This database, developed by faculty and students for the Provenance Projected initiative at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, is an ongoing effort to support research, teaching and dissemination of architectural heritage in Norway. It presents archival material, student projects and research findings within the field of preservation, reuse and transformation. For more information see the Provenance 

Provenance Database

Documents

Buildings

Collections

Components

Architecture pedagogy is in the midst of a sea-change the likes of which have not been seen since the nineteenth century. Driven in large measure externally by climate change and the growing social awareness of the environmental damage of new construction, schools are moving slowly and reactively in search of new pedagogical models for teaching design that will not rely on the unsustainable practice of demolishing to build anew and will instead teach students to reuse and transform the existing built environment.

Provenance Projected. Architecture Past and Future in an Era of Circularity

 will develop teaching models that can be easily adapted by architectural schools to prepare students for transforming and reimagining the existing built environment. In addition to rethinking the very concept of design from 

, the project is also a fundamental rethinking of conventional ways of documenting, assessing, and re-imagining existing built environments in ways that account for where they come from (e.g. their extractive material building processes), repair their social and environmental damage, and imagine more sustainable futures.

, providing a substantial test ground for experiments, new pedagogical models for architectural education, and critical knowledge for design work. Four master studio units at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (

Subject Matter, Transformation in Practice,

 respond in different ways to the present paradigm shift by investigating core provenance questions through architectural interventions. Occasionally, the provenance team teaches other courses within the framework of the project, also at institutions affiliated with this project, such as Columbia University, GSAPP.

Sverre Fehn teaching. Photo: Per Olaf Fjeld

Teaching

Arno Berg carrying a model of Militærhospitalet. Photo: Sverre Heiberg. Oslo Museum

People and Institutions

Student projects

Schools Out: Adaptive Reuse of Flø Skule

My diploma project deals with the typology of the rural school, which has been left behind in the dust of societal development. A once important typology, developed and erected with the Norwegian people in mind, now lies dead as they either grew outdated because of their limiting size, or as the pupils were shipped to larger and more central schools.


In my diploma project I’m using the former primary school of Flø skule as a case study for what these former school buildings can be.


The overall question for my research is “Where lies the key to reuse a former school building?”. There might not be an definitive answer to this question, and the answer varies from case to case. In the case of Flø skule, I’m researching into how the nature of Flø can be a part of adapting and reusing the school building.


Flø is known for both it’s bouldering and surfing possibilities, as large boulders scat-ters the pasturefields of Ytreflø, and the raw, unshielded coast towards the west makes for strong winds and big waves. At the same time, Flø skule offers something unique to Flø as a settlement, as it is a village emptied of any public resources in the form of low effort activities.


From my point of view, the building typology of the rural school offers qualities within the building that one can’t easily find in other buildings, and these qualities should be mixed with the qualities if its context.

Majorstuveien 7 Final Delivery

Schweigaards gate 15, Jernbanetollsted: A Building – A Meeting Between the New and the Old

Oslo's Urban Canvas

Oslo municipality own 198 abandoned buildings, adding up to 140 000 square meters, spread across the city. The majority of the buildings have been abandoned for a number of years, and have an uncertain future.
This project establishes a framework for the revitalization of abandoned buildings owned by Oslo municipality, focusing on the strategic transformation from temporary activations to permanent community developments, grounded in the urgent need for sustainable urban regeneration.


The research delves into understanding the characteristics and inherent possibilities of these buildings, shifting the narrative from obsolescence to opportunity. The project´s foundation lies in the hypothesis that temporary, community-focused interventions can act as catalysts, sparking a transition towards long-term, sustainable redevelopment that resonates with the social, cultural and environmental need of the city.


The methodology adopted is multi-scaled and dynamic, beginning with a city-wide analysis of the abandoned buildings, followed by a focused exploration at neighborhood and individual building levels, and then choosing three buildings as case studies to test out the different strategies. The research on all of the buildings is compiled into a book incorporated in ”binder 2”. A key aspect of the project is the ”temporary-to-permanent” strategy. This involves initiating with low-cost, flexible temporary uses for the abandoned buildings, such as pop-up cultural events or community workshops. These temporary interventions serve as platforms for testing ideas, engaging the community and assessing viability, paving the way for more permanent, substantial redevelopment plans. The approach underscores the importance of flexibility and responsiveness, allowing the project to evolve organically based on real-time feedback and changing urban dynamics.

Lost and found: reimagining the architecture of the in-between spaces of Oslo

This project is an investigation of leftover spaces in Oslo. Through an analysis of their past and present, and a speculation for their future, the aim is to shed light on these often overlooked spaces and look at them through a different lens – one that utilizes architecture to contribute to a more public and non-commercial Oslo.

Through small-scale architectural interventions, the project focuses on seven “in-between spaces” — pockets of the city that are frequently passed through but not so often thought about. The backbone of the project is the attempt to combine the needs of the citizens (animals as well) with the public space. Through looking at what already exists in the space; structures, urban objects, trees, plants, surfaces and infrastructures, and three different strategies; maintaining, transforming, and curating, the project imagines an Oslo that makes more room for public spaces.

As a starting point, I studied the past and present life of the demolished freestanding kiosks of Oslo. I then became interested in the architecture of the street; small structures like public toilets, urinal stalls, telephone booths and ticket offices, and urban objects like benches, lampposts and bollards. When the city lost its kiosks, drinking fountains and urinal stalls, brief interactions and the sense of care for the human-scale also became absent. It creates a more fragmented urban experience, where basic needs are often tied to commercial spaces, limiting who can fully participate in the public Oslo.

The project developed from being only about the kiosks to being about the everyday things that meet us everyday on the street. Through model-making, drawing, sketching and studying references, as well as the history of the different sites and structures, I have explored the objects of the public space, how we can rethink them, and the different ways inclusivity can manifest as
architecture of the city.