There is a fluid multiplicity of vibrant, interlinked but distinct research groups
at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design.
AHO Works Research
takes on
the task of describing that culture. How then to describe the complexity? The
first in the series makes the simplest of cross sections, asking AHO’s three es-
tablished and one imminent research centres to describe themselves and their
agendas. The central section presents the Centre for Design Research; the Oslo
Centre for Critical Architectural Studies (OCCAS); the Research Centre for Ar-
chitecture and Tectonics (RCAT); and the work fromUrbanism and Landscape.
AHO’s research centres create identity and focus for researchers with a wide
scope of investigation. Where then is AHO’s common research culture? We
think that communality exists when intense and focused research discussion is
aired in a broader context. Accordingly,
AHOWorks Research 2012
commences
with a section on Impact, Dissemination and Events. The common research
culture is also articulated, and can be articulated more strongly, through AHO’s
PhD Programme, again described in the first section.
AHO Works Research
grew out of the tradition to list the annual research
production made by faculty members and guest researchers at AHO each year.
The function of this printed list is changing. From a document of record used to
report research activity into the national and international academic database,
the printed catalogue is becoming a descriptive document that has the potential
to communicate research, rather than reporting it.
AHO Works Research
will
work with the question of how this changed role should effect the catalogue
in the future. For 2012, the first (and significant) change is to focus on research
production or communication where what is produced can be defined as a work
in itself. Thus the AHO Research Works Catalogue includes peer-reviewed
publications, academic and professional publications, research publication in
society, artistic works and patents.
To profile AHO through its research centres is important, but no single cross
section can describe fully an interesting and complex assembly. In future years
AHO Works Research
will aim to develop that description highlighting artistic
research, the evolving forms of research dissemination and the interrelation
between research and disciplinary education.
Tim Anstey, November 2013
Note from the Editor
