How the world will have changed after enduring the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen. But we do know that measures for stopping the spread of the virus have dramatically affected our everyday lives. The #stayhome instruction, imposed globally in different ways during the spring of 2020, has for some people increased the feeling of home as a safe place. For others the isolation has heightened the feeling of loneliness and for many, because of complicated family relations, home isolation has felt like being in confinement with no escape. The value of public spaces, our common arenas for social and physical interaction, has been reaffirmed – now illustrated by the collective experience of involuntary solitary or extreme social coexistence.
With new types of threats, with climate change, and displacement being a constant phenomenon – either because of internal movement or caused by (forced) migration – what does the 2020 version of the Collective Center look like? Where are they placed in our communities? How can these centers be turned into positive places with added value for a neighborhood? The studio will focus on the architecture and location of a Collective Center, as one of many possible outputs of contingency planning for emergencies. We will use the Oslo Metropolitan area as our case.
To read the rest of the course description and find instructions on how to register, visit the AHO website. Course registration opens at 24 April and closes on 14 May 2020.