Paper presented at The Challenge from Within Conference,
Zurich University of Applied Sciences,
July 5-6, 2024.
Zurich University of Applied Sciences,
July 5-6, 2024.
“It is an experience to hear architect Torbjørn Rodahl speak both against the city planning authorities and his brothers in the profession,” remarked Norwegian journalist Jon Kojen in an opening of a 1965 Arbeiderbladet article. Titled “Architects and Politicians,” the article reflected the career trajectory of a 39-year-old architect who, since the late 1950s, was closely embedded within the inner circles of the Norwegian Labour Party. Following the 1965 elections, which installed a new Conservative government and ended the half-a-century hegemony of the Norwegian Labour Party, Rodahl’s activism doubled as he pushed against the increasingly conservative planning politics. A favourite of the left-leaning media, Rodahl spoke adamantly against the profit-driven housing developments in brash statements. He deemed new satellite towns “soulless concentration camps” devoid of joy, driven to “Kafkaesque monotonous greyness” by developers who prioritised costs over environmental qualities. Instead, Rodahl proposed to dismantle the economic incentives and assemble a committee of architects, planners, artists, and other practitioners who would provide local municipalities with expertise on how to build more “holistic” environments. In a country governed by deep consensus, these statements earned Rodahl the tag of a “housing revolutionary.” And while such idealistic aspirations could have remained rhetoric, Rodahl actively worked with and against the political system to implement these changes. Beyond controversial media and TV appearances, he maintained a prolific practice focused on housing and public buildings, teaching and lecturing in universities and professional unions.
This paper is particularly interested in how Rodahl’s idealistic speculations of “holistic” environments were (or not) reflected in his design practice. Investigating a corpus of post-war Norwegian newspaper sources, this essay maps Rodahl’s progressive ideals against his built projects to question a story of a radical architect working against (but also within) a pragmatic state apparatus driven by economic concerns.
[paper draft]