AHO WORKS STUDIES 2012-2013
Diploma Projects
Master of Architecture
SEREMONI / DEMOKRATI – INVESTIGATING THE POTENTIAL
OF THE COURTHOUSE
NINA MARIE FJOSE AND ANNELINE KONRADSEN
Supervisors: Beate Marie Hølmebakk, Christine Petersen and
Andrea Pinochet
In Norway, the courthouse is not only the place for mediation,
trial and punishment - but also a space where civil marriages are
performed. In one room, someone is getting a prison sentence
while in the next a couple is celebrating.
With this in mind, we wanted to explore the potential of the
ceremonial spaces of the courthouse, and the spaces for life
in-between ceremonies.
We discuss the courthouse as “the city within the city”; a net-
work which offers spaces for all the different characters in their
contrasting situations - the judge, the defendant, the witnesses,
the newlyweds, supporting friends and families.
The ground floor is the public floor. The concrete structure
creates some closed containers for certain functions. In-between
the containers, is the waiting area, a continuous space with dif-
ferent zones for different modes. The in-between space is where
people are happy, bored, and nervous. It’s where they wait, cele-
brate, and hide. It is where they listen, observe or share secrets.
