Ja, fordypningskurs.

‘ Today we still do not have a material that rivals wood in its subtlety of structure and property. ’ Ball P. 1997. Made To Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century. Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press.

The studio is based on the premise that the relation between design and sustainability can not be brought to a higher level understanding of performative design, unless such an effort is based on utilising material characteristics in ways that are currently not common practice. Based on this key hypothesis the studio will employ research by design as the means of investigation. Wood is the chosen material exemplar and prevailing prejudices towards the material that are born from a deeply entrenched and singular industrial viewpoint are critical examined. Specific characteristics of wood that are commonly deemed negative are looked at from a fresh perspective that seeks opportunities where others see problems. The characteristics include: heterogeneous material make-up, cellular differentiation, anisotropy and hygroscopy. The culmination of such characteristics entails that wood displays variable behaviour and dimensional instability, two characteristics that lie at the core of the negative evaluation of timber as a material. The studio will explore the utilisation of these characteristics in relation to specific environmental conditions that are extracted from a chosen context, and will progress bottom-up with material experiments, leading towards material assemblies that instrumentalise variable behaviour and dimensional instability. The final designs can either directly utilise timber, or alternatively utilise the gained knowledge towards differential fibre layouts in fibre-reinforced polymer composite materials. The design task is to develop a forest shelter or a kiosk in an urban context that utilises the above described characteristics.

Note: Since the studio pursues a very ambitious goal, it is necessary to provide tailor-made theoretical knowledge with regards to the themes at hand. It is therefore highly recommended for students to participate in the proposed themed course Performance-oriented Design: Wood – Differentiated Material and Variable Behaviour .

Students will acquire the ability to conduct research by design with specific regards to performance-oriented design. System thinking will be introduced to enable students to investigate complex interactions between material characteristics and environment that is the resultant stimulus and response feedback that ensues from such interactions.

Students will acquire concepts, knowledge and skills in working with material experiments towards a design that utilises selected material characteristics in a novel way.

The course will focus on identifying and utilising specific characteristics of wood that are typically deemed negative: heterogeneity in material make-up, dimensional instability due to anisotropy and hyroscopy, etc. Through research by design wood characteristics and related performative capacities are instrumentalised and an alternative take on sustainability is formulated based on the investigated characteristics and behaviour.

The studio work will be based on extensive material experiments, material form-finding and modelling and the construction of large scale prototypes.

In parallel a computational logic will be developed to support the investigations and research as the task gains in increasing complexity.

Students can work individually or in small teams.

Teaching methods include tailor-made lectures, seminars, workshop sessions and group tutorials.

Responsibilities of the additional teachers and visiting lecturers:

1. Prof. Dr. Birger Sevaldson will introduce Systems Theory to support the work and provide general tutorials, that focus on the implementation of system thinking in the work..
2. PhD Cand. Defne Sunguroglu Hensel will provide general tutorials and tutorials and seminars focused on computational logics related to the specific topic of the studio.
3. Prof. Dr. George Jeronimidis will provide lectures on the topic of reaction wood.
4. Prof. Achim Menges will provide specific seminars focusing on research by design examples that utilise the performative capacity of timber with regards to its specific characteristics.

Deliveries are the final project documentation.

Students are required to attend 90% of all presentations, workshops, seminars and tutorials to pass the course.

The course is assessed as pass/fail, subject to the Regulations for Master's degree programmes at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, § 6-14.

Obligatorisk pensum:

Barnett, J. R., & Jeronimidis, G. (2003). Reaction wood. In J. R. Barnett & G. Jeronimidis (Eds.), Wood quality and its biological basis (pp. 118-136). Oxford: Blackwell Publ.

Bodig, J., & Jayne, B. A. (1993). Mechanics of wood and wood composites. Malabar, Fla.: Krieger.

Butterfield, B. G. (2003). Wood anatomy in relation to wood quality. In J. R. Barnett & G. Jeronimidis (Eds.), Wood quality and its biological basis(pp. 30-52). Oxford: Blackwell Publ.

Dinwoodie, J. M. (2000). Timber: its nature and behaviour. London: E & FN Spon.

Hensel, M. (2008). Performance-oriented design: precursors and potentials. Architectural design, 78(2), 48-53. (Lenke til fulltekst).

Hensel, M. (2009). Material capacities and variable material behaviour: potentials for rethinking the design disciplines [Unpublished work] . Paper presented at the Nordes 09 Conferance.

Menges, A. (2008). Responsive surface structures: instrumentalising moisture-content activated dimensional changes of timber components. Architectural design, 75(2), 39-41. (Lenke til fulltekst).

Pereira, H., Graca, J., & Rodrigues, J. C. (2003). Wood chemistry in relation to quality. In J. R. Barnett & G. Jeronimidis (Eds.), Wood quality and its biological basis(pp. 53-86). Oxford: Blackwell Publ.

Zink-Sharp, A. (2003). The mechanical properties of wood. In J. R. Barnett & G. Jeronimidis (Eds.), Wood quality and its biological basis(pp. 187-210). Oxford: Blackwell Publ.

Anbefalt litteratur:

Engelsk litteratur:

Harris, J. M. (1989). Spiral grain and wave phenomena in wood formation. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Hensel, M., Hight, C., & Menges, A. (Eds.). (2009). Space reader: heterogeneous space in architecture. Chichester: Wiley.

Hensel, M., & Menges, A. (Eds.). (2008). Versatility and vicissitude - preformance in morpho-ecologies [Entire issue]. Architectural design, 78(2). (Lenke til fulltekst).

Hensel, M., & Menges, A. (Eds.). (2006). Morpho-ecologies. London: AA Publications .

Mattheck, C. (1998). Design in nature: learning from trees. Berlin: Springer.

Skaar, C. (1988). Wood-water relations. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

Tysk litteratur:

Grosser, D. (1977). Die Hölzer Mitteleuropas: ein mikrophotographischer Lehratlas. Berlin: Springer.

Hensel, M., & Menges, A. (Eds.). (2008). Form, follows performance: zur wechselwirknung von materiel, struktur, umwelt [Entire issue]. Arch+(188).

Herzog, T. (2003). Holzbau Atlas. Basel: Birkhäuser.

Wagenführ, R. (2007). Holzatlas. München: Fachbuchverlag Leipzig.