ANNOUNCEMENT: Oslo School of Architecture and Design ANNUAL AHO PHD CALL 2021
AHO offers four fully funded PhD positions for the period 2021–2024 with research themes as follows:
Position 1: Portals, past and future
(Institute of Form Theory and History)
Portals, past and future takes the series of eight plaster portals cast in situ at the stave church Urnes in 1907 as a starting point for investigating today’s circulation, production, destruction, preservation and replication of monuments ex situ, on a global scale, across media and materials, and in light of the ongoing development and refinement of technologies for documenting and preserving cultural heritage.
We look for applicants with strong and original project ideas within humanities-based architectural research that link to OCCAS’ archive-based work on preservation, interpretation, criticism, and mediation, and with a design component related to an international exhibition. Preservation in an expanded field makes the framework for this PhD project, that will set out from the reproduction of the North portal of the Urnes church, with a possibility of the inclusion of other cases. The project will be a testbed for emerging digital preservation techniques, such as 3D depth sensing and laser scanning, and a generator of critical perspectives. The candidate will work with Madrid-based Factum Foundation for Digital Technology in Conservation in preparing and performing the recording and production of a high-end facsimile of the Urnes north portal, and with OCCAS faculty in organizing an exhibition that includes this facsimile and the still existing casts from the 1907 casting operation from museums across Europe, as well as a book.
Enquiries about this position should be directed to Professor Mari Lending
Position 2: Phd; Domesticating Antiquity
(Institute of Form Theory and History)
AHO’s Institute of Form, Theory and History invites applicants for a PhD position linked to the prospective interdisciplinary research project Domesticating Antiquity. A collaboration between The University of Oslo, AHO, and the National Museum, Domesticating Antiquity will study the appropriation of Antiquity in 19th-century Norway. The project will look at three areas: education (the Latin schools); literature (the translation of Greek and Latin classics); and architecture. This particular PhD position is part of the architecture work package and will examine the conflicting uses of the classical tradition in 19th century architecture. We want to study the paradoxical ways Antiquity was appropriated to bolster an emerging national culture, but also the way “the classical” served as source of historical continuity, a means for cultural renewal, and a vehicle for international exchange. We are particularly interested in the way classicism, as an architectural lingua franca, contributed to shaping the architectural profession, allowing for a lively migration of architects and craftsmen across Europe. We ask for applications that by means of a well-defined historical material explore these issues, and particularly encourage projects that draw on the archive of 19th-century architectural drawings at the Norwegian National Museum.
Enquiries about this position should be directed to Professor Mari Hvattum
Position 3: Design Aesthetics
(Institute of Design)
The Institute of Design at The Oslo School of Architecture and Design announces a fully funded PhD position for the period 2021-2024/2025 with a research theme of digital aesthetics. The aim of the PhD research is to contribute to a contemporary discourse on aesthetics for and in design research, education and practice.
Interactive, digital design practices are increasingly relevant and influential across all design disciplines, but its aesthetics is under-researched in relation to design practice and pedagogy. Due to this, our call asks for research proposals that will examine and develop the field of applied aesthetics for design researchers and practitioners across interactive digital design - applied aesthetics as it deals with situating aesthetics theory and principles for design processes. The PhD must be able to position aesthetic practice and analysis in a cultural and theoretical landscape that crosses over a range of design disciplines.
We envisage a mixed method approach aligned to the current research at the interaction design group - supported by strict case methodology - supervised by the group’s project leaders. These methods will be both specific to the PhD fellow’s design investigations as well as relevant cases from ongoing research projects at the institute (e.g. Ocean Industries Concept Lab, Digital Urban Living, Perform project - see designresearch.no). We welcome proposals that are able to inquire into the state of art performance of aesthetic practice, within the frame of multidisciplinary design.
The PhD would be situated with the interaction design group at IDE which is actively researching across a wide set of topics - The Centre for Design Research: designresearch.no. As such the PhD will engage across the Institute, where we see a need for aesthetic-led enquiries and articulations.
The PhD could include themes such as:
Aesthetics for experience and engagement
Aesthetics for information visualization
Aesthetics for digital services
Aesthetics for multimodal interaction
Aesthetics for specialised contexts such as commercial or public services, health or maritime
Aesthetic evaluation, critique and theory for developing practice
Enquiries about this position should be directed to the supervisors:
Associate Professor Lise Amy Hansen (LiseAmy.Hansen@aho.no)
Professor Kjetil Nordby (Kjetil.Nordby@aho.no)
Associate Professor Einar Sneve Martinussen (EinarSneve.Martinussen@aho.no)
Position 4: Arctic Resource Network
(Institute of Urbanism and Landscape)
Project description
We call for a practice-based PhD in landscape architecture aimed at developing a local resource network in an Arctic community, specifically dealing with food or other local resources such as recycled building material. The PhD should be based in community-directed approaches such as action research practices and in design methodologies such as transition and systems design, and steered by strategic design thinking. The PhD project combines expertice from cultural heritage, landscape architecture and architecture. With knowledge of the current academic and practical body of work shaping coastal development in the Arctic, it looks specifically at the communities of Vardø or Longyearbyen, where the project Circular, Balanced and Shared has its focus and intervention practices, rooted in emerging theories on circular design, and based in a strong connection to local entrepreneurs and municipalities.
The PhD project is sensitive to social initiatives, needs and enterprises, and aware of both materialities and people as local resources. The project reflects landscape architecture as a strategic tool for place development founded in care for the qualities of place, for landscape-driven practices and design/systems thinking on a local scale. The research requires extended periods of fieldwork at the chosen location. Applicants should name relevant local partners.
The candidate should have experience from working across fields, and with tools for representation of landscape-driven design potential. Candidates must demonstrate good academic writing skills.
Questions regarding the position may be addressed to Janike Kampevold Larsen (janike.larsen@aho.no) or Even Smith-Wergeland (Even.Smith.Wergeland@aho.no).