The project consists of a series of experiments, discussing building as a process - the birth, decay, and the end of the modern building, as a recognition of the impermanence of built structure. The thesis investigates the ‘Modern’ typology of ruins with a particular focus upon the last twenty years in Oslo, and the fragments and scenes of abandonment and destruction in urban and industrial areas that have occurred in this context. Rather than finding programmatic solutions, the project explores ‘preservation as experiment’, through sampling 70 sites and collecting evidence and forming an archive. This thesis seeks to shift the frame of discussion of historical ruins through a consideration of a ruin's relation to the contemporary paradigm.