FORM LAB - Create Architecture & Art in Nature
create, build and explore
FORM LAB is the line for those of you who are curious about architecture and art with a dash of outdoor life.
Architecture and Art – create atmospheric spaces
Do you want to draw, build and explore what architecture can really be? The spectrum between art and architecture is wide and we will experiment with this. From murals inside and outside, to model building and actually making small houses. On this line you will have a year filled with projects, creative expression and unforgettable trips - both out in nature and inside the workshop/studio.
We will learn to communicate ideas and make them real. We will start in the fall by learning the basics: drawing, painting, scale, measuring and model building. You will test different media and materials, find your own drawing/model building style and discover how ideas can grow. We will have a small exhibition of models and drawings before moving on to large scale.
Here we get down to carpentry and rafting – knowledge you take with you into the field when we build something completely our own. Maybe we'll build a sauna? In parallel with this, we'll also create a mural and test how this affects a room. Sometimes it's about classic buildings – other times we explore what architecture can mean in nature: a snow cave, a treetop cabin or the feeling of gathering around a campfire.
In the winter, we alternate between skiing and hiking outside, and creative projects inside. The result is a year where you get to use both your head and your hands, your imagination and your community – and where you experience that architecture is much more than four walls.
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Practical information
The year is divided so that we have three curriculum days a week, except for 4 weeks (the curriculum weeks) where we work with curriculum subjects.
Price for the school year 26/27:
Price full-year study: NOK 152,000
Price half-year study: NOK 79,000
The loan fund provides a loan of NOK 151,690 for the school year 25/26 . 60 percent of this sum is a loan, 40 percent is a loan that will be converted into a scholarship when you are approved for your year at folk high school. To have a loan converted into a scholarship, you cannot have undocumented absences that exceed 10 percent.
Compared to a year of study, a year at a folk high school is cheaper. Everything is included; food, electricity, internet, rent, academic activities and travel. On some line trips you buy your own lunch.
Start: August 23/January 5
Ends: mid-May
Question?
Content on the line
- Training in model building and scale
- Idea development and process (from idea to reality)
- Build small houses (e.g. sauna/treehouse)
- Finding your own style of drawing
- Lathing and carpentry
- Hiking in the autumn mountains and sleeping under the open sky
- Skiing in Hallingdal's fantastic ski resort VU
- Make a snow cave, snow cave, igloo, campfire
- Creating murals and street art
- Learn about national and international architecture
- Playing with the boundary between outdoor and indoor spaces
- Playing with how to create design in nature
- Try your hand at landscape art/land art
- Create an exhibition with drawings and models
The Line Weeks
- Hallingdal – Out for a walk in the autumn mountains. Tent and campfire. We find a plot of land and learn how to measure and register it. What we learn here is taken into the studio and becomes the basis for a project.
- Cabin to cabin – We visit cabins of all sizes and categories. How about a night in a treetop cabin? And a ski trip to a DNT cabin. Shall we make something fun?
- The Alps – New and old alpine architecture, mountain hiking and swimming. Street art in a secluded village?
Study trip to the Alps
For the big line tour we head towards the Alps. Here we visit towns and villages of all sizes and study the architecture. Spas are a must on the list. The Alps have a long bathing culture, and we obviously have to experience it. We look at new and old Alpine architecture, and buildings that mix the two, as well as street art. We try to arrange a small workshop with local craftsmen, artists and a visit to an architectural office. A little mountain hike, a little architecture and a little swimming. The ultimate study trip!
Teacher
Pernille Landro
Pernille is a teacher of architecture and nature. She grew up at the school, and is thus a true folk high school child. She has also been a student and fellow at a folk high school further north in Norway. Pernille is an architect trained at NTNU in Trondheim, has worked in offices there and in Oslo and knows how to put together and build fun things. She has a strong interest in most things that involve being outdoors, and especially freeriding, long-distance mountain skiing and climbing.
Teacher
Liv Storla
Liv has worked as an architect in Canada, Vietnam and Norway with both architecture and landscape. She has a heart for creating a bridge between architecture and nature, preferably by working with wood, whether bamboo or birch, and has also attended a woodworking course. She also has a master's degree in art and has had several exhibitions in Dublin, Ireland.
Who is the line suitable for?
This is a line for everyone, both with and without experience, but you must want to learn new things, be a little creative at heart and like to be outdoors.
Expectations for you
- You are positive, both towards your fellow students and what we are going through on the course.
- You want to learn and share experiences and contribute to the community - both on the course and at the boarding school
- We want to build a community where we make each other good. Beginners and more experienced people have just as much to give to make that community strong.
- Play is important - we need to get outside our comfort zone sometimes.
- We do not require any drawing skills. You can create good projects without being "classically good" at drawing.
Remember to have this ready when you start school:
- Valid passport for at least one year in the future
- Travel insurance
- European Health Insurance Cards
- Contents/equipment insurance
Equipment list
Clothing
- Wind and waterproof clothing
- Wool underwear, wool socks
- Warm clothing; wool sweater, fleece jacket and/or down jacket
- Mittens (also wind mittens), hat and scarf
- Workwear
- Mountain shoes
- Safety shoes
- painting clothes
Equipment
- Headlamp
- Folding rule and measuring tape
- Drawing equipment; pencils, erasers and reducing sticks
- Sketchbook
- Thermos, cutlery and plates for hiking
- Sunglasses
- Winter sleeping bag (comfort-10)
- Sleeping mat for winter use
- Daypack (30-40 liters)
- Cross-country skiing/mountain skiing
- Large bag (minimum 60 liters)