The Architecture of the Urban Project
Abstract
“The Architecture of the Urban Project” is about large-scale architecture in
Norway. Projects that potentially fall into this category are those that blur the
distinction between the city and the building, more specifically projects such
as new universities, urban redevelopments and waterfront transformations.
Usually, such projects have one investor (either public or private) and
consist of several building volumes developed in stages, where each stage is
interdependent of the totality, being able to function both on its own and within
the framework of the whole project.
The research addresses how large-scale architecture evolved from the late
1960s up to the early 1980s in Norway. From the societal perspective, this
period represents shifting economic, political and technological realities. The
post-war reconstruction had ended; the process of modernization had made
itself increasingly present, and the process of democratization had become
gradually more absorbed within the framework of decision-making, especially
within the planning and building sector with the new building law of 1965. From
the architecture culture perspective, it is the period of critique of modernism,
representing the emergence of interest for the traditional (European) city as
explicated through the processes of revitalization and densification. Working
within and learning from the existing urban context would emerge both as a
constraint and as a source of inspiration for practicing architects.
The research revolves around the question: to what degree does a specific
type of architectural and urbanistic sensibility emerge due to the changing
societal condition and its subsequent (large-scale) building assignments in
the above-mentioned period? The notion of sensibility refers to interplay
between a general architectural and urbanistic discourse on one side, and
architects’ ability both to comprehend complexities around and within building
assignments, and to translate these complexities into physical structures, on
the other side.
The primary source for this study is large-scale projects in Norway:
Henning Larsen’s University of Trondheim, Platou’s Vaterland and Telje-TorpAasen’s
Aker Brygge. In other words, this research is a monograph about one
particular type of projects within one specific period.