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Factory-Made: The Everyday Architecture of Moelven Brug, 1955-1973
PhD Research Project,
The Oslo School of Architecture & Design
2018-2022
The Oslo School of Architecture & Design
2018-2022
While architectural histories of post-war Norway tend to focus on the work of select signature architects, the role of construction companies and industrial producers in shaping the built environment has remained largely overlooked. This PhD project aims to fill this gap by studying the prolific building output of Moelven Brug—a Norwegian timber prefabrication company that, between 1955 and 1973, built schools, large housing developments and public buildings across the country. Through the lens of a single company, the thesis explores the tripartite convergence between architectural discourse, pragmatic concerns of industrial production and bureaucratic institutions of the Norwegian welfare state. In doing so, the thesis ventures into the socio-economic “hinterlands,” offering an architectural history of a different post-war Norwegian modernity created by construction companies, managers, engineers, contractors, state regulators, politicians, local planners and architects. Testing the limits of the discipline, this PhD proposes a new methodology to study architecture beyond the accepted canon, bringing forward names and projects that have hitherto been overlooked.