epilogue These two types of weak systems, either brittle or elastic, demonstrate ways of working with external forces as opposed to fighting against them – or merely ignoring them. In both systems each component has specific tasks which are dependent on the component’s particular material properties and its interrelationship with the other components. Whether there is a tolerance of movement between parts or the acknowledgment that some elements will be affected and then replaced, the system comprehends the inevitable fact that everything is in flux. This idea opens up an approach to architecture and its context as one over-all weak system, where all factors – physical and non-physical – are considered as components. A comparable example of the opposite to an overall weak system is the Oslo Opera House, designed as a symbol of the astonishing Norwegian landscape and imitating ice floes floating on the water. To maintain this perfect image, a lot of energy and many resources are put into battle against the discolouration of the Italian marble, and there are eternal cycles of re-asphalting and adjusting of cobblestones. Cracks have started to appear between parts of the building, caused by unstable ground and accelerated by the rapid development of the neighbouring postcode-area. Although successful in many ways, the building appears as a lost opportunity to develop an architecture with the changing landscape as a driving force – as opposed to the landscape phenomena it merely mimics. It is not only for the sake of saving resources or prevention of damage that we might think of a system based on acceptance of flux and change – it is an exceptional opportunity to embrace the forces of change, geology and weather as architectural triggers of events . ~
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top: investigative model, the stairwell as an entity between bearing walls. middle: examples of uncontrolled and unanticipated failure in the Oslo Opera House left: sotoportego as a spatial condition between the interior and the water.
Karianne Halse
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