The Island Reader

The AA Visiting School Lyngør takes place on an island off the southern tip of Norway. A rocky outcrop in the North Sea, Lyngør Island is challenging to domesticate. An intriguing formal language has developed out the necessity to straddle such arduous terrain. As a result, building and landscape are interlocked, creating an imaginative range of spatial and material compositions. Over centuries, houses have huddled together to shelter one another from the chilling winds, thunderous waves and white light. From this, Lyngør evolved a richly textured vernacular tapestry. Once a buzzing hub of international trade, Lyngør is now a quiet village of 80 inhabitants. Houses were built from materials salvaged from those in decay or out of fashion. Timber was cannibalized, foundations re-laid - residues of the past can be read in every surface.

The programme develops the role of the architect as one not only focused on ‘the new’ but on meaningfully responding to the existing. Students will study the relationship between historical precedent and proposed architectural interventions, looking at Lyngør’s distinct built environment as it battles with changing social, environmental, political and cultural currents. The workshop explores key threads of Nordic architecture, as well as those of a small island community.

Embedded within the Norwegian psyche is the compulsion to inhabit the natural landscape. Architecture is moulded by a climate that forces clear boundaries between inside and outside. Students will explore these tensions in the work of modern Scandinavian architects and the vernacular of Lyngør Island. 

At the outset of the workshop, students will be introduced to strands of Norwegian culture through discussions with contemporary artists, local artisans, builders, educators, historians and architects. Excursions will take students to see a range of Norway’s architectural heritage from Stave churches to the poetic modernism of Sverre Fehn.

Once settled in Lyngør, students will engage with the survey as a key tool of the architect. Surveying allows the quantification and measurement of the world around us, enabling architectural intervention. Adopting the role of archaeologists, anthropologists, editors, and architects, students will develop their own readings of the physical, social, historical and topographical aspects of island life. They will be challenged to record history and memory as well as space and construction. An introduction will be given to the history of instrumentation for the navigation of sea and land, drawing inspiration from tools such as the astrolabe, the telescope and the compass. Learning from traditional techniques of measurement and cartography, students will design ways quantifying and representing the Island through the conception of their own instruments and tools. 

The subjective gaze of the individual shapes the way in which we measure and defines what we choose to record. Lyngør Island is the microcosm from which students will conduct their readings. The culmination of this year’s Visiting School will be the compilation of students’ work into an Island Reader - a multivalent encapsulation of the Island.

The Island Reader will capture networks that define human inhabitation on the island. Through the selective process of observing and recording, we will produce a collection of scenes that inherently propose speculative narratives. Students will work individually and in teams to uncover the hidden layers of the island. Topics of investigation will include territorial demarcations, relationships and memory, rights of way and view, systems of utility and services, providence of materials, street-scape, interiors and the exterior. Students will record and transcribe their observations through drawings, photographs and models - oscillating between observing, documenting, and interpreting. The selection of subjects describe the island as the sum of its parts - an edit of scenes which when taken together constitute The Island Reader.

Applications

Please apply by completing the online application found under ‘Links and Downloads’ on the AA Visiting School page or by following the links below. If you are not able to make an online application, email [email protected] for instructions to pay by bank transfer.

Once you complete the online application and make a full payment, you are registered to the programme.

Deadline for application will be 11th of July 2015, however, we do suggest applying early as places for the workshop are limited to 15 participants and may fill up before this date.

Fees
The AA Visiting School requires a fee of £1000 per participant, which includes a £60 visiting membership fee and accommodation in Oslo and on Lyngor. For details of Visiting Member benefits please click here. If you are already a member, the total fee will be reduced automatically by £60 by the online payment system. If you wish to enhance your membership, a Subscribing Membership is available at an additional £70 (£130 in total), full details of which can be found at: https://www.aaschool.ac.uk/MEMBERSHIP/JOIN/becomeamember.php

Fees include tuition, full accommodation in Oslo and on Lyngor Island, private transportation for excursions by car and boat. Workshop materials and tools are also coved by tuition fees. If you are a resident in of Norway and do not require accommodation during your stay in Oslo, the price of the workshop will be reduced from £1000 to £925.
Flights to Oslo are not included.

Students need to bring their own laptops, digital equipment and model making tools. Please ensure this equipment is covered by your own insurance as the AA takes no responsibility for items lost or stolen.

Directors’ Biographies
Amandine Kastler is a London based Architect. She studied at Architectural Association, graduating with Honours in 2010. Amandine’s student work focused on rethinking architecture as less an issue of objects to shape, and more about interiors, experiences and events to inhabit. She was awarded multiple prizes including the RIBA Bronze Medal and her work has been internationally published and exhibited. Amandine worked at OMA/AMO Rotterdam on the Hermitage Masterplan before joining David Chippefield Architects in 2010. Projects include the restoration and reconstruction of an 18th century, Grade II* listed townhouse in Soho and a chapel and visitors building for a cemetery near Osaka Japan.

Erlend Skjeseth is an Oslo based architect and graduated from the Architectural Association in 2010 after studying Art History at the University of Oslo. Erlend’s student work focused on the materiality of the city and alternative programming of dense urban sites. He has previous experience from working at David Chipperfield Architects and AOC in London, with emphasis on working on civic and cultural buildings in historically sensitive contexts. Erlend currently works for Jarmund/Vigsnæs Architects in Oslo. Projects include the new government area of Oslo and experimental timber constructions in various scales.

Alexander Laing is a Designer working for Heatherwick studio in London. He graduated from the Architectural Association in 2012 with photographic explorations into darkness, mythology and landscape. He went on to assist the photographer Robi Rodriguez with featured work in Dazed and Confused, The New York Times and Gentlewoman before joining Heatherwick Studio. Projects include a public sculpture in New York, a public park in Abu Dhabi and extensive material research.

For more information please visit website

> via lyngor.aaschool.ac.uk