2024 Høst

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide students with the opportunity to collect, edit, analyze, and visualize geographic data, either as prerequisite or as an integrated part of project development.

The course will introduce basic concepts and methods in mapping, spatial analysis, and GIS. As a case, the course will explore rural communities in northern parts of Østerdalen with a focus on the study of spatial and non-spatial relationships between the built environment and natural resources. The approach to the study is through cartographic mapping and how maps developed in GIS provide insight and knowledge about the use of GIS to study spatial and local phenomena.

The course will emphasize describing situations today, as well as discussing any development opportunities that potentially can be derived from the mapping and detailed cartographic studies.

The course builds on the elective course Coastal Mapping (www.coastalmapping.no), which studied the fishing industry's footprint on land in northern Norwegian fishing villages in the period 2018-2022.

The seminar introduces practice-oriented strategies that can assist design development processes in achieving emissions reduction (climate mitigation), reduced waste production (resource efficiency) and further nurse necessary systemic changes in the building industry, cross sectors and in society at large (circular economy).

The fall semester 2024 we will focus on surplus masses from construction sites as point of departure for investigation of biobased building materials. We will examine quantities of surplus mass, what they consist of, how they are transported and where they end up in today´s linear economy. The aim of the exercise is to explore the upscaling potential for utilization of these masses and further narrow down the studies to investigations of alternative wall assemblies. Finally we will compare physical properties, resources efficiency  and environmental footprint to elements of existing practice. The second half the semester the students will bring in exterior walls (single materials or full assemblies) relevant for their studio project and make an identical analysis to open for discussions on environmental sustainability and circular practice.

The course will run in close collaboration with the studio Circular Prototyping CRITICAL MASS and be linked to ongoing industrial initiatives. We will use FutureBuilt guildelines as boundary conditions for emissions reduction aligned with the UN 1.5-degree target and possibly involve directly in actual pilot projects.

At the core of the course curriculum lays Life Cycle Assessment (LCA);  a methodology for assessing environmental impacts associated with all life cycle stages of a material/product, process or service. The assessment method provides transparency to the way design decisions are made and opens up for discussions on how to improve societal and/or commercial systems to meet the UN Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs). The course theoretical set-up and associated design assignments will provide an opportunity for in-depth investigation that can further lead to innovative results across studio environments and institutes. The course outcome is an illustrated report documenting the actual assessment (comparative study) and a reflection upon the potential for systems improvement. Parts of these studies will involve site visits, meetings with industry, physical investigation of surplus masses and development of representative physical models.

Background:

How daylight enters a room, is essential to our behaviour, well-being and health.  The unique climate of the Nordic hemisphere, characterized by an angle of the sun between 0-10% approximately 35% of the time and cloudy, diffuse light 2/3 of the time necessitates a distinct approach to daylight in architecture on northern latitudes.

In housing projects quantitative methods are predominantly used, and although building regulations are only securing a minimum average percentage of daylight; climate and context are not taken into consideration.  A qualitative approach to working with daylight is mostly discussed in smaller housing projects. There is a need to improve how we assess and work with quality of daylight.  

The objective of the course is therefore to provide students with basic tools and methods to assess both quantity and quality of daylight in the process of Making. Additionally, it aims to bridge the existing gap between technology and the art of building — encouraging students to adopt both a technical and phenomenological approaches to daylight in their work. The course also seeks to enhance students´ competance and awareness of local specificity concerning climate and context, emphasizing the potential of daylight as an essential generator for architectural quality.

In the course we work with both physical and digital models to establish an awareness of precision in the representation of light. We establish a relation between daylight in the scale model, representation of daylight in the digital model and how it is perceived and observed in the already built (1:1).

Each student will individually frame an interest related to the studio project (mastercourse) and build a model 1:20 of parts of the project where methods and tools to assess either quantity or quality of daylight are discussed in drawings, images and models.

The course is structured around research-based teaching methodologies, and students and teachers will actively participate in a collaborative effort spanning Nordic countries, aiming to improve education on daylight within the region.

In this seminar students get to work on an exhibition proposal for a museum in northern England that explores the relation between architecture, dress, room and landscape through studying the “attributes” of an amazing seventeenth century noble-woman. The provisional exhibition title is “Lady Anne Clifford: Forensics, Fashion and Ecology” and it will open at the Abbott Hall Museum, Cumbria, UK in Spring 2025. 

In the seminar students will use architectural means – scanning, modelmaking and sectional drawings – to make archival information speak. Anne Clifford moved in life from being a wronged heiress to a powerful political actor, and used dress, representation, building and physical travel to secure her ends. Student work will address the sectional space this endeavour occupied, between the detail of costume, architectural interiors and exteriors and the open landscape.

The seminar aims to combine historical study and architectural technique to increase our awareness of material and ecological links, at scales from the jewel to the region.

The course is carried out in collaboration with Professor Judith Clark, London College of Fashion and Ryan Cook, Intermediate Unit 9, The Architectural Association.