| dc.description | This land is not for sale intervenes in an ongoing construction site situated in the municipality of Bamble, using a newly established road as focal point for discussing alternative development options. By examining the conflict inherent to any built structure established in a natural landscape, this diploma seeks to explore the interplay between an architectural outcome and a certain political and cultural locus.
A forest named Bunestoppen is the chosen site for the case study, embodying a landscape marked by several traces of human activities over the years. Treating the new construction site as a monument of the past, the project opposes the extensive planned development at the Langesund Peninsula. In the fictional alternative scenario, the infrastructure intended for private development is transformed from private assets to better benefit the existing local community. The diploma explores an architecture for neighborhood activities, placing trust on the locals to function as committed caretakers for the forest, as they have been for many years before the new building process began.
Organizing the existing discussion about the forest into theoretical actors assists a further analysis by distinguishing the architect’s role as an actor - who or what does the architect represent? Thus, professional judgements in complex situations are brought up for evaluation. Despite calls from various actors to protect the area through nature conservation acts, it was instead subject to a municipal regulation plan involving a new double-lane road, accommodating 120 new housing units and a fire station. These plans disrupt the existing use of the forest for leisure activities and as a favorable commuting route between home, school and workplace on foot or bicycle. Local politicians, however, are of conviction that the area benefits from new housing development potentially increasing municipal incomes from land sales and preventing excessive moving - a potential investment for the future of Bamble municipality.
The built proposal in the speculative scenario takes the form of a structure placed amid a landscape of felled trees and blasted rocks, seeking to emphasize alternatives to extensive building in the forest areas while pedagogically acknowledging the human impact, seeking not to hide or cover up the various traces of human activity. At the same time, the project proposes alternative built functions based on the neighborhood’s needs, using the remnants of the development. By offering a public space with an outdoor kitchen and restrooms, as well as flexible spaces for different activities, the aim is to take the neighborhood and their everyday life into greater consideration.
Investigating the spatial potential of ongoing construction sites, the diploma seeks to discuss the process of decision-making, examining not only what we decide to build and how, but also what we refrain from constructing. Exploring alternative solutions in the existing scenario, the diploma offers a new future for the forest where the plots are never sold. Instead, the project elaborates the purpose of new infrastructure to better consider various impacted actors - tentatively seeking to soften the local conflict, while gaining insight into a sensitive, but highly relevant topic for planning our built environment. What public spatial potential does an ongoing road construction have, and how can a broader value system be implemented? | en_US |
