Arana. New York: Facts on File, 2008. PP156-159.

Learning outcome

Knowledge of:

Ecopeoetics introduced as a multidisciplinary approach to making, sensing and writing.
the basics in phenomenology of architecture and the various practices that exist within (and that can become part of) architectural phenomenology.
the basics in affordance theory and the theories concerning objecthood and/or object relations as means to fuel and reflect upon a material practice and/or artistic research in the field of architecture.
the basics in performance and performance studies that make body & space morphologies: ways of making, looking at, discussing and seeing/understanding qualia and perception in the working of architecture.
the basics in disability studies and neurodiversity studies as the necessary activist movements working and re-defining the human condition from “all the world’s a stage” (Shakespeare) towards for all the human spectrum with its diverse behavior dwelling in a more-than-human world.
the basics of performativity, language and speech acts as the tools that can add value to the making and a work – but that not necessarily must seek to replace the issues at stake in a work or a thing.
the foundational preparations for an advanced haptic visual and experimental artistic research leading to a material practice and/or architectural phenomenology

Skills in:

finding, developing and/or embracing initiatives for the making of an inspired, explorative, and imaginative artistic research
manufacturing physical and/or visual (or otherwise sensible/perceptible) works and gaining a unique expertise in the craft(s) deployed in the making of these artifacts.
conducting this artistic research with the desire to make or pursue a material practice containing, or inviting for, reflections in phenomenology of architecture / architectural phenomenology.
deploying complementary ways of working and means of creative investigations that make, demonstrate, or narrate a dialogue between the works inherent qualities and how this connects to (or can become) issues, phenomena and/or subjects in the world.
maintaining a personal diary of the making that can be worked into documents of the making aiming at a third-party readability.

approaching environments, situations, and discussions phenomenological and applying and recognizing performativity in speech and action as productive means from which to provoke and receive social employed knowing in trans-disciplinary teams

General competence in:

developing distinct initiatives and choosing the craft in which to act or work them to partake in the discourse on the phenomenology of architecture.
approaching and acting on impulse with all sorts of material, objects, environments and/or events and gaining valuable experience, artefacts and/or documents from this.
conceiving of and presenting/communicating unique architectural content/research through a haptic visual material and the phenomena or conditions contained and experienced in it.
understanding the mechanisms and rhetoric of systems of oppression, learned behavior, eugenics and stigma that are un-productive and unsustainable (in the field of architecture as well as in the systems we call architecture).
developing and/or pursuing life-long initiatives for a material practice in architectural phenomenology that is independent of, and/or adaptable to, any kind of professional commission.

not knowing a thing, but having the passion, dedication, endurance, and imagination to wanting to get to know it.

Working and learning activities

The studio meets for every Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30 to 17.00 for lectures, screenings, reviews, and worktable talks. Fridays from 13:30 – 15:30 are reserved for Studio Commons (student driven events or discussions etc.).

We have five public mid-term reviews and prepare at the end of the semester a work display. The exhibition allows for the students to display their complete works (all objects and artefacts – found or made) together with a book and/or film or video containing a written and/or otherwise illustrated experience of their making and that what the making had connected to. An external sensor team will study the exhibition and books and/or video/films and then give feedback and critique on the individual work but also on the studio as a whole.

The Body & Space Morphologies diploma thesis candidates are integrated in the studio and work in the same space. We recommend the master course students to attend the diploma mid-term reviews (between four or five during the semester).

Sustainability commons & goals of the B&SM studios:

The studio shares the responsibility to create an inclusive learning and working environment in which all of us seek to accommodate another, and in which we strive to reduce waste by ways of working circular processes.
Ecoperformance in Architecture is a topic that requires a creative discursive approach and/or advanced experimental architectural design practice that potentially can contribute to all the 17 sustainable development goals.
The students are aware that they take an active stance regarding the above stated two B&SM sustainability commons, thus they focus their design initiative & process accordingly.

We plan two trips to the Lista-peninsula in Southern Norway:

a 3-days-long workshop and fieldtrip in the first week of February
and a Lista-Event-Week during the regular excursion week (week 9).

Curriculum

Course literature is available in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	20 weeks full-time study. The work must be conducted and performed in the studio (or at LISTA) - the working material is present at any time. You are expected to be present at: weekly talks, lectures, and studio discussions, frequent work reviews, a workshop in book making, the final exhibition and a final review with invited guests-critics.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	The course is assessed based on a semester project; the individual studio work on your own selected project developed throughout the course and critically reflected / presented on a final deliverable. This entails practical and theoretical exercises, visual and verbal project presentations, and the making of a final exhibition including a process book with a text/essay.

Start semester

2024 Vår

40 669 Studio Positions: Speculative futures#2: Housing in times of climate change

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Studio Positions: Speculative futures#2: Housing in times of climate change

Credits:

Course code:

40 669

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Lisbeth Funck

Matthew Anderson

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

Course content

The course is integrated with Studio Positions’ ongoing BIP/Erasmus+ teaching collaboration, “Rural areas facing climate change”. This Blended Intensive Program aims to exchange views on the remote territories facing the challenges of climate change and the realities of new rurality and sustainability. The program focuses on the mutation of the built types and unbuilt spaces with regard to upheavals in uses and practices, climate change or new materials and construction techniques, cultural or political revolutions.

The semester task is to develop a prototype for housing in an existing residential area prone to flooding and landslides in the southeast of Norway. The site will be further specified. We aim to challenge the outermost limit of the human habitat in the face of the forces of nature where the architecture marks the interface and thus acts as the mediator between humans and the climatic and geographical environment. How do we design an architecture (space, material, structure) that not only protects us from the forces of nature but considers them as a quality?

Through architectural projects, Studio Positions continues to critically discuss and investigate how architecture reflects on, contributes to, and provides for dwelling in our contemporary diverse society.

Contemporary societal discussions, directions in art, philosophy, sociology and ecology, and architectural discourses provide the framework for architectural projects that are developed individually with emphasis on the three fundamental aspects of architecture – structure, material, and space.

Projects will investigate architectural (structural, material, spatial) responses to identified climatic circumstances, in a Nordic context. Projects will discuss the social and cultural challenges of climate change that mark our time, and reflect on how these challenges influence our relationship to architectural space and how we interact with it.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Practice knowledge of building in areas faced by climate change
Knowledge of historic and contemporary discussion and theory of climate change.
Critical knowledge of design parameters of human dwelling.
Spatial, material and structural knowledge through architectural design (semester project

Skills:

Work based, artistic and theoretical research skills
Conceptual architectural thinking
Programming.
Use of architects´ tools

Defend an innovative project by argumentation communicated in drawing, physical spatial structures, written and oral speech.

General competence:

Ability to develop an architectural project from a conceptual position.
To be able to reflect on the problems of the equilibrium between ecology & economy, built and un-built spaces.

New and fundamental approaches to architecture that facilitate more livable (sustainable) futures

Working and learning activities

The semester is organized in three phases, where projects are developed continuously with the following progression:

Development of an architectural concept: spatial and constructive principles
Introduction of scale, materiality, structure, and activity.
An architectural project

The weekly schedule is organized as following:

Mondays: Lectures, reading together, discussions, film screenings etc.
Wednesdays: Tabletalks, reviews
Thursdays: Tabletalks, reviews

Excursion /BIP workshop, 8 days international workshop. BIP/Erasmus+ teaching collaboration, Rural areas facing climate change.

NB! The workshop is running from 5th of April to 13th of April 2024

(Tabarca Island, Alicante, Spain)

Curriculum

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	The students are required to take part in the studio teaching program

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

Start semester

2024 Vår

40 665 Circular Prototyping: Clay

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Circular Prototyping: Clay

Credits:

Course code:

40 665

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Tine Hegli

Lina Elisabeth Broström

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

Course content

Description of the studio series

The Circular Prototyping studio offers students a comprehensive understanding of architecture within the context of environmental sustainability. The curriculum centers on the principles of circular building practices, with a specific focus on building materials and construction techniques that substantially mitigate environmental impact. These principles are investigated within a design-build studio format, equipping students with vital tools to guide form-finding processes and facilitate critical evaluation of sustainability measures as an integral part of the design process. The design explorations also include climate adaption as consideration of local weather and climate conditions, spanning the historical context, present circumstances, and future climate scenarios. These projections, in parallel with strategies to reduce negative impact, establish a meaningful link between present design choices and their alignment with the long-term UN Sustainability Goals (SDGs).

An essential aspect of the curriculum involves introducing students to the application of lifecycle methodology and environmental assessment (LCA) as a decision-making tool. LCA enables students to analyse the environmental impacts associated with linear versus circular practices, fossil versus renewable resources, and provides insight into policy considerations to facilitate sustainable outcome. As part of the semester work, each student will produce an individual paper reflecting on findings from the design-build process, with particular emphasis on circular potentials and concerns. These papers will be assessed alongside design contributions and building activities to enhance learning experience in circular practices and proficiency in lifecycle methodology.

The studio´s core activities revolve around collaborative design-build projects that mirrors architectural practice. The hands-on experience with building allows students to apply theoretical knowledge in a practical manner and foster a deeper understanding of possibilities and challenges at hand as we move forward into a future with circular economy and ecological awareness. Each studio semester focuses on in-depth investigations of different materials or components in relation to their environmental potentials. For the spring semester 2024, our partners include Sperlebakken, a creative space for arts, crafts and ecological food production, and FutureBuilt, a publically owned initiative aiming at climate neutrality in the building industry aligned with the UN SDG´s. The project is situated in Luster, within Vestland county, and its primary objective to design a cluster of lodges dedicated to an artist in residence program. The specific material of interest is clay, a traditionally renowned bio-based material that has garnered increasing attention in the industry due to its notable environmental capabilities as well as its positive effect on indoor climate and health. Throughout the semester, students will conduct comprehensive investigations encompassing site analysis, climate considerations, material studies, and building techniques, progressing from conceptual ideas to full-scale prototyping of a lodge unit at Sperlebakken in May.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

of climate mitigation strategies relating to construction
of climate adaptation strategies relating to construction
of circular construction principals
of evaluating environmental impact of choices through quantification
of clay (resource availability, properties, behavior, application)
of constructive logic in building with clay
of historical and vernacular traditions in working with earth
of regional climate conditions and thermal comfort (u-value, hygroscopy)

Skills

In analog/digital tools for calculation environmental impact (LCA)
In techniques and tools to build with clay in various ways
In circular design development from concept to finalized built project (from sketch to building manual and final assembly)
In practical and constructive detailing when working with clay as a material
In critical thinking upon standard practice and to reflect on future circular design possibilities and strategies

General competence:

Ability to design and assess our making from a circular perspective.
Assessing environmentally sound design results, learning to integrate in-depth materials investigations and big-data climate studies as parameters in the form-finding process.
In being able to understand possibilities of using clay and other bio-based materials as an alternative to carbon intensive materials.
In understanding the complexity of a building process and construction site (resource availability, time, economy, transportation)
An awareness of the political agenda in relation to climate mitigation and adaption – nationally and internationally.
Design-build competence from conceptual models and drawings, physical models to scale, 3D models, 2D drawing 1:200 – 1:20 to 1:1 construction drawings and building process.

Working and learning activities

Course organization

The course is built up in 4 modules: 1) Material investigation 2) Design development 3) Construction drawings 4) Prototyping 1:1. A theoretical assignment concluding in individual papers is running throughout the full semester and presented at a final review with external examiner.

Each module consists of 1 task, relevant lectures and readings, feed-back sessions, and pin-up. There is expected presence at all common activities. We use outlook calendar for teaching activities and communication.

Material investigations

Getting to know to the material Clay (individual)
Visiting relevant buildings (plenum)
Introduction to technical properties of materials (GWP, U-value, hydroscopic qualities, durability in exposed situations etc)
Introduction to lifecycle methodology and LCA

Design development

Study trip to Luster with purpose to analyse site specific conditions and relevant functions regarding the program of a small Lodge
Studies of relevant built references will be done in parallel (groups)
Students are asked to develop a clear architectural concept from the site, program and reference study. This will be organized as an internal competition with an external jury.
Student will in this phase work with drawings, models and illustrations to strengthen their ideas. A common site model will be developed.

Construction drawings

As a group the studio will now work collaborative as an architectural practise and together develop the winning proposal through relevant construction drawing in 2D and 3D
Mock-ups in 1:1 will be worked on as an integral part of this phase.
A booklet called “Building manual” will be developed and printed describing each step of the coming building phase.

Prototyping 1:1

A 2 week intensive building period at site in Luster.
Together with local crafts people the group will take part in finalising the project. The work will be organized in smaller groups each responsible for different tasks and processes according to the Building manual.

Excursions:

There will be excursions to see relevant projects in the Oslo region, study trip in week 10 to learn about the project location in Luster as well see historically and contemporary buildings in the region (not mandatory). The first two weeks of May the full studio will travel to Luster to build (mandatory).

Curriculum

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	Project assignment: Bi-weekly pin-ups in plenum, weekly individual and group supervision, student-to-student feedback session, internal and external censor present at midterm and final review. An individual paper (report) on a focused topic and associated tool/method will be part of the final review in addition to evaluation of design efforts and building activities.

Start semester

2024 Vår

40 664 Timber Transformations: Co-housing concepts at Økern

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Timber Transformations: Co-housing concepts at Økernconcepts at Økern

Credits:

Course code:

40 664

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Bente Kleven

Ute Christina Groba

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

The prior knowledge must correspond to the same knowledge level as obtained after the first 3 years at AHO.

Students must master the use of Rhino and Autocad

Course content

This semester, Multi-story Building (MSB) and Timber Studio join forces to address the transformation of a former industrial area into a residential project.

“Standard Telefon og Kabelfabrik” at Økern will serve as a case to study the adaption, extension, and upgrade of existing buildings with the help of natural materials in order to house different forms of co-housing and to react to changing climatic conditions.

The focus will be on three themes to be explored by each project: 1. An urban strategy for transforming a former industrial area in Oslo into a residential project with increased density.

The project should be seen as V2024_MSB+TS_Timber Transformations.docx 2 : 2 part of the larger urban weave and of its more immediate neighbourhood. 2. Housing concepts in an urban context with a special focus on new forms of living together and on suitable ground-floor functions. 3. An understanding of the different life cycles of constructive elements and materials.

The continued use of the existing structures where possible, the choice of a suitable timber construction type in added parts, and their combination with other renewable materials will be a main interest

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

• Knowledge of climate mitigation strategies regarding construction.

• Knowledge of timber properties, construction systems and products.

• Knowledge of timber-specific detailing.

• Knowledge of renewable building materials such as clay and hay.

• Knowledge of housing qualities and requirements (e.g. daylight requirements).

Skills:

• Situating architectural approaches within the discourse on environmental and social sustainability.

• Understanding the load-bearing preconditions of the existing building, and finding suitable constructive systems for additions and/or transformations.

• Understanding the different life cycles of constructive elements and building layers, and their role in circular building approaches.

• The development of a project with regard to constructive appropriateness, spatial and tactile qualities, functional suitability over time, environmental impact, and relating to the expression and materiality of a given context,

General competence:

• 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.

Working and learning activities

Phase 1 / Review 1

Aim: Urban strategy for entire area, voting for a project to continue with, division into “plots”. Each student (group) will get a plot to work with for the rest of the semester.

Activities: Site visit, site analysis (groups of 4), study of reference projects, development of approach (groups of 4), build a shared model (all).

Phase 2 / Review 2

Aim: Housing concept + Constructive approach. Activities: Lectures about construction / materials / housing (each student writes one report), study of reference projects, development of approach (groups of 2).

Phase 3 / Midterm Review

Aim: Refine housing concept and constructive approach. Key details. (groups of 2) Activities: A first version of construction models or construction axonometries / detail mock-ups or 3D detail drawings / atmospheric illustrations and conceptual diagrams.

Phase 4 / Final presentation

Revise and complete the projects.

Activities

- Pre-task / wood workshop

- Lectures and readings

- Regular feedback sessions and pin-ups

- Work with hand sketches, digital drawings and physical models

- Midterm Review and Final Presentation with guest critic / external reviewer

- Exhibition / course book - Each student may get a small extra task that benefits the entire class (e.g. help with organizing the study trip or with the course book)

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. Deliverables at the end of the semester

- Concept description in text and diagrams.

- Drawings: site plan, plan drawings, sections, facades, details. These drawings will be part of your final digital presentation and must also be delivered in printable quality for a course book.

- Illustrations/renderings/collages/model pictures.

- 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.

- 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.

Excursion:

Yet to be determined. Probably local day trip(s), and possibly a study trip to a European city / region. Those who do not have the opportunity to participate in the excursion will receive a task that replaces this

Curriculum

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required
Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet		Not required	Follow the course schedule regarding completion, presentation, and discussion of partial assignments

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	Passing the course requires the active participation in lectures, workshops, group meetings and desk crits, as well as handing in the partial assignments (such as one lecture report per student). The steady development of the project with regular supervision meetings throughout the semester is important, and a general presence at the AHO studio space of at least of 80% of the time is desirable. It is mandatory to attend and meet the requirements of midterm and final review.

Start semester

2024 Vår

60 622 TRAVELING LIGHT: New Oslo Ferry Terminal

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

TRAVELING LIGHT: New Oslo Ferry Terminal

Credits:

Course code:

60 622

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Gro Bonesmo

Halvor Weider Ellefsen

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

Course content

Oslo Fjord City – introduced in 2000 – is nearing its completion by opening the City centre towards the waterfront, moving all commercial harbour functions out to the periphery. The last major and decisive piece of the puzzle is the (re)location of the international ferries, DFDS and Color Line, today occupying large valuable waterfront sites.

Options for location and organization are currently being evaluated – by transport efficiency to environmental impact – yet to be politically concluded.

The studio will engage in this discussion by cross diciplinary knowledge building, programming and designproposals of a new Compact & Urban Ferry Terminal consolidating the two ferries arriving daily in Oslo. The aim will be to set a new standard for a future oriented and sustainable waterbased transport system to promote a new Traveling Light strategy in the inner harbour.

How can a New Ferry Terminal contribute to both public and environmental qualities in the Oslo Harbour?

Learning outcome

Knowledge: Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data.

Comparative studies of relevant terminals and waterfront structures.

Design of a complex building; a contemporary Public Ferry Terminal in the context of Oslo Harbour development at large.

Skills: Navigating complex urban conditions and technical, environmental knowledge into precise and resilient design proposals.

Critical Thinking; Programming and design of a complex public building.

General competence: New Mobility. Potentials of contemporary and future sustainable waterbased transportsystems in urban settings.

Working and learning activities

Studio teaching & Project Development - with Pin Ups, Mid Term, Finals.

Research, workshops, lectures & study trip.

Study Trip Lisboa / Porto

Curriculum

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	Assignment deliveries and final project. Presence of Mid Term and Final reviews.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Project assignment	Individual	Pass / fail	Project consists of deliveries and presentations

Start semester

60 619 Fresh to your door - water and more!

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Fresh to your door - water and more!

Credits:

Course code:

60 619

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Sabine Muller

Miguel Hernandez Quintanilla

Required prerequisite knowledge

Bachelor in Architecture or Landscape Architecture, CAD 2D and 3D (Rhino), Adobe Suite, hand drawing, analogue model making experience and interest in urbanism and landscape “materials” such as landform, water, soil, plants

Open for:

Landscape architecture - mandatory for 2nd semester master

Architecture

Course content

Fresh to your door“ takes the infrastructural back-end of urbanism –the sourcing and distribution of goods and water– to the fore and actively explores its potential spatiality and sociality.

As part of „Oslo Hydropolis“ the studio explores landscape-based, watersensitive 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 proposes a complementary approach to the current paradigm of compact city development –with all its blinds spots such as the relocation of production and commerce into areas „out of sight“.

It engages the functional requirements of adaptation to changing environmental conditions as much as spatial aesthetics and possible everyday practices.

Concretely, the studio will develop a cross-scalar landscape framework as the basis for development. It will re-consider one of the „out of debate“ locations and propose a counter-proposal to the current expansion of a commercial area along the western axis of the Oslo region.

The studio accepts the need of large scale ware houses accelerated by online trade and will propose concepts of how to embed the programme into the wider landscape context, as well to spatially qualify the emerging structures for both non-human and human usage - if not pleasure.

The conviction of the studio is that here –in a context of space-consuming buildings where planning and architecture often fails to pronounce spatial and environmental values– the scope, the frame, the dimensions, the performance, the materials and atmospheres inherent to landscape architecture can provide a long term transformative perspective to urban development.

The methodology of the studio is based on merging planning and design, on oscillating between bird’s eye and eye-level view, as well as on digital and analogue tools.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:
The studio will provide students with the conceptual categories to address adaptation to climate change in an urbanising regional context through a landscape architectural perspective. The studio will enter design through the scales of hydrology, and enforce the understanding of landscape as infrastructure as well as a mode of perception. Form will be discussed in relation to performance as well as to space and place.

• Acquaintance of notions of watershed and integrated water management Acquaintance of 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 landscape as a productive, performative layer in human systems: ecological infrastructure, ecosystem services, and regenerative agriculture

Advanced knowledge of form and urban form: application of landscape ecology’s structural concepts to shape spaces and places; landscape pattern

Skills:
Students develop skills to envision urban projects as embedded within cultural landscapes with the goal to ensure adaptability to climate change. 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 analysis based on map work (GIS and morphological analysis) and field work (photography)
Strategy: capability to develop scenarios for a watershed, development of propositions related to water flows and cycles for concrete case areas
Iterative design process: trial and error to find adequate solutions, successive and interrogative usage of drawings, plans, sections, 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, patches, edges, corridors or figures organizing a spatial field
Design resolution: ability to work out a territorial approach on a detailed level, including grading, planting, surface textures
Representation: capability to illustrate design through compelling plans, sections, as well as digital and physical models and model photography
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 and environmental challenges as opportunities to develop place-specific and social spaces for the future. The studio’s main competence goal is to equip students with the ability to to frame their projects in a larger socially and environmentally relevant context, state ideas, translate these into form, and to apply theoretical and technical background in project work, 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

Group work (2-3 students) and individual work is organised around 5 phases.

The phases will be supported by input lectures to facilitate familiarization with discourse and workshops to kick-off design.

1. SEARCH 1:1 / 1:50.000/ 1:7500 – Portrait of a Landscape. What is the character of the landscape? How has it evolved? What are its strengths? Where are its vulnerabilities?

• „Journalistic" Research

• Morphological Analysis GIS, CAD Plan 1:50.000 - 1:7500

• Documentary Site Photography

• Tracing of landform, water structure and landuse pattern, hand drawing

• Writing of a story

2. SCENARIO 1:7500 /1:1000 – Development of a Landscape Framework for a logistic park along different scenarios regarding the degree of transformation and political ambition.

• “Transplant” of large scale landscape architectures and agricultural principles of water storage onto the site, „scenario plan" drawing

• Laser-cut “Paper lace" of Landscape Framework

• Physical sketch model with topography, vegetation as mass and void

3. SCENE 1: Eye-level / 1: 100 – Development of the spatial and material qualities of the Landscape Framework through a „Scene“

• Scenographic model photography of a spatial scene with vegetation, ground and water at eye-level

• Detail plan and section of the Landscape Framework 4. SYNTHESIS 1:7500 / 1:2000, 1:1000/ 1:500, 1:100/1:50, 1:20 Elaboration of a detail area of landscape framework as a landscape and architectural proposal with a focus on the public space

• Iteration of „scenario plan"

• Digitally fabricated physical model

• Section, plan of selected space 5. SPREAD the message – Visualization and “telling” the proposals to communicate to a broader audience.

• Oral and visual presentation of project

• Curation and production of an exhibition (AHO works)

• Production of a studio booklet that can serve to advance the imaginary on the Oslo Region as a „Hydropolis“

Excursion: The studio will travel to Bordeaux, France and environments to study public space typologies in urban and rural contexts. Transport, accommodation, and food will be on the expense of students. Entrance fees will eventually be covered by the studio. Those who cannot/do not wish to join the trip will study the visited projects through drawing.

Curriculum

Link to course literature will be registered in Leganto

Mandatory coursework	Courseworks required	Presence required	Comment
Presence required		Required	The building of a body of collective knowledge and the exchange of ideas are essential to the studio. Presence at the studio is required Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. All students will have a desk-crit (in studio or via zoom) of research or design-work at least once a week. New work to discuss is expected for each desk-crit. Presence and discussing work at a minimum of 80% of the desk-crits is mandatory to pass the course.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Group	Pass / fail	The work will be evaluated through oral, model and graphic presentations as well as digital hand-ins at the end of each of the studio phases, and a final presentation with an external assessment committee. The final grade will be based on an assessment of all the hand-ins (Assessment folder), with a strong emphasis on design work (70%). Presence and presenting at 80% of the presentation dates (pin-ups and reviews) is mandatory to pass the course

Start semester

2024 Vår

70 408 Applying SOD

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Applying SOD

Credits:

Course code:

70 408

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Person in charge

Andreas Wettre

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed foundation level coures (BA-level) at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS. Open to all programmes at AHO.

Course content

Everything is getting more and more complex. Designers have to embrace complexity to design for a more regenerative future. Systems Oriented Design (SOD) is all about combining design and design thinking with systems thinking in order to design for and within complexity.

This course is for students that would like to enhance their skills to apply SOD in their own context. This will include ethical considerations and understanding potential un-intended effects

This course is for students with lots, or no, background in SOD.

If you have done the “Introduction to SOD” (GK6) and/or the SOD master course you will get time and help in applying the SOD approach to your project.
If you are new to SOD you will get help and time in looking at your project with different perspectives and understanding the system you are designing for and within.

In this course you bring with you the design project that you develop in your studio course and apply SOD to seek out, understand and embrace the complexity surrounding your project. This will help you to design better and more sustainable solutions.

You might bring in any kind of design project.

The key takeout from the course is that you will be setting your design into a larger context and to use this understanding to create better solutions and/or interventions. It will allow you to learn and practice how to use the toolbox of your own field. If you are a curious person who likes to have fun with exploring a context broadly and figure out what would be relevant to your design to make systemic impacts this course will be an important step on the way.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Understanding of and applying systems thinking to develop a sensibility for relevant systems, relationships and consequences.

Develop understand of the potential feasibility of your design(s) and how to assess the impact of the same design(s).

Skills:

Apply SOD with relevant tools and frameworks to your own design project.

Applying Systems thinking to enhance your design.

Including sustainability in context with your design.

Critical thinking.

Dealing with uncertainty

General competence:

Holistic perspectives and sustainability as well as cultural, organizational, economic and technical considerations.

Ethical considerations and understanding potential un-intended effects

Systems-oriented techniques such as Gigamapping.

Workshop facilitation and leader of co-design processes

Working and learning activities

The course will mostly be based on tutoring and individual work. There will be some lectures and some reading is required. The teaching will be adapted to the different projects.

During the spring semester the students will be introduced to SOD tools, methods and frameworks and apply them to their own project. The idea is that the project students bring in will be from their studio courses. However, if you have something else you want to develop, we are open to adapt to that.

The course culminates in a one-week practical seminar, where the students will develop their maps and intervention to fit their project.

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail	Final delivery: Project assignment, including presentation Gigamap + Relevant analysis utilizing SOD tools

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	Active participation in classes is required and the ability to communicate and reflect on the subject. It will include peer-to-peer presentation, participation and final presentation of the project. Students are expected to take advantage of the time allotted for self-study and to read the given and recommended literature within their chosen area of design. Students are expected to contribute to a professional and constructive cross disciplinary collaboration.

Workload activity

Comment

Attendance

Active participation in classes is required and the ability to communicate and reflect on the subject. It will include peer-to-peer presentation, participation and final presentation of the project. Students are expected to take advantage of the time allotted for self-study and to read the given and recommended literature within their chosen area of design. Students are expected to contribute to a professional and constructive cross disciplinary collaboration.

Start semester

70 600 Industrial Design 2: Transform

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Industridesign 2: Transform

Credits:

Course code:

70 600

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

Norwegian / English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Person in charge

Hilde Angelfoss

Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed foundation level courses at AHO (BA level) or equivalent education of 180 ECTS. Experience with 3D modeling and physical modeling.

Students with Industrial Design I will have priority.

2 year international master students must have been approved for industrial design.

Course content

Transform is a course in Industrial Design dealing with basic- and new tools for developing, prototyping, and conveying design solutions. The course is organized around two extensive main iterations and phases. Students practice the steps all the way from idea to finish on a design object before Easter. After Easter, we shall practice a method where design fiction and future scenarios become inhabited with imaginary conceptual products. The outcome of both phases will be physical products presented by digital media.

The course focuses on using various forms of physical and digital prototypes that support the creative ideation process. Sketching and model building will therefore be blended with e.g., material explorations, digital visualization, and other forms of conveying a rich variety of different design concepts. Independent of which technology is used, emphasis will always be on the core competencies traditionally found in Industrial Design.

For each individual student, the curriculum might be slightly modified.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

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

the kind of solution-driven design process inherent in the Industrial Design tradition.
storytelling in different media

Skills:

By the completion of the course, the student shall have further strengthened the ability to:

use an Industrial Designer’s toolbox including; sketching through different media, creative methods, applied aesthetics, teamwork, foresight, and presentation.

General competence:

By the completion of the course, the student shall:

have a competence in Industrial Design.
have a reflective and realistic understanding of his/her present competence and what is required to achieve sufficient professional knowledge and skills.
adapt new tools, typically in entirely new contexts and often without any relevant users able to be informants or co-designers.

Working and learning activities

The work is arranged as a design studio with lectures, seminars, workshops, and presentations woven in as a natural part of the activity. There are two modules, and each module involves time in the workshops. The students inspire and evaluate each other along the way.

Curriculum

https://skepticalscience.com

https://biomimicry.net/the-buzz/resources/biomimicry-designlens/

https://www.lowtechmagazine.com

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail	The course will primarily be assessed through project work, self-assessments, and deliveries such as design models, videos, and presentations. The first module is assessed by the teachers on the course. At the end of the semester, the whole course is assessed by an external supervisor. The students need to pass both modules to pass the course. For students who fail the first module, a supplementary delivery can be submitted before the final assessment.

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	The students are expected to take active part and be present in the studio, attend lectures and groupwork, seminars and supervision throughout the whole course. Students are expected to keep up with the course calendar and attend all obligatory presentations.

Start semester

70 601 Interaction Design 2: Screens

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål:

Interaction Design 2: Screens

Credits:

Course code:

70 601

Level of study:

Master

Teaching semester:

2024 Spring

Assessment semester:

2024 Spring

Language of instruction:

English

Year:

2024

Maximum number of students:

Required prerequisite knowledge

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

Students that have taken Interaction Design 1 will have first priority, and students with Service Design 1 have second priority.

2 year international master students must have been approved for interaction design

Course content

The second part of the interaction design programme focuses on the complex connected world we now live in, where visual interfaces are increasingly prevalent (from mobile phones to large public information systems) and present designers with fascinating, complex and highly relevant challenges. The course explores how these interfaces can be effectively integrated into networks and spaces; the information they contain and the messages they impart; and how we, as users, engage and interact with them.

New digital technologies, and the internet in particular, have changed the ways of production and consumption of information. The internet itself has undergone a sea-change in recent years, from primarily static and closed systems to infrastructures where openness, information sharing, collaboration and creativity are key ingredients.

Massive information datasets and structures need to be presented in dynamic, user-friendly and accessible ways, allowing for easy navigation, providing an overview as well as detailed analysis. These sophisticated design challenges will be explored in a range of workshops and projects. The course will provide students with appropriate practical skills, design methods and design thinking tools, enabling them to tackle advanced screen-based design issues, and leading to the creation of engaging, informative and effective interfaces. The semester is a compilation of several smaller modules and workshops to introduce the students to the new and more screen specific methods, processes and tools that will form the core of the term. This will be followed by one final project, where students will develop more in-depth conceptual frameworks.

Learning outcome

KNOWLEDGE

Students will

• gain an insight and understanding of the fundamental challenges in the design of screen-based interaction design, and apply this to the design of engaging user-experiences.

• understand the roles and opportunities for the designer in a technologically driven environment.

SKILLS

Students will

• improve their screen-based graphical technical and production skills

• be able to use tools and methods to prototype interactive concepts

• develop their skills in using iterative design processes through hands-on tasks

• develop their skills at communicating their concepts and ideas in an engaging and convincing manner

Working and learning activities

Many small modules

The semester is divided into many shorter modules, that together will form a comprehensive introduction to the field. Most of these modules will be initiated by lectures and/or workshops, followed by students working on their assignments with mentoring from the staff.

Frequent critiques and presentations

In addition to mentoring, ‘the crit’ is the core method for dialogue throughout the semester, and students will engage in progress discussions and presentations 1-2 times weekly throughout the whole semester.

Partner collaboration

In the final module the students can choose from a various tasks with external collaborators. These collaborators range from local business and design consultant companies, to design research projects and future envisioning conceptualization.

Group work

Students will be working individually or in groups of two.

Curriculum

The curriculum will be adjusted each year and shared as a part of the course-material. Some core texts include:

Designing for Interaction: Creating Smart Applications and Clever Devices. Dan Saffer. New Riders

Microinteractions: Designing with details. Dan Saffer. O’Reilly Media

Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything. Peter Morville. Semantic Studios

Inventing the medium: principles of interaction design asa cultural practice. Janet H Murray. The MIT Press

Designing interactions. Bill Moggridge. The MIT Press

Form of assessment	Grouping	Grading scale	Comment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)	Individual	Pass / fail	The course consist of 4 - 7 modules, and all modules need to be passed in order to pass the whole course. Evaluation will be based on the following elements in percentage: • 95% Design projects, presentations, minor deliverables, workshops and appropriate presentation material for the final project. Projects will be assessed for their creativity, expression, innovation, usability and appropriateness of design. • 5% contribution towards the group exhibition The course will be assessed by an external examiner. The course is evaluated as pass or fail. If during the semester the student fail in one of the modules, they will be given the option to supply material within the timeframe of the semester. And in addition, the external sensor for the final module will go through all the deliverables from the whole semester for this student do a portfolio evaluation.

Workload activity	Comment
Attendance	This is an intensive course and it demands consistent and hard work from the participants. Students are expected to participate and be present on a daily basis with continuous work effort throughout the semester. There is at least a 90 % expected attendance for lectures and workshops.

Mandatory coursework:	Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	The students are required to take part in the studio teaching program, see above.

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

Mandatory coursework:	Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	20 weeks full-time study. The work must be conducted and performed in the studio (or at LISTA) - the working material is present at any time. You are expected to be present at: weekly talks, lectures, and studio discussions, frequent work reviews, a workshop in book making, the final exhibition and a final review with invited guests-critics.

Mandatory coursework:	Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:	Required
Comment:	The students are required to take part in the studio teaching program

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

Languages

2024 Vår

Start semester

40 667 TAP - Building for Art: Music

Start semester

40 668 Animism in Architecture: Ecopoetics

Start semester

40 669 Studio Positions: Speculative futures#2: Housing in times of climate change

Start semester

40 665 Circular Prototyping: Clay

Start semester

40 664 Timber Transformations: Co-housing concepts at Økern

Start semester

60 622 TRAVELING LIGHT: New Oslo Ferry Terminal

Start semester

60 619 Fresh to your door - water and more!

Start semester

70 408 Applying SOD

Start semester

70 600 Industrial Design 2: Transform

Start semester

70 601 Interaction Design 2: Screens

Pages

Workload activity:	Attendance
Comment:	The students are expected to take active part and be present in the studio, attend lectures and groupwork, seminars and supervision throughout the whole course. Students are expected to keep up with the course calendar and attend all obligatory presentations.