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Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2018 (Oslo)

Program of study

Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2018 (Oslo)

New norwegian title
Master i Landskapsarkitektur kull 2018 (Oslo)
Gateflow PD
English title
Master of Landscape Architecture Class of 2018 (Oslo)
Level of study: 
Master
Credits: 
120
Duration: 
1 semester
Year: 
2018
Course models

Master i landskapsarkitektur Oslo (2018)

Program of study: 
Master in Landscape Architecture
Gateflow CM
Course model type: 
Master
Year: 
2018
Person in charge: 
Marianne Skjulhaug
Person in charge: 
Marianne Skjulhaug
Admission and rating

To qualify for an application to the masters programs at AHO a general study competence is required in addition to passing an audition and an admissions test. The applicants are ranked in relation to a combination of the formal Regulation for Admissions (§§7-1 to 7-13) and the admission tests according to AHO’s Regulations. The admission tests are implemented in two steps; a home assignment and a school assignment.

Applicants already holding a three-year bachelor in architecture can apply directly for admission to the master’s level at the 4th year. This application is done via the application web: SøknadsWeb.  Admission is based on documented certificates and portfolios.

Introduction

The International Master of Landscape Architecture is a professional degree that encompasses a curriculum of the widest range of relevant subjects demanded and requested in the profession. The curriculum includes three eligible terms on the masters level and one last term, the fourth, for designing and writing of the Master’s Thesis.

The International masters programs of Landscape Architecture at AHO is designed and developed for students who wants to be involved in designing our environments in times of challenge. If you are interested in form and the relationship between development patterns and landscape, and how the climate changes affect the design of our environment, this is the programme for you. To fully appreciate the program at AHO you should be critical and constructive, creative and innovative. You should be intent at attaining complex and relevant design knowledge in addition to embracing the importance of cultural context and social conditions.

Learning outcome

Landscape architects educated at AHO are capable of establishing an independent area of application, contribute original angles of perception and solutions, and practise the discipline at a high international level.

Landscape architects who have achieved a Master's Degree in Landscape Architecture from AHO can practise landscape architecture on the basis of the knowledge and skills defined in the EU Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications and the IFLA Charter for landscape architecture education.

  • They are capable of practising landscape architecture through artistic and scientific study, ideation, and architecture design in different scales and formats
  • They are familiar with the discipline’s natural, environmental, social, cultural, and technological preconditions
  • They master the subject’s work methods, tools and forms of expression, and are capable of using them in a targeted, professional and experimental manner
  • They are knowledgeable about the history of the discipline, its uniqueness, and position in society, and are capable of using this knowledge in their own academic work
  • They are capable of familiarising themselves with research and development work in the field and are capable of using this knowledge in designing and architectural criticism.

Landscape architects educated at AHO are capable of taking on different professional roles in a reflected manner and demonstrate good cooperation skills when working with other professional groups:

  • They are capable of disseminating work carried out in the architectural landscape field – their own and other people’s – in layman's terms and using professional and academic jargon.
  • They have the ability to reflect on their own work and transcend their own frame of reference
  • They take responsibility for their own learning and academic development, and are capable of reflecting on and positioning their own professional contributions in relation to ethical issues that arise when practising design.

 

Work-, learn- and assessment methods

Our pedagogical approach is based on exploration, conceptualization and design. During the education the students are given written assignments linked to design and theoretical subjects and tasks. The pedagogical approach also includes discussions, presentations, critiques, literature studies and project assignments.   

The teaching is research-based and some of the studio courses are closely linked to AHO’s research projects. This implies that the students need to be familiar with scientific writing, articles and literature. Research methodologies, ethics and results are explained and demonstrated as an integrated part of the teaching.

Content structure

The study program counting 90 credits (ects) in addition to a master’s thesis (diploma) counting for 30 credits (ects).

The two years consist of both mandatory courses and elective courses.  The masters thesis is an independent and self-selected task, but can also be undertaken in collaboration with an other student.

Requirements

The education is ICT supported. Basic skills in digital tools are needed. Access to a private PC /Mac is also required.  Adequate program training is offered as well as access to relevant licenses.

The digital communication platform Moodle is the communication tool between faculty and students. The Moodle platform handles schedules, study plans, submission of assignments, lectures, literature lists etc. Students are also given a special AHO e-mail address that is mandatory as a communication source between AHO and students throughout the whole study.

Internationalisation

The students are offered the opportunity to spend maximum one term at another school. AHO has a wide variety of formal exchange and cooperation agreements which the students can choose among, among these the European Erasmus+ and the Nordic Nordplus progam. Separate agreements may be arranged although they must be pre-approved by the Committee for Access and Recognition (OGU) in order to be accredited as an inclusive part of the study.

Approval date: 
Thursday, February 1, 2018 - 15:30

12 803

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Diplom Landskapsarkitektur
Credits: 
30
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2020 Spring
Assessment semester: 
2020 Spring
Language of instruction: 
Norwegian / English
Year: 
2020
Required prerequisite knowledge

Successful completion of 90 ECTS, successful completion of a pre-diploma report, approved by an advisor and the head of department.

Course content

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 dis-course.

Learning outcome

∙ An ability to give form to architecture through artistic and scientific research
​∙ An understanding of the given natural, social, cultural and technological conditions that govern architectural, urban and landscape design work
∙ A mastery of the methods, tools and media inherent in architectural, urban and landscape design
∙ An awareness of architecture’s, urban and landscape design’s historical, societal and theoretical underpinnings
∙ An ability to communicate ideas and results to professional and laypersons
∙ An independent and responsible attitude to individual learning
∙ An understanding of one’s own individual position with the discipline

Working and learning activities

The diploma semester is an independent study whose methods and topics are to be outlined in an approved pre-diploma brief. Interim presentations and a final presentation is mandatory.

Mandatory courseworkCourseworks requiredPresence requiredComment
Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet Required2 mid term reviews
Obligatoriske arbeidskrav:
Mandatory coursework:Annet - spesifiser i kommentarfeltet
Courseworks required:
Presence required:Required
Comment:2 mid term reviews
Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
Project assignmentIndividualPass / failReport and presentation of diploma project. External censors
Exercise-Pass / failHovedmodell og potteklare plansjer, samt abstract 1-4 A4-sider med tekst og bilder. Etter denne innleveringen kan studenten kun jobbe med formidling av prosjekt, ikke utvikling.
Exercise-Pass / failOppheng av prosjekt og innlevering av skissebøker, utstillingsmateriell, prosessmateriale etc. Ved teoretisk prosjekt leveres trykket utgave.
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Project assignment
Grouping:Individual
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:Report and presentation of diploma project. External censors
Form of assessment:Exercise
Grouping:-
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:Hovedmodell og potteklare plansjer, samt abstract 1-4 A4-sider med tekst og bilder. Etter denne innleveringen kan studenten kun jobbe med formidling av prosjekt, ikke utvikling.
Form of assessment:Exercise
Grouping:-
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:Oppheng av prosjekt og innlevering av skissebøker, utstillingsmateriell, prosessmateriale etc. Ved teoretisk prosjekt leveres trykket utgave.
Authors: 
Reier Møll Schoder
Approval date: 
Monday, November 19, 2018 - 15:15
Approval signature: 
Silje Nygaard på fullmakt fra Marianne Skjulhaug

60 302 Landscape Architecture's Themes and Concepts

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Tema og konsepter i landskapsarkitekturen
Credits: 
6
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2018 Autumn
Assessment semester: 
2018 Autumn
Language of instruction: 
Norwegian / English
Maximum number of students: 
20
Required prerequisite knowledge

This course is mandatory for 1st year Master of Landscape Architecture students, open to other students that have passed the foundation level.

Course content

Norwegian Landscape Architecture has lately produced a range of projects with high quality in a growing discipline and profession. With its focus on geography, the history of landscape architecture, paradigm shift, people’s health the subject has grown into an important discipline for urbanism’s latest design practices. Students will be introduced to landscape architecture's broad scope. As well as how its methods and theories the past years have been more and more important due to increasing problems in the world. Landscape architecture has the tools to solve many of these problems. The students will follow landscape architecture2discourse and design practices, through site and office visits in Oslo.

Professor in charge: 

Rainer Stange

Additional staff: 

Elisabeth Ulrika Sjødahl, Sabine Muller, Luis Callejas and Giambattista Zaccariotto Åsa von Malortie, Erik Brand Dam, Iwan Thomson

Learning outcome

After passed course the student shall understand how ecological, infrastructural factors shape the urban landscape, and have broad knowledge of landscape architecture’ s themes and concepts.

Working and learning activities

The course offers both lectures and a seminar. Lectures will focus on decisive moments within the landscape architectural discourse: analysis, project development, design processes, green/ blue infrastructure systems, blue green systems, from road to street

7 lectures Tuesday mornings 9:30-11:00 from August to October:

  • Lecture 1: 21.8. Rainer Stange: «Water is the logic of the landscape»-  
    • Visit Bjerkedalen park
  • Lecture 2: 28.8. Rainer Stange: «Urban Trees»
    • Visit office Dronninga landskap, Dronningens gate 22.
    • Visit Dronning Eufemias gate and Kong Håkon den 5.s gate.
  •  Lecture 3: 4.9. Rainer Stange:  «Rails»
  •  Lecture 4: 11.9. Luis Callejas: «Images of many natures»
  • Lecture 5: 18.9 Luis Callejas: «Recent projects and persistent inquires»
  • Lecture 6: 25.9 Elisabeth Ulrika Sjødahl: «Landscapes in change»
  • Lecture 7: 2.10 Sabine Muller: «Environments - an approach to urban design»

Study trip week 41

3 lectures Thursday evenings 18:00-20:00 in October and November with theme: Scandinavian contemporary landscape architecture

  • Lecture 8: 18.10. Åsa von Malortie, Sweden «Works».
  •  Lecture 9: 26.10. Erik Brand Dam, Denmark «Works».
  • Lecture 10: 8.11. Iwan Thomson, Norway: «Works».
Curriculum

Mandatory Reading

Boulevard Book. History, Evolution, Design of Multiway Boulevards Allan Jacobs Allan Jacobs. Elizabeth MacDonald, Yodan Rofe. The MIT Press August 2003

The Fundamentals of Landscape Architecture. Waterman, Tim. AVA Publishing, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2009

Digital Landscape Architecture Now. Amoroso, N. & Hargreaves, G. Thames and Hudson 2012

 

Suggested Reading:

Great Streets. August 1995 The MIT Press August 1995

Des arbres dans la ville.  Caroline Mollie, Actes Sud & Val'hor, Paris, 2009

Promenades de Paris. Adolphe Alphonse, Paris, 1867-73, 2002

Blågrønn hovedstad. Oslo Elveforum, Oslo, 2010

Design With Nature . McHarg, Ian. 1971,  Garden City: Natural History Press.

The Granite Garden . Spirn, Anne Whiston, New York, Basic Book, Inc., 1984.

CENTER,  Volume 14: On Landscape Urbanism (Paperback) The Center for American Architecture and Design; 1st edition (April 1, 2007)

Landscape Urbanism  - Kerb 15 (Paperback) RMIT Press 2007

The Recovering of Landscape . Corner, ed. 1999. Princeton Architectural Press.

The Landscape Approach . Lassus, Bernard. 1998, University of Pennsylvania Press.

Mappings . Cosgrove, Denis (ed.), 1999, London

Unnatural Horizons: Paradox and Contradiction in Landscape Architecture . Weiss, Allen S., 1989, New York : Princeton Architectural Press

Theory in Landscape Architecture . Swaffield 2002 University of Pennsylvania Press

The Landscape Urbanism Reader  . Charles Waldheim. Princeton Architectural Press; 2006

Territories: From Landscape to City . Agence Ter  and Lisa Diedrich  (Editor). 2008, Birkhäuser Basel

Intermediate Natures: The Landscapes of Michel Desvigne by E. Kugler  (Translator), James Corner  (Foreword), Gilles A. Tiberghien (Contributor) 2008, Birkhäuser Basel

The New Economy of Nature. Gretchen Daily and Katherine Ellison, Island Press, 2003

Politics of Nature, Bruno Latour and Catherine Porter. Harvard University Press, 2004

Living Systems. Margolis/ Robinson, 2007. Built examples,

innovative materials and technologies in landscape architecture praxis.

Magazines:
Daidalos

JOLA  (Journal of Landscape Architecture)

New geographies

‘ scape: The International Magazine of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism

Topos: European Landscape Magazine

Also, you might want to check out following thematic websites on the internet:

LE:NOTRE www.le-notre.org

LE:NOTRE°Mundus  Le Notre’s non- European partners network

ECLAS The European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools

ELASA - European Landscape Architecture Students Association

NLA- Norwegian Landscape Architects (Students) Association

IFLA International Federation of Landscape Architects

European Urban Landscape Partnership: the planning and management of the urban landscape

During the individual coaching sessions each student will be given texts and or litterature related to the topic of their assignment

Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)-Pass / failThe assignment for the course includes the INDIVIDUAL student production of a single A4 after every lecture (of both ‘in-house’ lectures and those of guests). The A4 page needs to contain an image + caption (The image needs to be self-produced from the fieldwork/ lecture (sketch/ photograph, collage/ manipulation of image – but NOTHING FROM THE INTERNET). After last lecture the 10 assignments should be produced as one documents and handed in on Friday 23th of November, together with the result of the intensive week. A booklet will be produces by the students as documentation of the autumn. Seminar week 45, the 5th – 9th November = intensive week for elective course (and end of course) by Giambattista Zaccariotto.
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)
Grouping:-
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:The assignment for the course includes the INDIVIDUAL student production of a single A4 after every lecture (of both ‘in-house’ lectures and those of guests). The A4 page needs to contain an image + caption (The image needs to be self-produced from the fieldwork/ lecture (sketch/ photograph, collage/ manipulation of image – but NOTHING FROM THE INTERNET). After last lecture the 10 assignments should be produced as one documents and handed in on Friday 23th of November, together with the result of the intensive week. A booklet will be produces by the students as documentation of the autumn. Seminar week 45, the 5th – 9th November = intensive week for elective course (and end of course) by Giambattista Zaccariotto.
Authors: 
Berit Skjærvold
Approval date: 
Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 00:45
Approval signature: 
Silje Nygaard på fullmakt fra Marianne Skjulhaug

60 401 Landscape and Urbanism

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Landscape and Urbanism
Credits: 
6
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2019 Spring
Assessment semester: 
2019 Spring
Language of instruction: 
English
Year: 
2019
Person in charge: 
Zaccariotto Giambattista
Course content

The course explores ideas and techniques of a landscape oriented approach to urbanism, a rich field of knowledge for interpretation / modification of cities and territories which identity is related to the palimpsest of traces overlaid throughout history. Detecting their meaning and illustrating their potentials is the task of the designer. Scope of the course is improving the interpretative toolkit of the designer as `reflective practitioner´.

The contemporary city, with its processes of upscaling and rapid mutation that question the very idea of a city. Geographers have described the changing configurations of European and global urbanization. Many terms have been coined to describe urban forms emerged in different parts of Europe and elsewhere during the 20th and 21st century: Ville-Territoire (Corboz, 1990), the Citta Diffusa (Indovina, 1990), the Desakota (McGee, 1991), the Radiant Periphery (Smets 1986), the Zwischenstadt (Sieverts, 1997). These concepts are diverse, coming from different perspectives with different methods and case studies. But there are shared themes: build-up areas and open space areas that intertwine over vast regions - with the dissolution of clear distinction between city and country- and the formation of mixed whole that used in all parts.

Urban form and process create critical aesthetic, environmental, social conditions that are related, increasing uncertainty. Conventional urbanism repertoire is limited. How can a project absorb present contradictions by creating new, meaningful physical orders? Landscape architecture, a heterogeneous field of knowledge that embrace garden, horticulture, public spaces as well as agriculture, civil and military engineering, cartography and town planning, offers a set of tools - conceptual and operative – that allows for disclosing new possibilities for an integrated approach (transdisciplinary, multifunctional, multi-scalar and processual).

In most of its traditional variations, the `landscape’ is seen as the discipline of interpretation of the existing situation meanings or identities which it will be the designer’s task to detect, to underline, to enhance, to articulate or modulate.  Landscape reading views the area and the public space as a land of ancient culture or as a palimpsest which has accumulated traces of all activities which are remembered as having contributed to that particular landscape and no other. In the tracks which have been overlaid by the march of time, which contradicting or corroborating one another, it construes intentions and detects potentialities to be nursed and passed on (Marot 2010).

Interpretation leads to new forms of description and prefiguration. As cultural construct, landscape is made and remade. The interpretation of landscapes imply - using the terms of Umberto Eco - the distinction between the “intentionality of the author”, that is what the designer wants to communicate; the intentionality of the “reader”, that is what the user interpret and use. And the “intentionality of the work itself”, that is what - independently from the intentionality of the author – the constructed landscape suggests remaining open to new interpretations.

Learning outcome

The course will explore themes and tools (conceptual and practical) throughout a sequence of critical operations that complement each other and take place both in the studio and as fieldwork. In particular, the students will be engaged in three types of critical reading; reading of essays of relevant authors, reading of real-world place and reading of spatial projects.

Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
ReportIndividualPass / fail
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Report
Grouping:Individual
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:
Workload activityComment
Attendance Attendance in the studio and at fieldwork is expected
Forventet arbeidsinnsats:
Workload activity:Attendance
Comment: Attendance in the studio and at fieldwork is expected
Approval date: 
Wednesday, November 1, 2017 - 14:45
Approval signature: 
Empty by purpose

60 522 Campus Akerselva

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Campus Akerselva
Credits: 
24
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2018 Autumn
Assessment semester: 
2018 Autumn
Language of instruction: 
English
Year: 
2018
Maximum number of students: 
24
Required prerequisite knowledge

Open for students in Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Mandatory first semester course  for Master in Landscape Architecture. Basic knowledge in architecture, urbanism and landscape. 

Course content

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. 

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

The course presents the students with a theoretical understanding-, and a framework for  assessing and understanding the landscape, building on key concepts for designing and  evaluating interventions in public spaces. Over the course of the semester we will engage in theoretical discussion, focusing on the  application of different theoretical perspectives to specific cases, and aspects of the Akerselva  Campus. As a student, you will acquire knowledge about the frameworks for mapping and understanding  the complex dynamics of the landscape and its processes, complete with accurate terminology,  building on relevant theories. In addition you will become familiar with mapping and design  processes, knowing different stages, process elements, and other key concepts.

Skills:

The coursework relies on basic tools and software within landscape design in order to represent  spatial and material conditions. Examples of these are Autocad, Arc GIS, Adobe package, 3D  modelling programs (Civil, Rhino), and others.     We will apply various tools for mapping, analyzing, and assessing sites, and capture insights  about needs, challenges, and opportunities for design. Through the creative group process of  integrating insights from mapping into feasible designs, you will learn key principles and tools for  designing and running creative processes: Both individually and in groups.    

General competence:

The course aims to develop the students ability to combine and integrate insight about the  landscape in a creative process, leading to a specific design, that can convincingly contribute to  achieve specific development aims for the area. Graduating from the course, students will have developed awareness of how various aspects and  factors affects a specific site, and will be able to describe these factors from a theoretically  informed perspective. Using mapping tools, they are able to derive insights about the specificity  of the site, and review those insights in both a theoretical and an applied perspective. Finally, using a conscious creative process, they are able to integrate theoretical and applied perspectives  to device designs that take site specific aspects into account, and make meaningful interventions.  

Working and learning activities

The studio is organised around three phases: 

01  Mapping phase. Group work. Contextualising the site. GIS-based mapping and series of walks on  site. Lectures by experts, stakeholders and users.    

02  Concept phase. Individual work. Study trip to Paris: park, gardens and public spaces. Addressing  spatial and material conditions through models and maps. Reference lectures. Theoretical  discussions.   

03  Design phase. Individual/Group work. Formulation of project. Small scale design intervention.  Reference and Methodology lectures.  

Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
Project assignmentIndividualPass / fail
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Project assignment
Grouping:Individual
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:
Workload activityComment
Attendance
Individual supervision
Forventet arbeidsinnsats:
Workload activity:Attendance
Comment:
Workload activity:Individual supervision
Comment:
Approval date: 
Thursday, April 26, 2018 - 15:30
Approval signature: 
Silje Nygaard på fullmakt fra Marianne Skjulhaug

60 615 Acting like Summer, Walking like Rain - Architectures of Water and Weather in Greater Oslo

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Acting like Summer, Walking like Rain - Architectures of Water and Weather in Greater Oslo
Credits: 
24
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2019 Spring
Assessment semester: 
2019 Spring
Language of instruction: 
English
Year: 
2019
Maximum number of students: 
24
Person in charge: 
Sabine Muller
Required prerequisite knowledge

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

CAD 2D and 3D (Rhino), Adobe Suite, GIS, animation softwares, hand drawing, model making. Interest and experience in design at the intersections of landscape, urbanism and architecture

Course content

Can weather be made?

Ever since the balancing of seasonal differences and geographical allocation of resources has been the driver of cultural intelligence. The creation of microclimates, through modifications of ground, planting and architectures; prolongations of blooming and growing periods; the harvest, storage, and conservation of resources has led to what we call cultural landscapes and practice. Human societies actively manipulate temperature, humidity and air flow. Societies have specific agency in modifying ecological metabolisms. In this web of dependencies water plays a centre role.

 

Why should it be made in the Oslo Area?

Historically a water-rich area, weather extremes and so-called seasonal abnormalities question the functionality of cultural landscapes present in the Oslo region. While flooding and its impact on traffic, real estate and water quality in intensively used areas start to be addressed in municipal planning, recently occurring droughts shift attention to water supply and agriculture - and with it to the rather extensively used, wider “support” territory. From a weather perspective, the levelling of peaks is a need and calls for new landscapes and architectures. 

Greater Oslo is a growing region. With increasing urbanisation, urban-rural relationships are being redefined, often at the cost of landscape heritage. The need to make weather could be taken as a kick-off to re-imagine the region beyond inevitably short-falling city-nature dichotomies. 

The heart of the region is the Oslo Fjord. Urbanisation patterns encircle the Inner Fjord, weather stability is provided by its water body. It is itself a product of a changing climate and whilst retreating to its current form it has left behind the fertile sediments of the ancient sea. The Fjord City is always also an agricultural city. 

 

How to act summer, how to walk rain?

In this context, the studio is a call for the imagination of Greater Oslo as an urban-rural pattern in which weather conditions and the mediation of seasonal disparities are consciously designed. It is a call for architectural corner stones and landscape typologies to frame the fjord and its agricultural hinterland as heart of a weather-active and climate-adaptive urbanity. Taking on the mindset of an agronomist cultivating the land for returning yields, and geared to a wide range of actors and stakeholders, the studio will conceive publicly meaningful places, that stitch an idea of region across the sound. 

In search for exploitation of the almost inexhaustible atmospheric and social potentials of water for the enhancement of the urban landscape’s quality, and with the aim of re-positioning the hydrosphere towards a fundamental role in planning, the studio will explicitly explore how weather can both be a structuring and a productive element within a socially conceived territory, and envision landscapes, architectures and a series of figures that act within, mark and organize the wider field of territorial flows while, as Vittorio Gregotti would demand, “giving meaning to the whole environment through its stronger characterization and definition”. 

 

Learning outcome

The design and research studio will provide students with the conceptual categories to address the interrelated issues of sustainability in an urbanising regional context. Based on a systemic view on the environment a focus of the studio will be a hydrological perspective on design, and the understanding of landscape as infrastructure. Tied to a performative approach form will be discussed in relation to theories of usage, performance and place. 

  • Acquaintance and discussion of notions of territory, region, 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 regional urbanisation patterns and visions
  • Basic knowledge of urban-regional metabolism as a concept to describe the flows of substances and energy between and within cities and landscapes; in particular: urban hydrology and integrated watershed management
  • Basic knowledge of landscape as a productive, performative layer in human systems: ecological infrastructure, ecosystem services, and regenerative agriculture
  • Basic knowledge of concepts of a user-centered design practice: “commons”, “everyday urbanism”, “architecture of use”
  • Advanced knowledge of form, structure, and texture: Form as “informed” related to processes, both as a passive result of processes, and as an active modifier or catalyst of processes

 

Concretely, students will develop skills to envision transformation processes of cultural landscapes under development pressure with the goal to ensure adaptability to climate change and to draw on heritage while continuing to be dynamic. Research-driven, multi-layered and multi-scalar in its scope, the studio involves building the capacity to conduct a layered and perceptive analysis of the territorial/ regional context, the ability to reference precedents, to fuse technical, usability and aesthetical aspects of form giving, and finally to frame and argue for a well-resolved design proposal anchored within the scale of the territory. 

 

  • Research by design: problem definition, framing of a task within a given context
  • 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 and urban analysis based on map (GIS) and field (photography, interviews) work; explorations and evaluation towards territorial figures; description of a territory through a synthesis of mapping, drawing, diagramming, and photography, with a special attention to landscape and urban morphology and hydrological systems
  • Strategy: capability to develop territorial scenarios, balancing reasons and proposition of concrete case areas and programmes out of the strategic approach 
  • Interrogative design: explicit discussion of a formal question, such as grids, lines or points as organizing a spatial field
  • Iterative design process: trial and error to find adequate solution, successive and interrogative usage of drawings (section and plans), physical and digital models, as well as texts variants, to test and develop proposals, in favour for “unsafe” experimental approaches
  • Design resolution: ability to work out a territorial approach on a detailed level, including grading, surfaces and textures, planting
  • Representation: capability to illustrate design through compelling plans, sections, and 3-dimensional images such as veduta and collage, as well as physical models
  • Communication: skill to verbally and visually argue for a project through telling of a compelling narrative 
Working and learning activities

Individual and group work (2-3 students) is organized around 6 phases. 

These will be supported by input lectures and readings to facilitate contextualisation and familiarization with discourse and state of the art in theory and practice.

 

  • Mapping: Constructing the context through field and map work, 3 D modelling and research (1:20 000)
     
  • Strategy: Development of strategic transformation scenarios and territorial figures on a watershed scale, based on precedent studies and an in-depth understanding of the geographical context, its problems and potentials. (1: 10.000)
     
  • Workshop Ground work: workshop to understand topography and water flows (as part of excursion)
     
  • Project: Elaboration of the design strategies into individual public space, landscape and architectural proposals, understood as a systemic object (1:1000 - 1:50)
     
  • Workshop Plant work: workshop co-planting (planned)
     
  • Communication: Visualization and “telling” the proposals to communicate to a broader audience. Production of an exhibition and studio booklet that can serve to advance the imaginary on the Oslo Region as a sustainable territory.
Curriculum

Excursion: The studio will travel abroad to Mexico City and rural Mexico for a 5-day community-based workshop on sustainable landscape and watershed management in March in collaboration with the universities UNAM, UNSLP, landscape designers TNT and CCMSS Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible.

Mandatory courseworkCourseworks requiredPresence requiredComment
Presence required RequiredPresence and discussing work at at least 80% of the desk-crits is mandatory to pass the course.
Obligatoriske arbeidskrav:
Mandatory coursework:Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:Required
Comment:Presence and discussing work at at least 80% of the desk-crits is mandatory to pass the course.
Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)IndividualPass / failThe work will be evaluated through oral and graphic presentations as well as digital hand-ins (moodle/box) at the end of each of the different studio phases, with a final presentation of the whole project’s narrative. Final grade will be based on an assessment of all the hand-ins (portfolio assessment), with a strong emphasis on design work (50%).
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)
Grouping:Individual
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:The work will be evaluated through oral and graphic presentations as well as digital hand-ins (moodle/box) at the end of each of the different studio phases, with a final presentation of the whole project’s narrative. Final grade will be based on an assessment of all the hand-ins (portfolio assessment), with a strong emphasis on design work (50%).
Workload activityComment
AttendanceThe building of a body of collective knowledge and the exchange of ideas are essential to the studio. All students are expected to work in the studio, not off-school. Studio days are Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. All students will have a desk-crit of research or design-work at least once a week. New work to discuss is expected for each desk-crit.
Forventet arbeidsinnsats:
Workload activity:Attendance
Comment:The building of a body of collective knowledge and the exchange of ideas are essential to the studio. All students are expected to work in the studio, not off-school. Studio days are Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. All students will have a desk-crit of research or design-work at least once a week. New work to discuss is expected for each desk-crit.
Approval date: 
Monday, November 19, 2018 - 14:45

60 701 Pre-diploma for urbanism and landscape architecture

Gateflow CD
Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Pre-diplom for urbanisme og landskapsarkitektur
Credits: 
6
Course code: 
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2019 Autumn
Assessment semester: 
2019 Autumn
Language of instruction: 
English
Person in charge: 
Sabine Muller
Required prerequisite knowledge

Successful completion of 60 ECTS mastesr level studies. Last Semester before diploma. The course is open to students of architecture and landscape architecture. 

Students need to be present at AHO while doing their pre-diploma. Students working abroad will not be allowed to participate in the course.

Course content

The pre-diploma semester at AHO is an independent research task on a theme chosen by the candidate. In consultation with the course teacher, fellow students and a chosen advisor, the candidate is to produce a report that details a topic to be studied, an approach or methodology, a spatial program and a plan of work. This report is the foundation of the diploma work.

Learning outcome

At the end of the course, the students will have acquired the necessary knowledge to proceed with the independent diploma assignment: ∙ An understanding of the complexity of a chosen urban or landscape site and topic ∙ An ability to frame artistic and scientific research ∙ An understanding of the given natural, social, cultural and technological conditions that govern urban or landscape design work ∙ An awareness of the topic’s historical, societal, theoretical and methodological ramifications ∙ An ability to communicate ideas and plan work ∙ An understanding of one’s own individual position with the discipline

Working and learning activities

The course is an individual research assignment with group discussions and interim presentations of the different research components. It concludes with a pre-diploma report containing the following elements: - Topic description - Site presentation - Maps of selected issues - Reviews and discussions of relevant literature - Summaries and discussions of interviews with experts - Reference projects presentations and discussions

Mandatory courseworkCourseworks requiredPresence requiredComment
Presence required Not requiredPresentation of exercises in the group, individual supervision
Obligatoriske arbeidskrav:
Mandatory coursework:Presence required
Courseworks required:
Presence required:Not required
Comment:Presentation of exercises in the group, individual supervision
Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
ReportIndividualPass / fail
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Report
Grouping:Individual
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment:
Workload activityComment
Written assignments
Forventet arbeidsinnsats:
Workload activity:Written assignments
Comment:
Authors: 
Reier Møll Schoder
Approval date: 
Monday, November 19, 2018 - 13:45
Approval signature: 
Silje Nygaard på fullmakt fra Marianne Skjulhaug