The aim of the studio is to address the topic of how to create a campus for AHO, in connection  with the existing landscape and the city, by designing small scale interventions, to facilitate new  use of the campus. Today, the Oslo School of Architecture and Design is situated in an area with a complex  natururban tissue, integrating a wide range of programs and activities, structures and  infrastructures, with many stakeholders and interests. There is a need to reimagine how the  school relates, interacts, and contributes to define, its environment. The studio seeks to contextualise the site in its surroundings, taking on both a contemporary and  historical view. We explore how human presence and natural forces have changed the landscape  throughout time, and take into account the complexity of the interplay between historical  forces,structures and elements. Using our understanding for an ever changing landscape as a  premise, we design solutions for public spaces, that in addition to having a historical perspective,  integrate the aspect of future sustainability. We will experiment with hypothesises for what  characterizes concepts that are valuable over time, that integrate site-specifics, seasonal cycles,  and achieves significant impact through small scale design intervention.    

In 1933, Akerselva was the first area to be regulated as a water park in Oslo, by landscape  architect and city gardener Marius Røhne. Today, the park area is widely used by the inhabitants  of Oslo, all throughout the year. The area referred to as ​Campus Akerselva​, is comprised of the  areas between; and tangent to; the three university level educational institutions located just north  of the Vulkan Complex. The institutions mentioned are the Oslo School of Architecture and Design  (since 2002), Oslo Art Academy (2010), and Westerdals School of Communication (2011). Despite 
the three schools being located closely together, and with overlapping and related disciplines,  there is little to no sense of a campus tying the institutions together. AHO has recently initiated a new five year program for Landscape Architecture, the upcoming  curriculum for which will be in need of more outdoor spaces and testing grounds for studio work,  projects, and big scale landscape models. An assessment of opportunities has been conducted  to map potential avenues of development, aimed at addressing these needs, as well as general  development of the school, the shared campus, and the school surroundings.