Mark Robert Mansfield
ARCHITECT MAGNUS POULSSON (1881–1958) -
THE PLIGHT OF NORWEGIAN MODERNISM
SUPERVISORS:
Mari Hvattum, Eve Blau, Harvard
University Graduate School of Design
Architect Magnus Poulsson (1881–1958) is one of the
primary figures in the history of 20th century archi-
tecture in Norway. This thesis demonstrates that Pouls-
son’s designation as a ‘national romantic’, when explic-
itly considered as counter to either modern expression
or modern ideals, should not be sustained. The research
presents a historical turn degradin the status of “nation-
al romanticism” in Norway and Poulsson’s relationship
to defining progressive practice. This study both calls
for a specific reassessment of Poulsson’s influence in his
own time and, more generally, a reconsideration of the
influence of his romantic practices on the history and
theory of Norwegian modernism.
Natalie Hope O’Donnell
SPACE AS CURATORIAL PRACTICE: EXHIBITION
ARCHITECTURE
FUNDERS:
NORWEGIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
THROUGH PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT
SUPERVISORS:
Thordis Arrhenius and Mark Cousins,
Architectural Association
This research project looks at the spatial dimension
of curatorial practice as it is known today, drawing on
the architecture of selected exhibitions from the 1970s.
The dissertation examines how exhibitions have been
conceptualized in the 20
th
century, the relationship
between curators and exhibition architects/designers,
and argues that spatial orchestration is an important
aspect in the nascent history of exhibition-making,
which the discourse has tended to overlook.
Christian Parreno
BOREDOM AND SPACE: EPISODES OF
ARCHITECTURAL THOUGHT
FUNDERS:
NORWEGIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL
THROUGH PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT
SUPERVISORS: Mari Lending, AHO, and Iain Borden,
University College London
Boredom appears as cause and effect of the cycle of
innovation – as the disaffection with the old that drives
the search for the new. As such, it is often defined as a
negative reaction to the offerings of the environment.
Its qualities are not exclusive of the ‘boring’ object or
the ‘bored’ subject but constitute a critical relation that
exposes an involuntary deficit of meaning. Boredom is
a condition of space framed within the specificity of
the modern era. Through the analysis and interrelation
of philosophical, literary and architectural texts,
this research creates a historical axis to expose the
permeation of boredom in architectural thought since
the mid-19th century.
Even Smith Wergeland
FROM UTOPIA TO REALITY – THE MOTORWAY
AS A WORK OF ART
FUNDERS:
NORWEGIAN RESEARCH COUNCIL,
THROUGH ROUTES, ROADS AND LANDSCAPES
SUPERVISOR: Mari Hvattum
The thesis deals with the visualization of urban mobil-
ity in architecture and urbanism in the postwar period.
Through an exploration of empirical material ranging
frommunicipal plans to artistic motorway representa-
tions, it shows how seemingly remote disciplines are
connected through a complicated exchange of images
across time and space. As the focal point of this mobile
imagery, the motorway made the leap from utopia to
reality in far more sophisticated ways than previously
acknowledged.
AHO WORKS RESEARCH 2012
OCCAS
