Diploma

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 2022

Tryvannstårnet Ascending Decending

Towards material independence – Akranes cement factory

The scarcity and even absence of local construction materials has made Icelanders dependent on imports from other European countries; timber from Norway, corrugated steel from Britain and cement from Denmark. Located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland is exposed to harsh climate and earthquakes. This demands high quality buildings strong enough to withstand the geologic activity. The search for a construction material that was able to withstand the Icelandic climate conditions was found in concrete in the late 19th century. Concrete soon became the most used construction material continuing to present day. However, the Icelanders were for decades still dependent on the import of the binding agent in concrete: cement. It wasn’t until after the union with Denmark was dissolved in 1944 that the Icelanders decided to build the country’s first and only cement factory, producing the only missing compound to become material independent from the rest of the world.

Radio Remnants

RULE THE (M)ALL - a protection order for the rural mall

With a focus on the mall as an important meeting place in the local community,
“RULE THE(M)ALL” is a diploma project that explore the typology of the rural mall through the lens of cultural heritage.


Our approach is based on empirical research done through a field trip, as well as theoretical and archival research. We mapped a section of malls across Norway in the urban and architectural scale, then exploring one mall in particular through model making and using regulations as arhictectural tools.