Not Another Architecture Student

SIMPLE

2012-02-07T12:09:00.000+01:00

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. - (Probably) Albert Einstein

WEAR SUNSCREEN

2012-02-06T20:20:00.000+01:00

We were talking about this song in the classroom some time ago. I'm doing great in Kenya, but I miss you guys!

A SIMPLE IDEA OF TETRIS AND URBANISM

2012-02-05T22:06:00.000+01:00

Imagine the point when the screen is almost entirely filled up by the different pieces, because you're not really that good at Tetris. Imagine it's a city, and you're seeing it from above. Imagine that every piece is a block, with apartment buildings along the edges, and huge green common backyards in the middle. Imagine narrow streets separating all the pieces, and that the unfilled spaces are squares and parks.

SWEDISH KING

2012-02-03T11:51:00.001+01:00

I found this in the Swedish National Museum. I forgot to write down who it was, but I guess it's a king or something.

And now, have a look.

Normal king:

PSYCHO king:

Conclusion: Be careful when choosing your "good side".

AVANT-GARDE/COMPLEXITY 1929

2012-01-30T19:06:00.000+01:00

He apparently saw this before anyone else:

Plan Voisin, which tearing down a large part of central Paris, replacing it with a highway and huge tower blocks. 1925

"The real effect of M. Le Corbusier's proposals is an over-simplification of the city(...). M. Le Corbusier's solution is to do away with the complexity. This complexity, however, is part of the subject of civic design. The modern great city is like a large orchestra wich often plays an inferior piece of music, and in which the instruments themselves may occasionally even be out of tune. It is the business of a reformer to improve the music and the instruments, but not to cut down the range of the orchestra, nor the number of musical effects that are aimed at by it. M. Le Corbusier has not the patience to attempt this, but substitutes for this orchestra a single tin whistle with about five notes, with which he plays a perfectly rythmical tune. But it is not enough."

- A. Trystan Edwards, The Dead City, in: The Architectural Review, vol. 66, 1929, pp. 135-138

Plan Voisin, model

Why didn't you listen?

A QUESTION FOR FRANK

2012-01-28T17:19:00.000+01:00

Question posed by Dhiru Thadani, thanks to Christine Franck for sharing on Facebook.

(Is this Comic Sans? If so, why?) (Oh, why?)

SPEECHLESS

2012-01-24T08:17:00.003+01:00

I'm... I... I think all I can say is

(Picture by Karsten Reisdorf. It was shared to me on Facebook.)

PINK!

2012-01-20T17:52:00.001+01:00

Would you like to live in a pink house? It may sound absurd, but pink houses can be very beautiful, and I think pink should be no less loved than other colours, even for painting your house.

The Norwegian town of Haugesund even has a pink town hall, and Argentina's presidential palace is for obvious reasons called The Pink House. So please, do consider pink for your next house (especially if it's stuccoed; you should at least be aware of the fact that it might look a bit childish if it's wooden.)

Model: Heidi Norum
Photographer: Kristian Hoff-Andersen
Location: Istanbul

COURTYARD HOUSE

2012-01-19T11:09:00.000+01:00

Last Saturday, we went out of Nairobi to the town of Thika to visit a friend. It was a beautiful day with loads of sun, and as we walked around, we passed the usual mix of old colonial arcade houses, modern apartment buildings made of concrete and food booths in the shape of Coke bottles.

When we arrived at our friend's house, I was very surprised that the rather normal looking facade was concealing this beautiful courtyard.

True, it was simple, and very small, in fact the smallest courtyard I've ever seen, but the light was pouring down in the middle and was being reflected by the bright colours, the gallery surrounds were providing shadow to rest in, while people were washing clothes, talking, playing music and enjoying the fresh air.

Maybe this way of designing houses is more common than I thought, only I'm not able to see it from the outside?

TEAM BUILDING

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000+01:00

What is a team building? I have no idea, but this is what it looks like, according to a hotel advertisement we found last week.

Photographer: Kristian Hoff-Andersen
Model: Heidi Norum

HEY, THERE'S THE VILLAGE

2012-01-15T09:51:00.000+01:00

I met av very nice Russian man in Mombasa last week and was reminded about this song. I have no idea what it's actually about, but it does sound to me as if they really like villages.

(I do too, let's build more villages!)

SCIENCE FICTION

2012-01-14T08:42:00.000+01:00

It's been proven again and again - classicism looks good with anything.

(Stockholm Public Library, 1928, architect: Gunnar Asplund)

UNKNOWN TREE

2012-01-13T11:56:00.001+01:00

While we were staying in Mombasa, there was a tree growing outside the gates to our hostel. It had lots of orange flowers and green blobs that might have been either fruits or buds.

I find the shapes of these flowers to be very interesting. I think it might be the unfolding that makes them look so cool, maybe because there seems to be so much movement in a things that's more or less standing still. I blame the nice curves.

Oh, and I have no idea what the tree is called, so if you do, please tell me.

BEFORE THE CARS

2012-01-12T09:39:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, the bus gave up on getting us into the city centre and instead dumped us right outside of it. Nairobi is full of traffic and congestion, probably because of all the people driving in their of own cars instead of using public transport, and the fact that the CBD (the tall buildings in the background) has almost no apartments, so people who work there have to spend a lot of time travelling there and back again every day.

Anyway.

When we arrived, we saw that many people were walking towards and on this bridge. There were people selling fruit, and clothes, playing music, chatting, burning things (they seem to have an affinity for burning things in this country) and looking bewildered. We decided to follow, and it turned out that this is a highway that's still being built. In between all the others, there were people in yellow helmets trying to finish it. There were huge cracks every 20th metre or so, which I guess explains why the cars haven't arrived yet. Actually, I'm even sure they should finish it. Research shows that expanding roads only leads to more people using their cars, so that capacity doesn't really increase. Maybe it would be better to keep the life and the people, use it as a new urban space and build some houses and workshops or something on and under it?

KENYA ETC.

2012-01-11T15:58:00.001+01:00

Finally! I have arrived in Kenya! After a hectic month (without blogging; sorry) I'm starting the work here. Although based in Nairobi, my colleagues and I will be travelling around a lot, and we've already been for a week-long holiday in Mombasa. I promised my teachers I would draw a lot here, but I'll also be taking a lot of pictures of interesting architecture (and some times other things), and will have things to blog about, no worries.

I was walking along the Indian Ocean on Diani Beach on South Coast near Mombasa, and passed this wonderful wavy wall. Constructed in the coral stone typical of the region, it creates both warm, sunny spots and shaded areas, and protrusions out into the beach with earth for the coconut palms to grow in.

In its natural form, the coral rock forms big cliffs, and by the sea it will often be covered in plants, with a dark surface and weathered by the waves like this one. It's chopped up into box shapes that are sold at 25 ksh each and used everywhere in the coastal areas, also in new construction, where is actually often is smoothed over with cement plaster. Here's a new building with walls made of coral stone, presumably covered up to look like concrete:

A whitewashed coral stone wall:

A worn coral stone wall. Note how it's white at the bottom, probably due to being worn from water running down during the two rain seasons in Coastal Kenya:

Finally, a picture of yours truly by the Indian Ocean, just to prove it's all true. Oh, and the horizon is horizontal in Kenya as well, I just haven't gotten any proper graphics software for my new computer yet.

GYPSY KINGS

2011-12-09T00:47:00.000+01:00

Gypsy Kings from Sebastien Cuvelier on Vimeo.

What happens when kitsch is so kitschy that it's not just kitsch anymore? I mean... It's not pretty, that's quite obvious, but somehow, it is a bit fascinating.

MICHELE BACHMAN'S HOUSE

2011-12-07T14:17:00.000+01:00

HA HA HA HA HA HA

CORNELL CRISIS/THE DESIGNER

2011-11-28T19:17:00.000+01:00

Milstein's Downfall from maestro on Vimeo.

ROTUNDA

2011-11-26T14:12:00.000+01:00

An impression of the year at The Rotunda in the grounds of the University of Virginia, designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed in 1826.

I HATE HOUSES

2011-11-08T00:30:00.000+01:00

STONEHENGE

2011-11-01T20:47:00.000+01:00

Great archimusic from the Ylvis brothers.

LOVE AND SLATE

2011-10-30T02:50:00.000+02:00

I found this outside the Deichman library the other day while looking at poplars with my sister. I guess there's someone out there who really loves slate. Or maybe it's just a happy person.

WHAT

2011-10-18T22:57:00.001+02:00

what is the good of the strongest heart
in a body that's falling apart?
a serious flaw, i hope you know that

WHAT YOU'LL HATE IN TEN YEARS

2011-10-14T11:46:00.000+02:00

(Maybe you already do?)

Military History Museum in Dresden, with an addition by Daniel Libeskind.

"The new façade’s openness and transparency contrasts with the opacity and rigidity of the existing building. The latter represents the severity of the authoritarian past while the former reflects the openness of the democratic society in which it has been reimagined. The interplay between these perspectives forms the character of the new Military History Museum" Ouch. Daniel... please, just... shut up.

LIBRARY VISIT

2011-10-05T00:36:00.001+02:00

(Soundtrack: "Kristofferson's Theme" by Alexandre Desplat)

18.55 Protagonist enters library
18.56 Protagonist returns "Where the Wild Things Are" dvd
18.57 Protagonist is completely unable to leave library emptyhanded, runs for the gardening and architecture sections; grabs a few interesting looking books and heads for the exit
18.59 Protaginst borrows

"Trær - røtter i kulturhistorien" (Trees - with roots in cultural history) by Olav Skard

"The Well-placed Weed"by Ryan Gainey

"Livskraft - vitalismen som kunstnerisk impuls 1900-1930" (Vitality - Vitalism as an artistic impulse 1900-1930) by the Munch Museum

"Byen - en bruksanvisning" (The city - a user's guide) by Peter Butenschøn

19.00 Library closes; protagonist leaves in triumph

Book reviews may follow.

ANDERS IN OSLO

2011-10-02T21:46:00.000+02:00

BAS OSLO 2011 from Anders Sletten Eide on Vimeo.

My friend and classmate Anders Eide made this video when BAS was visiting Oslo last week. It seems to me he's onto something.

Things you should know about Anders: He really loves architecture and is always ready to discuss it. He can be a bit silent, but if you talk to him, you are guaranteed to get an interesting observation or question to make you think. He knows how to dress properly. He has good taste. He's fun. He's nice. Finally, he's talented, but always looking to improve.

Some parts of the video were shot in the apartment in which I live in now. It's in the attic of the red building on the left side of the street in this picture:

MAGICAL CONCRETE CAVE

2011-09-28T18:49:00.000+02:00

I found this strange place in Stavanger not too long ago. Lying just up the hill from the train station, it's a sort of underground crossroads and not exactly a classical beauty. However, with the daylight flowing in from a circular hole in the ceiling, dark corners, strange yellow-greenish lamps and the sound of running water from the fountain and the underground brook, it has a very special atmosphere, and is definitely worth checking if you're in the neighbourhood.

THE HEADMISTRESS' SONG

2011-09-27T16:30:00.000+02:00

Young Dreams from Young Dreams on Vimeo.

This weekend, I attended a seminar arranged by my alma mater, Bergen School of Architecture. The topic was the architect education of the future, and loads of interesting questions were raised. One of the moments I'll remember the best, however, was the opening, where our headmistress (principal/rector/leader whatever you prefer) Marianne Skjulhaug played this very cool and aesthetically pleasing music video from the band called Young Dreams.

The video was taped in a house called Planetveien 12, built by the great Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo for himself and his wife, the artist Grete Prytz Kittelsen. Architect Ragnhild Jordtveit Kristiansen, who writes the blog "Mine venners hjem" says in her blog post about the house that "Planetveien is a dream of glass, concrete and teak, with specially designed and built-in furniture and surprising and original solutions". Read the blog post and watch the video (in full screen).

MRS. JACOBS AND THE CAT IN THE WINDOW

2011-09-23T10:56:00.000+02:00

“There must be eyes on the street, eyes belonging to those we might call the natural proprietors of the street. The buildings on a street equipped to handle strangers and to insure the safety of both residents and strangers, must be oriented to the street. They cannot turn their backs or blank sides on it and leave it blind. The sidewalk must have users on it fairly continuously, both to add to the number of effective eyes on the street and to induce a sufficient number of people in buildings along the street to watch the sidewalks.“

- Jane Jacobs in one of the most important books about city planning, 'The Death and Life of Great American Cities'

Does this work with cats as well?

ORGANISED COMPLEXITY

2011-09-22T11:45:00.000+02:00

Just admit it, it's sort of sexy.

ANOTHER SPACE

2011-09-21T23:48:00.000+02:00

Roof view of King's College Chapel, Cambridge. Beautiful, isn't it?

THE ANT, THE ROCK AND THE KING

2011-09-16T01:52:00.001+02:00

While I was sitting and reading the newspaper at sunset today, I befriended an ant. The ant lived in a rock in the middle of the city. Do you see the ant? (Click on the picture to see a bigger version.)

There are a few steps in the rock. The ant is very small, but he's still able to climb them; maybe because he has six legs.

The rock stands here, in the middle of a big pile of gravel. I wonder how the ant got there in the first place, and if he ever will leave it. Amazing, really; it seems life is everywhere. On the top of the rock is a king and his horse, but they're both made of bronze, so I don't think they bother the ant very much.

A MYSTERY

2011-09-12T19:59:00.000+02:00

What

D.F.U.?

A WARNING

2011-09-11T11:54:00.000+02:00

A warning: Great architecture does not guarantee feeling great.

NEW PARK AT TULLINLOKKA

2011-09-08T10:39:00.001+02:00

In the middle of Oslo there's a parking space called Tullinløkka. (An interesting and elaborate article about Tullinløkka, unfortunately in Norwegian, can be found here.) A former playground for children and other sports enthusiasts, bicycle riding ground, gatherings pace for demonstrations, the city council has been trying to get something built there for more than a hundred years, but to no success. However, after what seems like a hundred competitions, suggesting among others museums with green spaces on their roofs, classicistic buildings with columns and multi-storey car parks, someone has suddenly made a decision to build a "temporary" park at Tullinløkka. There are also rumours that a 22nd July memorial will be placed in time. The picture shows small parts of the National Gallery to the left, the Historical Museum to the right and the main building of the University of Oslo in the middle. As of now, I'm following the building of the park from my living room window, and will probably be updating with more pictures after a while.

PS. The temporary petrol station at Tullinløkka stayed there for 56 years.

NATURE BY NUMBERS

2011-09-02T18:51:00.000+02:00

Nature by Numbers from Cristóbal Vila on Vimeo.

A lovely and interesting little film. The science of it is real, says my physicist friend. (Watch it in full screen mode.)

NICE CURVES

2011-08-30T00:44:00.000+02:00

Woosh!

(I love concave buildings in cities.)

Adamstuen, Oslo, Norway. August 2011.

NATURBETONG ("NATURAL CONCRETE")

2011-08-25T01:04:00.003+02:00

Naturbetong - unequalled combination of industrial look and dust collecting since 1950!

Launched in 1950 by architect Erling Viksjø, but somehow still not very popular amongst most people, the technique of naturbetong has been used in several very important public buildings in Norway, including the government building, which was the main target and heavily damaged by the bomb in Oslo 22nd July 2011. Now we can never tear it down.

Picture from Jernbanetorget subway station, taken earlier tonight.

ADDING TO AN ADDITION

2011-08-23T21:57:00.000+02:00

Works surprisingly well surprisingly often.

Building(s) with sod roofs at Maihaugen open air museum in Lillehammer, Norway.

THE GRUMPIEST ELF

2011-08-23T00:14:00.001+02:00

Taken in my parents' garden (designed by yours truly) with a self timer this afternoon.

WINDOW + KITCHEN + BALCONY

2011-08-17T14:30:00.000+02:00

Kitchen + window + balcony = <3

Model: Erik Natvig

Photographer: Heidimarie Evensen

BEWARE OF BUILDING

2011-08-10T17:13:00.000+02:00

Be sure to use architecture in the right way, or it might become dangerous.

(Is this blog getting a bit silly?)

STICKS AND STONES

2011-08-09T14:18:00.000+02:00

Sticks and stones

May break my bones

But I'd rather you build houses out of them.

Chester Rows in Chester, Cheshire, England, with covered walkways and shops on two floors in townhouses for wealthy families.

ONE MORE HOUSE

2011-08-08T19:16:00.000+02:00

There's almost always room for one more little townhouse. This perfect pink one's in Portugal, I think. Don't remember who took the picture, but it sure as Honeydukes wasn't me.

Edit 7th September: The picture was taken by Anders Eide and I borrowed it without asking. Thanks, Anders.

MUSIC FOR ANOTHER FUTURE

2011-08-03T23:05:00.001+02:00

This is for all you ruin porn lovers out there.

LEAN ON ME

2011-08-01T13:47:00.000+02:00

CLASSICISM WITH DANCING HIPPOPOTAMUSES

2011-07-29T17:49:00.000+02:00

If this doesn't cheer you up a bit...

The brilliant version of Ponchielli's Dance of the Hours from Disney's 1940 film Fantasia. Notice the slightly absurd, very formal pieces of architecture and lanscaping. And watch it in fullscreen mode. ("Hippopotamuses"! How I love the English language.)

RAIN

2011-07-26T04:18:00.001+02:00

Have you ever considered just how beautiful a group of tents can be, especially at a time when the rain has been falling very heavily, but is slowly leaving, and the sun is starting to shine through?

Picture taken summer 2004 at Utøya.

<3

JERKITECTURE

2011-07-22T11:50:00.000+02:00

When a building is being a jerk to its surrounding neighbours, that's jerkitecture. Look at the poor little mansion next to that big, brutal, attention-seeking hotel or whatever it is. The picture was taken in Cascais, Portugal, but jerkitecture can be found almost anywhere in the world, and I expect I will be posting more of it. I haven't been able to find the name of the buildings and their architects, so if you know, please tell me.

QUEERS AND CAMERAS

2011-07-21T16:55:00.001+02:00

I spent last week at a wonderful queer festival (That's new speak for gay camp) in Southern Norway. Going by the name of Jafnadhr, which is said to mean "justice" or something like it in Old Norse, it's an annual happening, organized by the organisation I'll be working for in the year to come, Skeiv ungdom (Queer youth).

All in all, it was a very nice week. The people were friendly, the shows were funny, the dinners (when there was enough food) were fabulous and the weather was fine. In between all the socializing, debates and bathing, there was also time to group up and learn about a lot of different subjects, and I joined a photography group, lead by the magnificent Mathilde Nicoline Bergersen (Check out her beautiful blog.). I own a rather simple compact camera which I bring everywhere, and use among other things to take most of the pictures of this blog, and I learned a thing or two about good techniques, composition and editing. I also took some pictures I was pleased with, including a few self portraits, group pictures and colour studies. Have a look.

Thanks to everyone at Jafnadhr 2011!

INFERIOR

2011-07-20T09:34:00.000+02:00

Julie: Hanging out in the stairs. Supposedly very New York-ish.

Kristian: Stairs that aren't fit for hanging out, are clearly inferior.

Picture taken in NY by my friend Julie Lødrup, on the right. I'm not quite sure who the two other girls are, but they seem nice, too. Julie also has an excellent political blog, called Julie and the City Council. Check it out if you understand Norwegian!

BOOK COLUMN

2011-07-12T01:18:00.000+02:00

How to make a book column

You need:

1 unsightly column

1 Polish guy

Lots of books with titles which make people interested

Glue

Nails

Saw

Start from the bottom. Saw the books in half to make them fit. Glue and nail them to the base and the column. Repeat with new layers until you reach the ceiling.

Voilà! The world is now a better place.

(The picture was taken by yours truly in a Volt shop in Karl Johans gate, Oslo.)

CHURCH IS GAY

2011-07-10T11:27:00.000+02:00

I'm going away for a week, to the summercamp of the organisation Queer Youth in Norway. One of the topics of our discussions will be how the LGBT movement and the different religions can cooperate better and achieve more understanding, for the good of everyone.

This is St. Bridget's church in New Jersey. It turns out that churches can be a lot of things.

CHERRY TREE ALLÉ/WORKS EVERY TIME

2011-07-06T11:23:00.001+02:00

Walking form the local train station to my parents' house, I pass through a part of this cherry tree allé. Works every time.

LEAVING/24

2011-07-05T12:18:00.001+02:00

After two years at Bergen School of Architecture, I'm taking a break of sorts. I won't be returning until 1st September 2012, more than a year from now. I'm leaving the school grounds, leaving Bergen, and strangest of them all, leaving my class. (See picture above, taken by Ane Oline Finstad.)

The next year will be spent working with lgbt-issues in Norway and Africa, including four months in Kenya spring 2012. The work is very important, and it's going to be amazing. For those interested, I will be writing about that on another blog, but I will also be updating this one. I still consider myself an architecture student.

School is great, but it's also hard. Being away for a year will probably remind me how lucky I am to be doing what I love, and I'm already looking forward to coming back. Sadly, I'll not be joining the same class, Class 24. They're the greatest people you'll ever meet, extremely good at what they're doing, friendly, interested, always up for a good discussion. I've made so many friends along way, perhaps without realizing it until now, when I'm suddenly leaving. Hey people, in case you're reading this: If one thing could have held me back, it was you.

Thanks!

BEFORE/AFTER

2011-06-14T12:27:00.000+02:00

Before:

After:

(Click on the pictures!) Is this fair? And if so, why? I mean, the weather is different, the season is different... but still. It seems something went terribly wrong, and all I really have to say is this:

Thanks a lot, 20th century!

Pictures of Bergen by Marianne Skjulhaug, rector at BAS.

BIKE LANES

2011-06-12T11:34:00.000+02:00

Bike lanes are important in the city. They provide a system of very healthy and effective transportation, and provide a non-polluting. space-saving alternative to cars. This what happens when they're not being taken care of:

DIGNITY PT. II

2011-06-08T22:05:00.000+02:00

So, who's doing a better job at ageing with dignity?

This old concrete column?

Or Brigitte Bardot?

TREES IN SUBURBIA

2011-06-07T10:20:00.000+02:00

'Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them' - William E. Vaughan

Picture from the project "Stordammen Park" in my hometown, Drammen.

MOEBIUS SHIP

2011-06-06T10:32:00.001+02:00

The lovely Möbius ship by artist Tim Hawkinson, the figurative cousin of the one-sided surface called the Möbius strip. Pun intended, I presume. Image is the courtesy of the artist.

NORWEGIAN PARTY

2011-06-04T15:52:00.000+02:00

As some of you might know, writing texts in English may lead to people from other countries reading them. My blog gets visits from many parts of the world, and during the last week I've had hits from such countries as the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Australia, India, Egypt, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil and Ukraine. It seems most of these are visits to older posts, but in case any of my visitors should wonder what my native country of Norway is like, I'm posting this video:

GRAY DAY

2011-06-03T10:25:00.000+02:00

I can't believe the month that just passed was May, and not October. Today is another gray, cold day in Bergen.

MELANCHOLIA

2011-06-02T23:32:00.000+02:00

I went to see Lars von Trier's Melancholia at the cinema yesterday, and it is hereby strongly recommended. Engaging story, amazing actors, beautiful pictures, thorough elegance.

MORE HOUSE

2011-05-31T11:29:00.000+02:00

- We sure have a nice house here.

- We sure do.

- Could be a bit bigger, though.

- Yes, it could.

- Let's add some.

- Let's!

- That's more like it!

- Indeed.

- But now Alfred and Jane and the kids are moving here, it's a bit small.

- I guess we'll build some more house, then.

- We'll build some more house!

- Now it's perfect.

- Honey...

- Yes?

- You remember that 17, 000 pieces collection of 18th century Spanish porcelain I was telling you about?
- Yes?
- I bought it.
- Oh.
- Yes.
- We'll build some more house, then. And this time I want a proper porch!

(Burbank-Hatheway house, picture from Wikimedia Commons.)

SOFA DISCUSSIONS IN THE HOUSE OF HOFF-ANDERSEN

2011-05-29T14:51:00.000+02:00

'If I want to sit on a bench, I'll go for a walk in the park.' - Ane Regine Hoff-Andersen

HENRY GIBSON

2011-05-27T21:51:00.000+02:00

I really think this sculpture by Nils Aas (situated next to the magnificent theatre Den Nationale Scene, built in 1909 by architect Einar Oscar Schou) (oh, and have a look at the walk of the man in background as well), presumably trying to depict Henrik Ibsen, is the ugliest (ugly, as in "caricature-like in all its grumpiness and resembling a very indecent mix between a children's toy and a dildo") piece of figurative art I've ever seen.

... unless, of course, it's really a statue of the guy who governs this place:

The Sultan of Agrabah!

:)

2011-05-19T19:40:00.000+02:00

(And making stairs.)

HOUSE OF THREE COLOURS

2011-05-16T20:10:00.000+02:00

Why does this house have three different colours (and that's just the street facades)? Which one's the right one for a house like this, and for a house like this in 2011? Why is one of them Absurd Azure? I don't have the answers, and I'm not even sure what I think of it, but I do like the fact that it's there.

PS. This building type is a relative of the Berlinian apartment house which imported to Norway in the 19th century. They don't have a very nice reputation, but I love them for such reasons as their nice scale, lofty ceilings, flexibility, wedding cake-like ornamentation and ability to house many people while creating positive outdoor spaces around them.

MATHEMATICAL BRIDGE

2011-05-15T17:58:00.000+02:00

A combination of events has led to my suddenly developing a keen interest in old university architecture. While I was reading (that's archispeak for looking at pictures) the article about Cambridge on Wikipedia, I saw a picture of this interesting piece of construction:

It's the Mathematical Bridge, spanning the river Cam and connecting two parts of Queen's College, Cambridge. The name derives from the techinque of tangent and radial trussing, providing an efficient use of timber, while also creating a beautiful and almost organic skelton-like look.

If you like it, you should also have a look at the article about the now lost Old Walton Bridge.

NICE BRICKS

2011-05-11T00:14:00.000+02:00

Sounds a bit dirty, doesn't it? It's not, though. I just found this picture on my computer today:

If you go very close up to the main entrance of the Norwegian Parliament building, Stortinget, and then look straight up, it looks more or less like this. I like the bricks; still looking good after 145 years in service.

PARTY ON POLES

2011-05-09T23:48:00.001+02:00

Houses ready to go for a walk: Palafitos in Castro, Chile.

GARDENING SEASON!

2011-05-08T22:13:00.001+02:00

CHILDREN IN THE CITY

2011-05-04T21:12:00.000+02:00

"I can never imagine it's good for a child grow up in the city."

Never say never. Walking home from school today I met a six year old or so girl who was beatboxing while carrying a branch of cherry blossoms, probably picked off one of the strees in our street. I can't know for sure, but she seemed cool enough.

PARKING LOTS AND TREES AND COURTYARDS

2011-05-02T19:22:00.001+02:00

For reasons I'm not quite able to grasp, there exists such thing as a parking lot. The one in this picture sits right in the middle of the city of Bergen, next to the city hall. The only explanation I can think of for its still being there, must be that the city planners and politicians of Bergen work right next to it, and want to drive their cars to work.

In our new project in school, we're supposed to design residential complex of sorts, using an interesting/problematic area as our site. My group chose this spot, and fortunately, all is not trouble and cars and office palaces from the seventies.

Approaching the site from below, one can walk through a narrow and low-ceilinged passage, arriving in the middle of a beautiful courtyard with a large maple tree.

As of now, the building is used as office space and no one is using the courtyard, especially not in the evening. Maybe our new design could do something about that?

GRASS PROPAGANDA FOR CHILDREN

2011-04-27T00:47:00.000+02:00

It seems the US Americans have been teaching children that surburbia is good and urbanism is bad ever since 1952. Thanks alot!

"The best place to find peace and happiness is in a little house on a little hill way out in the country." I daresay this is how most architects, at least in Norway, still think, 82 years after the death of Ebenezer Howard and 45 years after the death of Le Corbusier. Let lawns and fresh air save the morale of the working classes!

HIPSTER CALVIN

2011-04-24T12:21:00.001+02:00

Somehow, I always had the feeling Bill Watterson was talking about contemporary architecture here. Or maybe Calvin's just another hipster.

PS. Wikipedia has a short article on the fallacy called "Appeal to novelty". Have a look.

A MACHINE FOR LIVING IN

2011-04-01T21:04:00.000+02:00

"In modern architecture, every day is April Fool's Day" -David Brussat

(What's "modern" anyway? Oh, nevermind.)

SUNSET IN AN EMPTY CLASSROOM

2011-03-31T12:55:00.000+02:00

I stayed at school until midnight yesterday, supplementing the Client project. Still not finished.

SIZE MATTERS

2011-03-27T20:44:00.002+02:00

Note to self: Remember to make scale models big enough.

GLASS AND GRASS

2011-03-08T11:32:00.000+01:00

A riddle: What do urbanism and landscape architecture have in common?

Not too long ago, the (still mostly academic) phenomenon of landscape urbanism came to my attention. It seems its supporters are trying to revive the notion (delusion?) of the tower in the park, as made popular by Le Corbusier. They're promoting a literally green urbanism, with urban agriculture, surface water treatment, green roofs, using native species of plants and often placing buildings apart from eachother in mini-parks instead of creating streets and squares. I love green stuff, but I'm not sure if this approach will be able to provide the social spaces needed to create good places for people to live their lives in.

Fighting against the pedestrian-friendly, anti-sprawl movement based on traditional urbanism called New Urbanism (their website is full of interesting information, if not very good-looking), the proponents of landscape urbanism don't seem to mind our society being entirely car-dependent, excluding anyone who can't drive. Part of their point also seems to be a sort of anti-planning, ideally leaving the growth of city to the collaborations between individual citizens, but in reality, to commercial interests. Landscape urbanists now run the architecture department at Harvard and several other important schools, and should be taken seriously, especially by anyone who believes that walkability is important.

However, they also seem to be very good at raising an ecological awareness and analyzing the land they're working with. In my opinion, landscape urbanism happened because New Urbanism lacked some central elements. Perhaps they ought to be integrated?

The Boston Globe's Leon Neyfakh's article called Green Building is a good introduction to the development of Landscape Urbanism for anyone wanting to learn more.

I also recommend all architects to read the article A Tire in the Park by Emily Talen, a critical, but far from one-sided analysis of this rather new phenomenon.

Finally, have some fun with the Landscape Urbanism Bullshit Generator. (This ought to look very familiar to any of my co-students at BAS.)

PETULA CLARK

2011-03-07T00:00:00.001+01:00

Promoting mixed-use development since 1964.

"Downtown everything's waiting for you".

Song composed by Tony Hatch.

GOTTA LOVE THOSE HEAVY BRICK WALLS

2011-03-05T12:51:00.000+01:00

This is the Littlejohn Memorial Chapel at Scotch College, Melbourne. Love at first sight. (Online, that is. I've never been there in real life.) The building was completed in 1937, but I've not been able to find out who the architect was. Picture from Wikipedia.

DESK STATUS/NOT A LLAMA

2011-03-03T11:47:00.000+01:00

No, it's not a llama. As the bandsaw at school is broken again, the pieces of wood I planned to make houses of were suddenly quite useless, and I just stacked them on top eachother to clear a small part of my desk. I love stacking.

VIEW WITH LIGHT

2011-03-01T19:18:00.001+01:00

Today's view from our classroom window. (Yes, there's only one window.)

STEINER

2011-02-27T23:34:00.001+01:00

Celebrating Rudolf Steiner's 150th birthday, I'm posting a picture of his Goetheanum, the centre of the antroposophical movement. Steiner had ambitions of creating a spiritual and organic architecture, avoiding right angles as much as possible, and using cast concrete to create rounded and expressive (and sometimes perhaps a bit overwhelming) shapes. I think we still may have things to learn from him.

TREE-COLUMN

2011-02-23T18:16:00.002+01:00

Construction and tectonics week at school. I'm doing something having to do with building a tree-shaped column made of stone. Will be back with more.

WEEPING BEECH

2011-02-18T23:01:00.002+01:00

Picture from Oslo, taken by yours truly with a single-use camera last summer. The weeping beech, Fagus sylvativa 'Pendula', hereby highly recommended.

EGYPT

2011-02-13T18:24:00.001+01:00

For no particular reason (I mean, it's not the prettiest builing I've ever seen, nor the ugliest) , a picture of the Emabassy of Egypt i Ottawa, Canada. I'm actually working on my paper on townhouses in History of Building, but... Yeah, congrats with the overthrowing of Mubarak and everything.

(Are there any books om embassy architecture? Would be interesting to read about how different countries present themselves to different other countries. Oh. Now this blog post made sense after all.)

SLOW

2011-02-12T14:59:00.000+01:00

I especially like parts with the falling liquids. Those sort of shapes have always fascinated me.

DOING THE WORK

2011-02-09T16:22:00.000+01:00

I'm reworking the drawing, and building a new construstion. Let's hope it works this time. At least I'm having fun and learning stuff.

MOSTLY FUNNY IF YOU UNDERSTAND SWEDISH

2011-02-07T14:21:00.000+01:00

The woman is yelling "Help, bungalows!", and in the car, someone's thinking "A soulmate!".

Found in a book by the Swedish artist Jan Stenmark.

UNSUCCESSFUL PROJECT

2011-02-03T18:46:00.002+01:00

Today was the first day of crit for the 'Acoustic space' project. It did not go very well.

It seems I have not spent enough time on the project, and the result was much less pleasing than I had thought. The teacher, Sang Lee, gave a rather long oral evaluation which with the dreaded word 'You need to be doing the work', and ended up with him calling my drawing bread with fungus, and my object a pizza oven with rotten manure in, after which he kicked it several times. He also spoke about how he was disappointed my the low quality of the craft of my object, using old ideas, and that I couldn't put together something the last few days and expect that to work for very long. There was also something of him preferring a hard-working dumb-ass over a somewhat talented, but lazy smart-ass any day.

Not quite what I had expected, but he was right about not spending enough time on the project. However, I just quit my work at the bookshop a few days ago, and will probably have much more time to spend on school from now on. I know that most of the things he said were true, and I will improve. A lot.

(The apple? I took the picture after almost being hit by a car when I was crossing the street earlier this winter. I slipped and fell, and many of the things in my bag laded in the street, including this apple. I was very angry, upset and frustrated. However, I thought the apple looked nice where it landed, so I managed to take this picture in between all the feelings.)

Tomorrow I'll know if I pass the course or not.

EDIT 5th February: I will have to supplement (or remake) my work within next Friday, and will hopefully pass the course. Wish me luck!

FUN WITH NORMAN AND FRIENDS

2011-02-02T00:15:00.000+01:00

Screenshot from the website of Foster + Partners. An attempt at irony?

MADE

2011-01-31T11:45:00.000+01:00

ARTIFICIAL HORIZON

2011-01-30T23:36:00.001+01:00

Have you ever considered the fact that architects and builders are the creators of artificial horizons? That's the thought I was reminded of when I took this picture while walking to work on Friday. Wikipedia has a short and nice explanation of the phenomenon of the horizon:

"The horizon is the apparent line that separates earth from sky, the line that divides all visible directions into two categories: those that intersect the Earth's surface, and those that do not. At many locations, the true horizon is obscured by trees, buildings, mountains, etc., and the resulting intersection of earth and sky is called the visible horizon."

So, even in a city like Bergen, where we are surrounded by tall hills and mountains, most of the horizon we see around us is man-made, which means that we as architects have the possibility of either creating boring and hard horizons, or to make something else, like in this photo.

I think architects owe it to the people using the environments we create, to make artificial horizons that are as beautiful, complex and close to a natural horizon as possible.

RUMAH GADANG

2011-01-21T20:24:00.000+01:00

It sounds like fun, and looks even better.

One of my recent discoveries while surfing the internet looking for strange and interesting architecture from around the world, is the rumah gadang. It's built by an Indonesian people called the Minangkabau, and uses a system of wooden beams and sugar palm thatch to create dramatic roofs, with sweeping, upward-pointing gables, and extremely detailed, decorative walls.

I find that one of the fascinating aspects of this architecture, as with very much traditional and vernacular architecture from around the world, is its organized complexity (google that). Although looking very unconventional, it still uses the classical princiles of geometry, symmetry and decoration to create a beautiful and interesting design.

The picture above shows a rumah gadang some time between 1892 and 1905, and the picture below was taken in 1905. Both from Commons.

THE WAY WE LIVE (IN NORWAY, TOO)

2011-01-19T13:01:00.001+01:00

Roofscape in Prague, picture by yours truly

I just stumbled upon this video on Youtube, and I rather liked it. Supporters of intelligent urbanism, Peter Calthorpe, Leon Krier, Michael Lykoudis, Jacquelin Robertson, Demetri Porphyrios & Robert Adam explain their views on what citites are today, and what they should be. All these guys like very traditional-looking buildings, and the video is perhaps a bit too focused on American cities, but the message is universal. Have a look.

A SMALL PLACE

2011-01-16T17:51:00.001+01:00

A place in a city needn't be big to be great. This one is just big enough for a small group of friends to gather and hang out, or meet to go somewhere else. I want public spaces on this scale back in the city.

GOTHIC REVIVAL IN THE EVENING

2011-01-12T16:12:00.002+01:00

There's nothing quite like it.

DAN PHILLIPS AND THE RECYCLED VERNACULAR

2011-01-11T19:28:00.001+01:00

Picture by Michael Stravato for The New York Times

I saw this really cool, short lecture on recycled architecture today. The guy giving the lecture was Dan Phillips, a builder of Huntsville, Texas, who devotes his time to creating very cheap, environmentally friendly, energy efficient and quite cool-looking houses out of up to 80% recycled materials. One of his strategies for creating beautiful houses out of recycled materials, is repetition.

"That serves me every day. Repetition creates pattern. If I have a hundred of these, a hundred of those, it doesn't make any difference what these and those are. If I can repeat anything, I have the possibility of a pattern, from hickory nuts and chicken eggs, shards of glass, branches. It doesn't make any difference."

Here's an NY Times article about Mr. Phillips as well.