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Designing in Complexity : A Systems Oriented Design Approach to Improving the Case Handling of Financial Assistance in Oslo
Full text linkWhat?
This thesis presents how systems oriented design has been integrated into design
practice by us – three service designers in the digitalization agency Oslo Origo at
the municipality of Oslo. The thesis follows a specific project which is about finding
out how to streamline the case handling of financial assistance, a public welfare
service. Throughout the text, we highlight the contributions and limitations of using
systems oriented design while working with the project. We end our reflections by
supplementing Selvaldsons (2022) suggested shifts in mindset, bringing more attention
to the humbleness, courage and emergence we have encountered in SOD, in order to
move towards a more systemic approach in design.
Why us?
As in-house service designers at Oslo Origo, we are often asked to facilitate
exploratory processes. As students of systems oriented design we are furthermore
curious to explore how to apply our learnings about systems in our design practice.
Financial assistance is one of the most complex welfare services in the public sector of
Norway and our assumption is that systems oriented design can contribute to improve
the service in holistic ways.
Why is it relevant?
We live in a time where we experience the after effects of interconnected global crises:
Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine have led to inflation and a high influx of refugees
to Norway. This has increased the demand and expenses for financial assistance in
Norway by more than 10% in 2022 (Souri & Grebstad, 2023; SSB, 2023). To cope
with this, the public sector seeks responses. Streamlining services is seen as a way
to free up time for case handling with the ultimate goal of providing better assistance
to help people out of the service as quickly as possible. However, due to the complex
landscape this is not an easy task.submittedVersio
A New Chapter
No full textDoes everything have to turn grey when we grow old?
Freedom of movement, daily routines and social activities have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. Many of us will in the future experience having these essential elements needed to live a fulfilling life taken away from us. Assistive devices give us the freedom to continue living our lives to the fullest. Unfortunately, some in need of assistive devices decline the offer due to fear of social stigmatization.
Rollators are one of our most visible assistive devices. It’s rather large, and it’s a device you typically would bring with you into the public arena. For many, it’s a product that must always be by your side and in your direct visibility. Through this project, I have explored and conceptualized new means we can use in the design process of rollators to motivate more people to see its value and use it, as a tool meant to give the freedom to carry on, with pride.
All our future selves will sooner or later become dependent on some sort of assistive device. We should start debating what we would like our futures to be like, not tomorrow but now.submittedVersio
Windbreak Framework: Landscape design informed by the atmospheric movement
Full text linkA landscape framework proposal is tested on the agricultural farmland of Ørland peninsula based on
local wind patterns. The framework is developed using the principles from different state manuals
and books. The guide plan aims to increase agricultural productivity, boost the biodiversity in the
today monocultural farmland, strengthen the sense of seasonality and increase aesthetical values of
the landscape. Helping people understand where they live and how they can be an active part of the
processes of nature and society.submittedVersio
Re-value Textile waste
No full textTextile is being produced in huge amounts and with that textile waste is also produced. Often products made from textile waste are made as a statement about the overconsumption of textiles, but not to end up in someone’s home. My hypothesis was that it needs to start with the industry, this project therefore explores the question: How can textile waste become a valued resource in the industry and in the end valued products in our homes?
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After talks with three furniture companies - LK Hjelle, Ekornes and Jensen - and by establishing a framework from Scandinavian design this project came to life. Through categorizing different manufacturing methods for textile waste in (1) Mikro, (2) Meso and (3) Makro, this project gives a holistic view of what textile waste can become for the furniture companies. Through an extensive ideation phase exploring 5 different concepts utilizing different manufacturing methods suitable for textile waste, this project showcases an archive of the potentials. In the end exemplifying Re-value Textile waste with 3 feasible concept designs showing some of the possibilities for the furniture industry. This project does not only explore different manufacturing methods, it also gives an overview of how these products can be industrialized, by taking examples from real issues these furniture companies are facing, as well as showcasing potentials of inclusive work when it comes to textiles as a handcraft.
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Through an evaluation of the 5 ideation concepts and placing each of the chosen concepts in a 3. party company context (company upcycling for other companies); this project concluded with: The Thread Lamp, The Off-cuts pouf and the complementing Headboard and cushions. Re-value Textile waste results in unique handcrafted products, showcasing how the industry could utilize their textile waste better. With this textiles get a prolonged life and it creates potential new income for the furniture companies, diverting the waste from landfills and giving the consumers uniquely handcrafted products.submittedVersio
Patchwork
No full textPatchwork envisions a redevelopment of Carlsentomta, an abandoned greyfield in the harbor of Sandefjord. With preservation and transformation as key tools, the project aims to create a diverse and engaging mixed-use environment that honors local history and character, challenging the conventional approach to greyfield.
Located in the center of Sandefjord harbor, for decades, Carlsentomta bustled with activity related to the maritime industries. In the early 1900s, the level of activity reached its peak, as Sandefjord played a major role in the industrial whaling industry. At this time, the site functioned as the local hub of timber supplies to the shipyards. Moving into the late 1900s and the 2000s, however, industrial whaling was (thankfully) suspended. Consequently, most industrial activity in Sandefjord harbor either downscaled or moved out of the town. As the harbor gradually adapted from the secondary to the tertiary sector, Carlsentomta provided a timber warehouse/hardware store and a gas station. Eventually, these activities also proved unfeasible in what was now becoming a largely post-industrial harbor. Carlsentomta has been an abandoned question mark along the waterfront for the last decade.
Of course, sites like this are not unique to Sandefjord. Abandoned greyfields like Carlsentomta have become a familiar sight in towns all over Norway, where industrial activity has lost relevance or is now undesired. A patchwork of abandoned industrial buildings can usually be found within sites like these. Carlsentomta contains two large steel frame storage halls, a timber frame storage hall, and a collection of pitched roof timber and masonry buildings of different sizes. While their aesthetics and conditions vary, most developers would consider them of little value – if any at all.
As a result, all the buildings are to be demolished in the latest redevelopment proposal from the local building developers and Sandefjord municipality. In fact, none of the buildings were even considered preserved or transformed. The remaining spaces are either to be occupied with semiprivate green spaces or new and generic one- to two-story buildings with privatized commercial spaces. This is not an uncommon practice for sites and buildings of this manner, but considering we are dealing with a climate crisis where the building industry is responsible for approximately 40% of global carbon emissions, surely preservation and transformation should at least be considered an option worth exploring.
However, this is not the only issue. The aesthetics and programs of the proposal have generated an uproar among the people of Sandefjord. In the local newspaper, people have expressed concerns about the buildings’ alienation and criticized the proposal for its generic appearance, which they believe lacks local character. Additionally, they argue that the proposed program, which privatizes the site with identical apartments and generic commercial spaces, offers little value to the local community at such a central and significant site in Sandefjord – one directly adjacent to the waterfront in the south and the oldest part of the town in the north.
It must be pointed out that this engagement has not appeared in a vacuum. In the eastern part of town, the inhabitants have experienced firsthand how the high-rising, generic-looking apartment blocks of recent years have created windy, shadowy, and generally undesirable urban spaces. Furthermore, a connection could be drawn to the nationwide uproar of Arkitekturopprøret, which has engaged people by the thousands in recent years, expressing similar dissatisfaction over contemporary architecture and urbanism.
To address these concerns, the scope of my diploma project is to develop a comprehensive plan and vision for the site of Carlsentomta that provides a diverse and dynamic public program in mixed-use buildings. This includes residential units alongside spaces for art, culture, culinary experiences, performance venues, co-working, workshops, green areas, and other similar amenities. Establishing how the site reacts to the adjacent features of the town, like the main road crossing through the area, the waterfront, and the neighboring area of 19th-century houses, has also been significant. The main aim of my diploma, however, is to challenge the conventional approaches to greyfield redevelopment in Norwegian towns by applying an alternative working method. In my approach, the notion of preservation and transformation is not overlooked but, on the contrary, used as the fundamental tool to drive the project forward. In this way, my project is to become the counterpart to the previous regulations and proposals and exhibit the neglected, forgotten, or undiscovered possibilities in building upon the provenance of the site and projecting it forward. Consequently, this determined a collection of preconditions for the area’s architecture and urban structure.
My role as an architect has been to maneuver within these preconditions with architectural additions, subtractions, and reorganizations, enabling the patchwork of the past to collide with the patchwork of new ideas and programs. Like how the former alley for gathering timber supplies becomes a pleasant way to pass through, maybe stopping for a snack. Or how the main road crossing the site is kept in place in order to preserve and keep costs down but is transformed into a shared space street – integrating areas for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists into one unified space, which promotes mutual awareness and slower speeds. Or how the preservation of the wall with the Sandefjord mural enables the creation of an inner square for the inhabitants of the city. I hypothesize that the utilization of this methodology has created an architecture that is not only more distinctive but also more deeply rooted in its locale. The act of colliding patchwork uncovers the unique qualities of the existing structures and sustainably offers a more diverse collection of spaces that encourages an engaging urbanity to greyfields in small towns like Sandefjord
Avalanche-scape
Full text linkThis diploma explores an innovative landscape design approach for mitigating avalanche risks in coastal villages in North Norway, mainly focusing on the northeastern coast of Senja, where traditional methods have proven to be ecologically and culturally disruptive. The increasing frequency and severity of avalanches, exacerbated by climate change, necessitate sustainable protection measures.
Traditional avalanche defenses, such as large protective walls, offer efficient and quantifiable risk mitigation but at the cost of altering the landscape’s character, ecology, and cultural heritage. In contrast, the proposed design leverages natural landscape features and ecological processes to create a dynamic, integrated avalanche protection system. This approach emphasizes ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction (Eco-DRR), which aligns with sustainable development goals by conserving, restoring, and managing ecosystems to mitigate disaster risks.
The design methodology begins with a detailed analysis of the landscape, considering historical transformations and the existing ecological and cultural values. The strategy includes three main stages:collecting guiding models from similar projects, testing these models through simulations, synthesizing the results into a cohesive spatial concept
The core elements of the design involve:Wooded Stripes: Rows of trees are strategically placed to slow avalanche velocity by emphasizing the terrain’s concave shapes and considering surface hydrology patterns to determine spacing.
Deflecting Structures: Wooden walls and tripods are positioned to deflect and further slow avalanches while minimizing disturbance to the surrounding woodlands.
Morphological Changes: Terrain modifications direct avalanche flows and meltwater, creating new waterways and pathways that enhance both safety and hydrological dynamics.
This multi-faceted approach enhances safety, ecological diversity, and aesthetic value, fostering a dynamic landscape that benefits residents and visitors. By recognizing and managing avalanche disturbances as ecological succession events, the design promotes woodland regeneration, increasing biodiversity and ecological resilience.
Overall, the project aims to establish a prototype for a large-scale, landscape-integrated avalanche protection system. This approach provides an alternative to conventional infrastructure, creating a dynamic and engaging environment that maintains and enhances the region’s ecological and cultural integrity while ensuring long-term safety and sustainability.submittedVersio
According to the Sun
Full text linkHow to make a building in urban context more responsive to sunlight and encourage a lifestyle that adapts to the daily and seasonal rhythms of Sun?
In urban settings, architecture is highly reliant on artificial lightning, creating environments where people are overexposed to it. This overexposure disrupts circadian rhythms, contributing to both mental and physical health issues.
This project explores how sunlight can shape architecture and make it more adapted to the natural solar cycle and mitigating the negative effects of artificial lightning. An urban rooftop dwelling in Oslo serves as the test site for these investigations.
Investigations were made using technical tools and physical modeling to distribute light according to volume uses.
Light exists because of darkness, and darkness because of light. The dark corridor serves as the central and unifying element of the project. Moving from a darker space to a brighter one makes the latter feel even more luminous.
This dark space, through which residents pass to change rooms, acts as a visual reset, enhancing the clarity of perception in the next room. The corridor has almost no doors, allowing the ever-changing lighting of the adjacent bright rooms to directly influence and transform the corridor’s illumination, serving as a natural guide.
In this empty and dark space, changes in light become more vivid and striking, offering residents opportunities for small, unexpected discoveries.
Creating specific light zones determined by function, with varying light conditions, as opposed to a general average lighting condition, brings the desired daylight qualities to the space. This approach fosters a closer relationship with daylight and the sun’s cycles. The goal to use natural light as efficiently as possible, influences the architectural appearance.
In this project, ‘sunlight’ refers to all light originating from the Sun, including direct sunlight, skylight, reflected light, and moonlight.
In modern life, it is naturally impossible to eliminate artificial lighting from all aspects of daily existence. However, when work, shopping, dining and everything else are accessible beyond the home, residential spaces have the potential to become a temple of daylight—places where individuals can restore their mental and physical well-being.
By reducing reliance on artificial lighting and shifting toward naturally light-based conditions, architectural design has the potential to become a tool promoting lifestyles according to the Sun.submittedVersio
Space to Hope - a story of imagining kind places the production of joy
No full textThis diploma works within the present condition of practicing architecture in a world of rapid change, a world that is starting to feel claustrophobic and apocalyptic, making it easy to feel lost and overwhelmed by the vastness of uncertainties we are confronted with everyday. While global challenges undeniably demand substantial solutions, the scope of things I, as one individual, can influence through architecture being small compared to the chaos of this world feels intimidating. This is why I see the need for a positive turn-around of the catastrophe-scenario that is usually portrayed, ways to approach the future with hope and believing in an imagination of a better world.
The work tries to answer how I can find hope and meaning through architecture in a world of chaos and uncertainties and how we can imagine a better future through an architecture of kindness. Something very deep, profound but also personal lies at the bottom of the answers to these questions. The world I imagine is filled with joy, happiness and kindness and I find the hope for this by being joyful, happy and kind through my work. Kind to myself and kind to others, whereby the use of the term ‘others’ will never exclude anything non-human, but rather include anything and everything I share the world with. The investigation of what a kind place is or can be and how the production of space and experience can be used to communicate happiness and joy manifests itself in a dialogue between me and my work using different methods, always accompanied by intuition. While the discoveries from the act of making continuously inform further development, things also take on a life of their own and the joy of the process lies within the trust that the answers I am seeking are already there, hiding behind the obscurity of finding the right questions to ask. Within this, a fundamental part of creating what is kind is the joy of the architectural process itself, the joy of making.
The project tells the story of imagining kind places in eight chapters: A Manifesto for Hope, The Atlas of Happiness, Translating kindness, The landscape I imagine, The scale of touch, A dialogue between me and my work, The production of joy and Epilogue. Each chapter discusses kindness through different media and scale. A 1:1 exploration was included in ‘The scale of touch’.
The project concludes in the introduction of three architectural projects (‘The production of joy’) on different sites in Oslo, each relating back to the exploratory process in their own way. ‘To catch the wind’ is a structure welcoming the wind bringing the cold from the North at the end of autumn, ‘To encounter presence’ is a reproduction of a personal experience in the form of an architecture encouraging the human-non-human encounter and ‘To make a place’ intervenes with the urban fabric by supporting and reacting to existing structures found on site. Each of the three projects produces kindness at different scales, from the meteorological to a subtle intervention in the urban fabric.
About catching the wind: “I have not found an answer to the question of where exactly the wind starts, but there comes a moment when the wind that travels from far away meets my structure, the moment it touches the fabric suspended from the arch. It is like the wind becomes visible, blowing through the arch that stands still and strong, waiting to catch and welcome the wind from the north to bring the cold.”
About encountering presence: “It fosters kindness by offering space for human-non-human encounters with the placement in an area rich in the presence of non-humans. Here, the non-human does not only include the living ecosystems but all elements of existence. The uncontrollable nature of these encounters contributes to the richness of the experience, affecting the energy of the place and creating moments of wonder and joy.”
About making a place: “It is an intervention so subtle that one might or might not notice while walking past. A quiet invitation to be and connect, sharing a moment of kindness resonating with the place or others present, human or non-human.
Everything I have experienced through this work has helped me realise my voice as part of an important discussion more present and louder than I could have imagined, in architecture and beyond. A discussion to which I want to contribute with this diploma, finding a way through the chaos with hope, because there is so much space to hope!submittedVersio
Reinstating Kvadraturen. Adaptive Reuse of Non-Protected Buildings
No full textThis diploma explores a strategic approach to transforming non-protected buildings in the historic city centre of Oslo, Kvadraturen, with the primary goal of further activating the area. It is an exploratory study that relies on a comprehensive understanding of the area to identify common challenges and possibilities. These opportunities will be addressed through simple interventions in a selected group of buildings. My vision is that the principles behind these experiments can serve as examples of transforming other non-protected buildings in Kvadraturen, as well as providing flexible solutions for the more complex, protected ones, which often require a tailored approach. Furthermore, the insights from this diploma could be applicable to other areas facing similar challenges and opportunities.
Today, what is considered ideal and aesthetically pleasing is often the old classical architecture from before the 20th century, while buildings deemed unattractive or worthless are typically modern structures built after World War I. However, we cannot selectively decide which historic buildings to preserve. It is crucial to take these “unwanted” buildings seriously, as they form a significant part of Kvadraturen’s urban fabric. By reimagining the mostly introverted and often overlooked buildings, we can create spaces with new qualities and functions that complement the existing urban landscape. In my pre-diploma, I explored protected areas and the challenges of balancing future development with the preservation of cultural values. Further research led me to focus on non-protected buildings within protected areas (kulturmiljøer), an often overlooked opportunity.
These buildings are easier to transform, offering a more predictable process that can accelerate the reactivation of Kvadraturen.
Kvadraturen needs activity throughout all parts of the day, and residential housing may be the most crucial factor to initiate this. Currently, there are only 1260 inhabitants in the area. In this diploma, I have chosen to explore the potential for residential use combined with social programs, as these functions can both demand and support one another. However, simply adding housing will not be enough to further revitalize the area. Equally important is for example how the area is organized and how architectural interventions in the public space are addressed. This diploma does not aim to provide a comprehensive solution but instead focuses on interventions that can have the greatest impact.
Kvadraturen is a complex urban fabric, with buildings spanning five centuries, making it an almost stagnant and conflicted area, with stakeholders pushing their priority issues, ranging from cultural preservation to progressive evolution. One of the key factors contributing to its perception as an inert area is its fragmented ownership structure. While transforming a single building can have a limited impact on the area as a whole, collaboration among stakeholders and across multiple buildings holds the potential to achieve significantly greater results. This includes not only the improved qualities of individual buildings, but also their collective impact as nodes within Kvadraturen’s broader urban fabric.
This diploma presents a chronological, step-by-step method for approaching transformation. Rather than attempting to transform everything at once, the process unfolds gradually. By being realistic and responsive to demand, one could adapt more effectively and further accelerate the area’s activation.
The case study focuses on a cluster of four non-protected office buildings in the southwestern part of Kvadraturen, centered around a shared courtyard. Among the approximately 313 buildings in the area, 57 are non-protected, making this group particularly significant. The selected case study will illustrate how targeted interventions can activate both the buildings and the area.
STEP 1: Area Analysis
Centextual opportunities
Where is there a lack of avtivity? And therefore, where is the potential for reactivation
STEP 2: Neighbourhood Analysis
Relevant building data
Some areas have the potential of transformation, but can buildings work together? The next step present a broader analysis of all the non-protected buildings by mapping the opportunities of cooperation with surrounding buildings.
STEP 3: Facilitating change
Prepare top floor for housing, a floor which is often programmed with technical infrastructure.
Clear the basement for future use and relocate ventilation.
STEP 4: Activating with new program
Approximately 38 out of the 57 non-protected buildings have one or more setback floor. These floors, with more light, reduced depth and less noise, possess qualities that make them more ideal for residential use.
STEP 5: Creating common outdoor area
Some buildings have the potential for outdoor recreational areas on the roof, while others are unsuitable for accommodating heavy functions. However, through cooperation, they can share the various qualities each building offer, resulting in mutual benefits.
The structures allows for a natural division of the roof, each space supporting distinct programs and qualities, thereby enabling varied use throughout a longer period of the day.
STEP 6: Reprogramming space – Office to Housing
With the potential for increased demand over several years, housing could expand down to the penultimate floor and further through the middle floors.
STEP 7: Creating shared space
The first floor is often challenging to adapt for both housing and commercial functions. Therefore, as a mediator between private and public spaces, this floor is programmed with shared functions.
It could serve as a social space connected to the courtyard, as buildings in Kvadraturen often have their first floor at the same height. This allows programs on the first floor to make use of the courtyard space. If the demand is present, it could absorb more customer-facing functions.
And by being shared, one building could be provided a significant amount of shared space, as the entire floor is connected by a single corridor. A floor organized along a central corridor is a common feature throughout Kvadraturen and other areas, especially those with a high concentration of office spaces.
Student project
STEP 8: Reactivating Ground Floor
To create a node of activity, the spaces could be opened up to accommodate programs that align with the demand of the now transformed buildings and the area.
By introducing public passages that lead into the courtyard and through the block, these spaces become integrated into the urban fabric, fostering interactions between the public and more private spaces.
By offering spaces with different qualities than those often found in Kvadraturen, this transformation could become a new and distinct social node.submittedVersio