Diploma

The diploma semester (18 weeks) is an architectural study on a theme chosen by the candidate. Program for the diploma has been prepared by the student in the pre-diploma course (6 credits).

Each student has one main appointed supervisor from AHO´s academic staff. In addition, the student can make use of the entire academic staff at AHO, and have the possibility to consult special expertise from outside of AHO, which is supported by the school by a limited amount.

Nicholas Coates

Erik Langdalen is a practicing architect and a professor of architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. 

 is an award-winning office specialized on the preservation and transformation of historic buildings, including the Eero Saarinen designed US Embassy in Oslo (2023), the Magnus Poulsson designed Dombås Church (2023), and the soon to be opened Karl Norum-designed Posten Moderne Museum of Contemporary Art in Trondheim, as well as a number of heritage sites across Norway. His teaching and research focus on the recent past, specializing on concrete architecture, buildings systems and components. Erik is in charge of the Re-Store course portfolio, investigating how architectural education needs to respond to the climate crises through the reuse, preservation and transformation of what is already built. Since 2021, his teaching has engaged the concept of provenance in a number of master studios and seminars. His books include 

Sverre Fehn, Nordic Pavilion, Venice. Voices from the Archive

 (2021). He is the owner of the cultural center 

. Erik holds a Diploma of Architecture from AHO and a M.ARCH AAD from Columbia University GSAPP.

Erik Fenstad Langdalen

Diploma fall 2024

Value as a tool - A strategic study of an existing vocabulary and its possibilities

Our shared built environment consists of different values, such as knowledge-, experience- and usage-based values. If known and understood, they can be used as a tool to read a building or a place. By conducting a value-based reading of architecture we can discover existing aspects that are worthy to retain and can showcase our built environment as an immense resource of knowledge that can teach us about a larger historical context. It can also uncover experiential values, and if encountered they can tell us about significant qualities deserving of safe keeping. If we focus on our built environment through a pair of adaption-goggles, a value-based reading can guide us towards future ideas and opportunities of usage, letting our built environment live and evolve. Therefore, values need to be found and understood. They need to be presentedin a visible and knowledge-forming way to point to their importance for a place’s rich narrative.

Today´s value assessment processes consist primarily of written analyses of a limited selection of buildings: structures that have been labelled, listed or documented as important for our built heritage. What is not valued enough today, however, are the other buildings that have not reached that level or status of cultural importance. This means that many buildings are demolished without being evaluated, including buildings that already belong to a context and place. We believe all buildings facing demolition should be value assessed beforehand, and through our method of valuation, will allow for a more thorough understanding of what might be lost.

House of Electricity

This diploma project explores the architectural potential of electrical substations within the power grid of Oslo, and how obsolete spaces within these buildings can be utilized in the future.

Due to higher demands for a more efficient electricity supply, the entire network is currently undergoing a major restructuring project based on a report by Statnett from 2015 called The Future Power Grid of Greater Oslo (Fremtidens nett i Stor-Oslo). Included in these plans is the upgrading of electrical installations within the substations of the city. This, along with the stations now being remotely controlled and no longer requiring daily staffing, has resulted in redundant spaces within these facilities.

These houses of electricity are part of the greater system across the country - a force starting from the sublime waterfall, traveling through power stations and numerous cables before manifesting itself again when we flip the light switch. This power transmission system plays a significant role within our infrastructure, and its built elements are present in both rural and urban environments. These buildings tell the story of the creation of Norway’s welfare society and the cultivation of natural forces. Because of this, they are also a part of our cultural- and architectural history.

When it comes to the architecture of electricity, the main power stations have dominated the history and literature in this field, while the smaller substations further down the distribution system have remained in the shadow of these monumental buildings. While the substations also started out as a typology expressing the great power of water and new technological inventions, it can be argued that they are now more hidden figures within our cityscape.
This diploma therefore directs the focus towards the substations of Oslo. The aim of the project is to explore how vacant spaces within these structures can be inhabited by working within the interface of humans and electricity. This approach addresses the topics of proximity and protection, while also considering the architectural history of this

Løa: Revitalizing the 20th-Century Barn of Jæren

The diploma is an investigation of the 20th-century barn typology in Jæren and a case study for their continued use as cattle breeding facilities. The 20th-century barn is a neglected element within the region’s agricultural and architectural heritage. Currently, hundreds of these barns have been made obsolete and left to decay due to new regulations under the new ”Lausdriftskravet” law (free-running requierment). Many farmers are opting to build new prefabricated structures instead of adapting and expanding the existing patchwork of barn structures.

This on-going shift threatens the survival of the 20th-century barn and questions their value as important contributions to the region’s vernacular architecture. This diploma adresses the 20th-century barn’s cultural historical value, by showcasing it as a progression and evolution of Jæren’s architecture.
The farm of Sør-Reime, in southern Jæren, is the point of departure for the diploma’s case study on revitalizing an existing barns in compliance with “Lausdriftskravet” and true with its typology. Through this case-study, the diploma argues for the importance of preservation, its feasibility through continued usage and for a more sustainable future for Jæren’s agriculture.

LINDÅSTUNET : the adaptation of an obsolete health institution

Lindåstunet is an obsolete health institution in Alver Municipality, built in 1927.
Originally designed as a tuberculosis home, its unique architectural typology is of significant interest for both cultural heritage and the history of medicine. However, the building is in a state of irreversible decay and faces the threat of privatization or potential demolition.

The building was designed by architect Lilla Hansen, known as the first practicing female architect in Norway. Based on the belief that, as a female architect, she possessed nurturing and compassionate qualities, Lilla Hansen was commissioned to develop the typehouse for the Norwegian tuberculosis
home. She designed five tuberculosis homes as well as Oslo Rheumatism Hospital, all of which has been demolished. For unknown reasons, Lilla Hansen burnt her own archive before she died, leaving much of her work and legacy fragmented and shrouded in mystery. Lindåstunet remains as a rare example of her work and is possibly emblematic for our understanding of her contribution to the development in health care architecture.

The tuberculosis homes were built as extentions to the larger sanatoriums, designed to ease the burden of overcrowded facilities and to bring healthcare closer to patients’ home districts. Lindås tuberculosis home is one of approximately 100 tuberculosis homes constructed in Norway between 1910 and 1940.

The abandoned building stands today as a testament to the evolution of healthcare architecture, where modernization, advances in medical technology, and an increasing focus on efficiency have driven changes in hospital design. This shift has culminated in the centralization of healthcare
facilities and the abandonment and demolition of historic health institutions.
This development poses a threat to patient safety, as corridor patients have become more common, travel distances for treatment have increased, and the pressure for efficiency is leading to rapid patient discharges.

How can the building evolve and continue its legacy as a health institution, while also challenging conventional views on the architecture of care? How can the adaptation preserve the inherent values of the tuberculosis home, such as the qualities of light, nature, fresh air, and the domestic characteristics that define its original purpose? Can the project be a contribution to the lost archive of Lilla Hansen?

DEN STRIE ÆLVA 

Tømmerfløting har vært en essensiell del av Norges utvikling siden middelalderen, spesielt langs Glomma. Fra de dypeste skoger ble tømmeret fraktet flytende med elvestrømmen til sin destinasjon. I starten foregikk
dette som enkel fløting av løse tømmerstokker. Etter en betraktelig økning av mengden tømmer, ble det nødvendig med et organisert samarbeid på tvers av distrikter. I Glommavassdraget ble elveløpene rustet opp med ulike innretninger som skulle lede tømmeret kontrollert og uhindret. Gjennom fellesfløtningen hadde de 12 ulike distriktene hver sine roller og utfordringer, og var sammen tilknyttet det største skogsarealet for tømmerfløting i Norge.

Min arkitektoniske intervensjon tar utgangspunkt i hvilke muligheter som finnes dersom fredningsvedtaket tilsidesettes til fordel for en varsom utvikling i tråd med Lenseminneforeningens ambisjoner. Fredningen var siste utvei for de som kjempet for å bevare stedet, og diskusjonen om hvorvidt fredningens hensikt hindrer stedets fremtidige relevans synes å være legitim: På hvilken måte kan en utvikling av Fetsund lenser bidra til å revitalisere en ambisjon om et levende museum for en nasjonal tømmerfløtingstradisjon? Istedenfor å utvikle et separat museumsbygg, forsøker mitt prosjekt å se potensiale i den eksisterende bygningsmassen, samt legge til egnede arealer med tanke på fremtidens utfordringer. Prosjektet setter fokus på en alternativ måte å videreutvikle området på.

Reinstating Kvadraturen

This diploma explores a strategic approach to transforming non-protected buildings in the historic city centre of Oslo, Kvadraturen, with the primary goal of further activating the area. It is an exploratory study that relies on a comprehensive understanding of the area to identify common challenges and possibilities. These opportunities will be addressed through simple interventions in a selected group of buildings. My vision is that the principles behind these experiments can serve as examples of transforming other non-protected buildings in Kvadraturen, as well as providing flexible solutions for the more complex, protected ones, which often require a tailored approach. Furthermore, the insights from this diploma could be applicable to other areas facing similar challenges and opportunities.

Between Spaces: A Low Threshold Reception Centre for Women in Addiction

How can architectural design respond to the specific sensory needs of women in addiction, and what design strategies can be implemented to create a therapeutic, non-institutional environment that reduces overstimulation and fosters a sense of dignity and comfort? Which building qualities are continued in the creation of a worthy reception centre for women and which developments are necessary for it to be understood as safe and comprehensible?

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.

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