Course syllabus

Theme 2024: NORDIC WOMEN

What is “the Nordic”? This course has two main aims: first, to give a brief introduction to Nordic architecture. Second, to research Nordic qualities like site adaptation, space, light, and materiality, as well as social characteristics such as collectivity, flexibility, and critical praxis. Students will work in teams on a concrete analysis of one particular building through model making, and the projects will be discussed in a student-led seminar format.

This year’s theme, Nordic Women, engages projects designed by women from across the last century, illuminating contributions from designers more likely to be hidden in the architectural canon and thus broadening the architectural perspective of the students and the broader public.

Schedule

Schedule ACE360 Nordic Architecture 2024.docx

Lectures, seminars and group work

Introductory lectures 15/1 and 16/1 will be held at Kunskapstrappan. Following sessions will take place in the Art Studio for lectures and model work, as well as working in the Architecture Workshop

The group work and model building will have a home space in the studio spaces on floor 5.

Contact details

Tabita Nilsson, course leader, teacher, tabita@chalmers.se, 0709-615052

Bri Gauger, course leader, bri.gauger@chalmers.se, 0701-478671

Isabelle Doucet, professor, examiner,  isabelle.doucet@chalmers.se

Johan Linton, professor, linton@chalmers.se

Peter Lindblom, teacher, pl@chalmers.se

Course purpose and content

The course gives a basis for reflection on Nordic architecture on different scales through a discourse with some of its traditions, contemporary developments, buildings and architects. The course has two main aims. First, to give a brief introduction to Nordic architecture. Second, to research Nordic qualities like site adaptation, space, light, and materiality by working with a concrete analysis of one particular building through model making. 

The subject of analysis is focused on a specific architectural theme which varies each year. Recent years included housing (2021) and public buildings (2020). Since 2022, the course has taken the theme “Nordic Women,” engaging projects designed by women from across the last century, broadening the architectural perspective by illuminating contributions from designers more likely to be hidden in the Nordic canon.

Six buildings, all outstanding projects on different scales and with different design philosophies, from each of the Nordic countries will be studied in groups of 5-6 students and analysed in depth through model making, based on existing plans, sections, publications, and photos. This will be complemented by a study trip (at the students’ expense; a local option will also be available). The analysis is intended to understand essential qualities of the buildings in their historic, spatial, and social context and also to develop and clarify concepts of Nordic architecture.

Projects

• House of Hafsteinn, Bakkaflöt, Gardabaer, Iceland. Högna Sigurdadottir. 1968.
• Höghult fritidshus, Karlsborg, Sweden. Fabel arkitektur (Catharina Dahl Palmér & Sofie Campanello). 2020.
• Own House, Mellomveien, Tromsø, Norway. Kirsten Sand. 1952.
• Helsinki University Library, Helsinki, Finland. Anttinen Oiva Architects (Selina Anttinen & Vesa Oiva). 2012.
• Church (of choice), Denmark. Inger & Johannes Exner.
• Fredrik Eerns minne, Stockholm, Sweden. Ingeborg Waern Bugge & Kjerstin Göransson-Ljungman. 1935.

Course literature

These are optional readings that frame the larger issues and questions in the course. See project modules for readings specific for each project.

Claes Caldenby (ed.), Sweden: 20th-century architecture. München: Prestel, 1998.

Kjeld Kjeldsen (ed.), New Nordic: architecture & identity. Humlebæk: Louisiana, 2012.

Nils Ole Lund, Nordic architecture, Arkitektens forlag, 2008.

Atli Magnus Seelow, Reconstructing the Stockholm Exhibition 1930. Arkitektur förlag, 2016.

https://womenwritingarchitecture.org/

Gunilla Lundahl (ed.), Kvinnorum: Porträtt av Arkitekter. ArkitekturMuseet, 1991.

Gunilla Lundahl (ed.), Kvinnor Som Banade Väg. Byggforskningsrådet, 1992.

Wenche Findal Mindretallets mangfold. Kvinner i norsk arkitekturhistorie. Oslo: Abstrakt Forlag, 2004.

Ingebjørg Hage (2005) Reconstruction of North Norway after the Second World War – New Opportunities for Female Architects?, Acta Borealia, 22:2, 99-127.

Renja Suominen-Kokkonen The fringe of a profession : women as architects in Finland from the 1890s to the 1950s (1992)

Museum of Finnish Architecture. Profiles: Pioneering Women Architects from Finland, 1983.

Rahbek, Lv Lovetand, Svava Riesto, and Henriette Steiner, eds. ByWomen: A Guidebook to Everyday Architecture in Greater Copenhagen. IKAROS, 2022.

Bay, Helle, Lisbeth Pepke, Dorte Rathje, Nina Togern, and Jette Wagner, eds. Women in Danish Architecture. Copenhagen: Arkitektens Forlag, 1991.

(Books are available at the library at the School of Architecture, the University library, or on loan from the instructors.)

Course design

The course in Nordic architecture runs over nine weeks. The first week includes introductory lectures on the Nordic context, on social context, on Nordic women, and on model building. The second week there is a site trip with options to travel in the region or to stay in Gothenburg. The next five weeks are dedicated to model building, with several student-led seminars mixed in, where each group will share their research questions and findings with the rest of the class as a basis for discussion.

The models and accompanying material will be presented in a public exhibition which communicates the individual projects and the comparison between them. The exhibition will be complemented by a  digital presentation and model record in  Chalmers’ Open Digital Repository (ODR) /Model Archive. These presentations, curated by the students and with comment by the course examiner, together with active participation in lectures and seminars, are the basis for the examination of the course.

The students will work in project groups of 5 or 6.  The project groups will be pre-made and assigned one building each. All student groups will together be responsible for the layout, mounting and dismounting of the physical exhibition as well as coordinating content and layout in the digital presentation, and promoting them. For this purpose, the students will form a curating group.

The study tour or study trip is basically a series of study visits that give first-hand experience of Nordic buildings. The time assigned for this is Monday 22nd and Tuesday 23rd January. The students plan – as a group - their own study tour, exactly what to see that broadens the view on Nordic Architecture, how much time to put into looking at the assigned project (if possible) and what to complement with. The study trip should if possible be done with one's own project group, or with students from other groups so as to give reflection and discussion. Optional is to prolong the trip using the weekend, which gives the possibility of a more extensive trip and maybe being able to visit the assigned project. Visiting the building you are studying gives another dimension to the research and is highly recommended, but it is also possible to choose buildings of similar character, size, period, function etc that relate to the project.

The first two weeks introduce the course through a presentation of the projects and a series of lectures. It also includes group formation,  preparations for the model building as well as planning and going on study tours. Literature studies, analytic drawings based on existing plans, sections, and other representations, as well as the study trip to the buildings (or relevant examples) are the basis for a deeper understanding and reflection.

The next four weeks will be mostly dedicated to model building with analysis discussed in several student-led seminars. Students will formulate research questions for their projects and facilitate group discussion.

The final sessions will include model building and concrete preparations for the exhibition. The exhibition opening includes a critique by the examiner. The course ends with documentation and the launching of the digital presentation.

Changes made since the last occasion

The course schedule has been adjusted to the requirements of the new format, running two days per week for 9 weeks (replacing the previous format of 3 consecutive weeks).

The final session of the course has been reserved for completing the digital and documentation modes of presentation, which previously were due at the same time as the physical exhibition. The final session will also be used for group reflection.

Learning objectives and syllabus

At the completion of the course, each student should be able to describe some aspects of Nordic architecture, its conditions and character. Also to describe a number of Nordic architects and buildings and relate them to a cultural and historical context.

For the full overview of learning outcomes, examination, and so on, see the detailed Study plan

Examination

To pass the course the following is required: attendance and active participation in all aspects of group work: model building, seminars, study visits, reports, and final exhibition.

Grading:

For any student being present at all the lectures, trips, seminars and the model building the normal grade is 4. Lesser participation will result in the grade 3 or not passed. Exceptional contributions during the course in terms of teamwork, process, and/or outcome might result in the grade 5.

Participation grade is based on general participation in the course and based on the post-evaluation of the group work contract.

Deliveries

Each individual student shall deliver:

• Model reflection 1, Jan 15 (written)
• Model reflection 2, Mar 11 (written)
• Post-evaluation of group work contract, Mar 11 (written)

Each project group shall deliver:

• Group work contract, Jan 15 (written)
• List of study tour objects, Jan 23 (written)
• List of research questions, sources, and preliminary findings for one seminar (written, prior to seminar)
• 3 models of the project building (physical)
• Digital presentation of the building through models and text on https://projects.arch.chalmers.se/nordic-architecture-2/
• Documentation of models, in photos, text and references, uploaded on https://odr.chalmers.se/modellkammaren  according to instructions

The whole group shall deliver:

• A physical exhibition with models and information, March 4