Valle blog

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Click here for more information on the Valle scholarship at the University of Washington.


Contents

June 14, 2007 (Copenhagen, DEN)

travel notes
I arrived today in Copenhagen with two large bags of equipment and a very awkward box with my bike. I will be staying in Copenhagen for a couple of weeks to finalize and stage my plans (and to test my gear) in Scandinavia.

June 19, 2007 (Oslo, NOR)

travel notes
I flew to Oslo to meet up with the UW Scan group (under the guidance of Jennifer Dee and Peter Cohan from UW). I left the bike in Copenhagen for this 3 day urban trip. The gear needed for the 'remote' research portion of my planned travel isn't compatible with urban exploring. Also, it would be hard to find a safe place to store the bike and gear. Instead, I am here with just a small bag that I can carry anywhere.
I will take the ferry back to Copenhagen in a few days to gather my gear, meet with an advisor at the Royal Academy for my fall thesis work, and then start my travel to northern Norway by rail.


research notes_SUMMER HOME CULTURE
Compared to the streets of Copenhagen which are constantly alive with people walking and biking, the streets of Oslo appeared fairly quiet for a nice Wednesday afternoon. Oslo is apparently one of the larger cities in Europe in terms of geographic area, but in terms of population, it is quite small.
A boat tour around the Oslo Fjord offered an opportunity to escape the city center and find where people want to be on a sunny summer day. The fjord has many small islands and inlets that have scattered summer homes. Because of the rough geography and also the history of public ownership of many of the islands, most of these summer homes are small and modest. Apparently, regulation is now necessary to maintain this modesty. It is quite clear where regulation is looser and 'McMansions' are popping up.
Part of my original Valle proposal was to study the tension between these typologies in retreat areas - the small summer (or seasonal) home vs. the large suburban home. This conflict was immediately apparent on my first day in Norway.


research notes_LANDSCAPE CUSTOMIZATION
The boat tour was invaluable in that it offered an opportunity to experience these small private buildings in their remote environments. This experience also reinforced my ideas that my Norwegian architectural research isn't directly about visiting individual published projects. It is about finding the small, everyday solutions of Norwegian builders and designers. Because of the topography and climate (and also probably culture), these solutions and details are often unique to their immediate location.
It will be a challenge in 'no.D' to accommodate and celebrate these site and culture specific opportunities with a global networked idea for living and working. What components need standardization and which need to be customizable?

June 22, 2007 (Oslo, NOR)

research notes_HOSTELS
Travelling light and 'cheap' (nothing is really cheap in Oslo) has informed - or reinforced - my target user for the project. I never did the Europe by backpack and hostels trip typical with many undergraduate students. I remember why. It is a very unpleasant experience. My friend, Blake, is currently on a 40 day European trip by backpack. I am really curious to get his take. Despite being a germophobe, I don't think that my concerns are completely related to making sacrifices of quality and cleanliness - although those are both valid.
I lived in my van for the better part of 3 years to pursue rowing. I like to think that (at some level) that qualifies my opinion. I believe that the real inconvenience with hostels is the lack of personal space. Personal space obviously includes the architectural notion of refuge and privacy for the person, but it is also clearly related to how that space is defined by the items we carry with us. In the case of a tight hostel room with five other random people, your personal space is limited to your bunk, maybe a small storage compartment, and the floor. There is little opportunity to organize your belongings into a comfortable and familiar configuration to buffer the foreign environment. While bouncing around the East coast rowing clubs, I remember the desire for a consistent refuge as the reason I bought the van.


research notes_HOTELS
Of course one alternative to cohabitation at a hostel is a private hotel room. I have to admit, after three nights in the hostel, the private cabin of the ferry was a relief. It was by no means luxurious - it was below two car deck levels and I am pretty sure we were under the waterline. But escape to a dark personal space (also from the 22 hours a day daylight) was comforting. However, despite the improvements in cleanliness and privacy there is still an issue of familiarity. Although there is more room to spread out, the improvement in refuge is again attached to the inconvience of a packing and unpacking ritual. The amount of personal items available for space definition is limited to that which you can carry in a suitcase - the burden of unfamiliarity vs. the burden of hauling around luggage.
'no.D' needs to offer means to carry more personal items with during travel or offer more variety and customization to the items that are shared (like furniture, utensils, etc.) to make refuge a better experience.


July 9, 2007 (Bodø, NOR)

research notes_COASTAL STEAMERS
At first the coastal steamer seemed charming. While on the ferry, it was obvious that it is an essential link for northern Norway. The Hurtigruti ferries fly a modified Norwegian flag that designates it also as an official mail ship. Bringing my bicycle offered me the opportunity to experience the cargo hold and car deck. I was instructed to tie my bicycle up to a crate of red painted windows--presumably for a small home or summer hytte based on their character. A certain level of tolerance of the tourists by the locals is probably necessary to enable the daily convenience of the ferries. Along with the commuting locals in the car deck, there were a few fellow cyclists and even a kayaker wearing his kayaking gear. Apparently, he was just hitching a ride to the next stop.
In terms of defining the ferries' role in with nodproject, my current thoughts lean more towards exploiting the frequent cargo capacity of the ships rather than the cruise ship aspects. Most passengers in the summer are tourists. Most of these tourists are over the age of 65--over the target age group for the nodproject.
Even after 24 hours on the M/S Richard With (pronounced ri-CARD wit), I was a little tired of the tourist commentary repeated occasionally 4 times depending on the nationality of the latest group that got on board. It is not the type of diversity that enriches the whole. Rather, the tourists in the organized groups never have to interact in the local languages or customs. They minimize their exposure while shoving their way from the ship to their designated tour buses. In fact, it appears that some of the groups don’t even have to deal with the local currency. An embarrassing example (as an American) of this was at the Oslo City Hall. Three retiree aged couples were all disgusted at the gift shop attendant that they could not use American currency. I restrained myself but wanted to ask them the obvious question of if they understood what that 9 hour flight they must have taken meant.
The nodproject cannot cater to this type of user. It clearly is not the type of mobility that should be promoted.


July 10, 2007 (Tromsø, NOR)

travel notes
I have spent the last couple of days in Tromsø. There were a couple of interesting projects worth documenting, but mainly I used it as an opportunity to get healthy in a hotel room. It is a small town and was easy to cover with only a few short day trips.
research notes
Tromsø is a small industrial and university town. It appears that the winter months here must be fairly depressing. Far from the ski town atmosphere experienced in Lillehammer, Tromsø's waterfront industry overpowers even the cruise ship and hotel presence that is trying to redefine the harbor. There are definitely charming characteristics to the old part of town. In addition, the new housing projects infilling the city and the harbor look promising (despite that most projects almost embarrassingly express some component of a ship metaphor).
The presence of tourists participating in the penguin walk everyday at 2:30 from the Hurtigrute coastal steamer to the multiple, oversized tour buses flashing "Sightseeing Tours" over their windshields defines the rhythms of this town in the summer. I am glad that I experienced 3 days of this pattern. The first day, I barely fought my way off of the ship with my bike and gear as I was elbowed and pushed by tour group members (all sorted by nationality) determined to maximize their allotted 4 hours before the ship pushed off again. The second day, I raced to see the polar museum before they landed and waited to see the church until after the penguins reboarded. From the town's perspective, this daily repeating ritual must make up for the lack of day and night rhythm lost because of the midnight sun. I am curious what equivalent pendulum defines the polar nights.


July 11, 2007 (Svalbard, NOR)

N 78°12.083', E 15°35.301'
travel notes
Svalbard is a group of islands halfway between the northern tip of Norway and the North Pole. It lies between 74 and 80 degrees north latitude. For reference, it is above all of Alaska and all but a few of the northern Canadian archipelago islands.
Svalbard has Norwegian sovereignty, but is regulated by a 1920 treaty that gives many land, resource, and other rights to the listed countries. Norway cannot collect taxes from the island above what is necessary for administration. The administrative seat of Svalbard is Longyearbyen. It would seem appropriate that a town that has 3 months of polar night and 3 months of midnight sun has the name 'Longyear' (byen means town in Norwegian), but the town is named after an American mining entrepreneur, John M. Longyear who established the first mine in 1906.
Svalbard is accessible by boat for only a couple of the months in the summer. An airport was built in 1957. The town of Longyearbyen now has flights daily from Oslo and Tromsø and most visitors arrive by plane.
I arrived from Tromsø at approximately 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning to a glaring sun well above the horizon. Because the temperature and light were so nice, I considered saving the money for a room and just start my documentation. Given that I am still recovering from being sick, I chose the room at the 'Polarrigg'.


July 12, 2007 (Longyearbyen, NOR)

N 78°12.083', E 15°35.301'


research notes_EINAR JARMUND PROJECTS
There are a few briefly documented projects from Longyearbyen. Einar Jarmund, who I briefly met with the UW scan tour group has two projects here: Longyearbyen city hall and a more recent museum/university and research building called Svalbard Forskningspark.
The former I found in a book on recent Norwegian architecture. The project is simple but well detailed. Of particular note is the detailing of the screen on the west and north sides. It uses heavy timbers for the screen and resembles a snow fence. This may have just been inspiration or it might actually double as a snow fence. It occurs on the two sides that front the water. These two sides get the most exposure to the surprisingly powerful midnight sun in the summer. The midnight sun in July at 78°N is not the weak, orange sun on the horizon that I expected.
The latter project was published on the cover of Architectural record last year with a title similar to "Architecture in Far Out Places". The picture frames the building with the mountain beyond and no other buildings around it. In the photo it really appears isolated in a "Far Out Place". In context to the town It is not. The form is intended to deflect wind and snow drifts around the view apertures. Like the Hedmark museum by Sverre Fenn, exposure to the project from photo documentation depreciates the experience a little when visiting . It is hard to live up to those perfectly cropped images.
The real power of the building is in an exploration of its form and materials. Like all buildings in Svalbard, it is raised above the ground on piers. I understand the difficulty of placing footings on permafrost and why driving (or drilling) piles down to frozen ground make sense. I did not understand until after my visit why the crawl spaces were always left open. It seems that adds one more face to insulate (the floor). They are left open to assure that the ground doesn't thaw, thus destabilizing the ground that the building is placed.
The exterior material, copper, was chosen because of its fairly consistent workability properties at a wide range of temperatures, thus allowing construction to push further into the winter. The interior glulam structure allowed for prefabrication but also easy modification on site. It also minimized thermal bridging as compared to concrete or steel.
This building has a few impressive interior spaces, but one clearly stands out. In a far corner of the museum wing there is a volume where the walls close in to a tight angle and the roof compresses down. This space is separated from the main museum volume by a large asymmetric glulam moment frame. This frame has dozens of bolts connecting double hidden steel kerf plates. Filling the moment frame is a black, open bookshelf. One comes upon this space after reading a display about local wildlife about seals and walruses. The space opens up and the floor is covered with seal or walrus skin rugs and pillows. At first one questions whether or not you should walk on them, but then you remember that everyone already has their shoes off (and are wearing the leather slippers that the museum provides). I laid down to experience the space and actually fell asleep. I started to understand the connections that Einar was possibly trying to make. A long, low window frames a mountain range -- but only when your head is just above the floor level. Although the Sami tribe hasn't inhabited the islands of Svalbard, I interpreted a connection with the Sami huts in northern Norway and Finland.


thesis notes_LIVING FLOOR
I think that this type of space can translate to nodproject. It reminds me of the 'living floor' idea that I saw documented in a mobile architecture book (I will insert images of the project later). The intent was to use three surface types appropriate for different uses. I believe that they had names like 'soft', 'wet', and 'clean?'. These surfaces combined to form a continuous floor surface that could morph to accommodate different uses. The connection for me to the Einar museum involves the notion of occupying a clean floor rather than always treating it as a dirty walking surface. The local custom in Longyearbyen is to remove your shoes when entering a building. This apparently started to keep the coal miners from tracking coal dust inside. Because of this custom, the buildings remain much cleaner. Dirt isn't tracked in but also it appears that more attention is given to cleanliness because of the custom.


research notes_HOUSING
Adventure tourism is only a recent industry to Longyearbyen. Historically, most housing was placed for the mining and research workers. There are no trees in Svalbard. All ground has deep permafrost. It is only in the summer that the top meter thaws and allows some moss and vegetation to grow.
There are some double loaded corridor housing buildings from the first half of the 1900's. A couple of these have been converted to rough hotels. The most famous housing project in Longyearbyen are the gable roof prefab homes right on the edge of the main street. As individual buildings, they are not notable. But because of their bright colors, they are a beautiful composition laid out in front of the harsh, bare mountain slope behind. All of the houses are built exactly the same with no variations. They all have black roofs. The colors seem successful because of their simplicity. Each house only gets one color. The only trim color is white on the windows. The success of this composition depends on this simplicity and on the participation of every house. It seems any deviation to the formula would ruin the effect.
It is a fascinating case study for color. Although color is the obvious variable that creates architectural interest in this development, I struggle with how much the form and arrangement of the projects contribute. I think that a 'New Urbanist' might contribute a lot of the success to the spacing of the houses on the street and their placement on a slope. As an architect, I wonder about the connection to a theoretical notion of shelter because of the simple gable forms.
The form question is partially tested in a newer prefab development up the hill. Here the forms are tall rectangular boxes with equally spaced and again with a one story entry connection between. Besides the form, the main difference with this project is an interpretation of the use of color. Here the main volumes are all painted black. Only the deck railings are painted with bright colors. The colors are similar to the original gable roofed project. In addition, each unit again gets its own defining color.


July 14, 2007 (Ersfjord, NOR)

N 69°28.763', E 17°23.643'


travel notes_ON THE BIKE
After hauling this bike and gear around for a month, I finally got on it. Until now it has been more a of nuisance while I travelled by more conventional methods (plane, ferry, train, and car). It is very nice to shift speeds and actually pay attention to everything around. It is also nice to no longer have a schedule. It allows more time to stop and document or write when opportunities arise. Conventional travel doesn't allow this. It feels more like you are trying to squeeze your work in while waiting for some other prescheduled event like a flight or hotel checkout. Right now, I am sitting in my tent on a beach writing on my computer that is being charged by my solar panel roll. Not a bad way to work.


research notes_COASTAL FARMS
The approximately 100 km tretch of roads from Tromsø to the beach at Ersfjord is a fairly isolated road. A car would pass maybe every half hour. There were almost no stores and only very small communities. It appeared that about half of the homes were year around farms and the other were coastal or mountain retreats. The farms were mostly right along the water's edge with the grazing land going up the mountain. The mountains are very steep. It appears likely that the families don't move up to a mountain home, but rather just relocate their cattle or sheep up the mountain as the summer progresses to let the lower fields regrow or to save them for hay.


thesis notes_SMOOTH SPACE
Reflecting on my travel comments about roaming on the bike, I revisited my book by Deleuze, Nomadology: The War Machine. Until now, I have only read sections related to nomadism directly. I intend to read the whole book to see if I can better grasp it. Deleuze starts his analysis by comparing the games of chess and Go. Chess is defined by Deleuze as a State game, "an institutionalized, regulated, coded war, with a front, a rear, battles." Go in comparison is a war "without battle lines". These analogies to war help to define the spaces relevant to the games. "In chess, [space] is a question of arranging a closed space for oneself, thus of going from one point to another…" "In Go, it is a question of arraying oneself in an open space, of holding space, of maintaining the possibility of springing up at any point: the movement is not from one point to another, but becomes perpetual, without aim or destination, without departure or arrival. The 'smooth' space of Go, as against the 'striated' space of chess. The nomos of Go against the State of chess, nomos against polis."


July 15, 2007 (Stave, NOR)

N 69°12.294', E 15°51.714'


research notes_THE BURDEN OF THE HYTTE
I am trying not to pay for camping in a country where it is legal to camp anywhere--including private property (as long as you are 150 meters away from a dwelling). Sometimes, especially when it is cold, the thought of another bath in the cold ocean or glacier stream loses its appeal. Sometimes, a campground with a bunch of RV's is worth the hot shower. I also forget the value in studying these mobile communities. Everyone at the campsite has the unifying experience that they are on tour. This makes people much more willing to interact and visit.
At my latest stop in Stave, I met a couple from Stockholm on tour. The wife is Swedish and the husband is American from Baton Rouge. They are on tour because they don't have a summer hytte. The husband admitted at first that he was disappointed that he married into a family without a summer retreat. It is very expensive to now buy one so instead they travel by van. He stated that he is now less concerned about not having a summer retreat. He claims that there is a lot of upkeep with the older structures because they are abandoned most of the year. Often the owners spend their whole four week vacation doing repairs and upkeep. Some may enjoy this work, but if you don't then it is a real burden.


thesis notes_REMOTE UPKEEP
I suspect that there is a way to tie upkeep and maintenance into the 'no.D' system. If the units are only temporarily at a location when needed, they receive less wear to the elements. Also, the storage facilities can have repair or upgrade services to work on the pods when the owner is not using them. This not only adds convenient maintenance services, it could also encourage upgrade and expand the service component (and continue the associated revenue for each sale).


July 16, 2007 (Stokmarknes, NOR)

N 68°34.113', E 14°54.760'


travel notes_TOO MUCH BUT NOT ENOUGH
I had my first bike problem today. I started riding around noon. The weather was beautiful--sunny and cool. In addition, I had a huge tailwind as I rode down the coast. Late in the afternoon, the wind shifted and it got cloudy and cold. At that point I broke a spoke. There were two things that made this frustrating: it was cold and the broken spoke occurred on the cassette side of the rear wheel. I don't have the necessary (and heavy) tools to pull the cassette to fix it.
Even more frustrating, this is a bad sign. Because these are new wheels, it indicates that I am just carrying too much weight. I found a rock quarry where I could take shelter from the wind and after two hours was able to rig a solution. That night I took inventory and shipped another eight pounds of gear back to Copenhagen (although I ended up adding some back at the next bike store when I bought part of the tool that I would need if it happened again).


thesis notes_NODPROJECT ASSISTANCE
Building off of the bike issues today, what services need to be offered to the modern nomad in the nodproject? The best strategy would probably be for the user to have the tools and knowledge to fix things while in remote areas. This expectation might be too limiting. The theme of service design in convenience. Hence, a strong background in mechanical systems should not be a prerequisite. Instead, the physical and service designs need to enable all users to solve problems. The service side might be handled by existing services similar to GM's program.
The physical design needs user friendly components that can easily be understood by the user. Building off of a mass-customized model might make this easier as everything is understood as a plug in unit. If something breaks down, the faulty component is removed, replaced, or repaired without necessity of servicing the whole unit. This also encourages upgrading or simply changing out of components depending on current usage. The heating unit for a Jackson, WY ski trip might be swapped for a Moab, UT mountain biking trip.

July 17, 2007 (Leknes, NOR)

N 68°08.911', E 13°32.762'


travel notes_FLOWS
Architects and urban planners like to talk a lot about 'flows'. Today, I am getting hammered by some natural flows--the wind. Because of the topography and open water on the Lofoten Islands, the wind has been very unpredictable--except that it is always strong. Despite this, I made my 100 km goal for the day. I was going to keep going late into the night, but a 20 km wrong turn on a dead end peninsula road broke me mentally.
I am writing at 2 a.m. in the tent. The wind woke me up tonight and even though my GPS tells me that I lost the midnight sun yesterday (it is late enough in the summer and I got far enough south that the sun actually sets below the horizon), there is no noticeable twilight.


research notes_THE HYDRAULIC MODEL
Sitting in the tent, I continued to read Nomadology: The War Machine by Deleuze and Guattari. The current section continues to define the distinction between the State and the War Machine. There is a significant amount of discourse which is politically and socially relevant to current American policies. It is especially interesting to reflect upon these while immersed in such a strong welfare state government as Norway.
More relevant to my research and thesis project is the background theory used to apply the State and the War Machine to physical space. Deleuze proposes that physical space can be 'striated' (related to the State) or 'smooth' (related to the War Machine). Striated space is very metric and linear. Smooth space is "vectorial, projective, or topological" (pg 18). For the nodproject, 'striated' space is urban fabric--very defined and deliberate. Per Deleuze, "[striated] space is counted in order to be occupied" (pg 19). 'Smooth' space in nodproject is for roaming and retreat. "[Smooth] space is occupied without being counted" (pg 18).
I was reminded of Deleuze's reference to the 'hydraulic model' today because of the ever changing wind and water flows around the extreme topography of the Lofoten Islands. It is not the laminar spaces of the urban where physical space and geometry is rigidly defined. Rather, the retreat mentality that I am seeking probably exists because of the interaction with the turbulent flows of nature. This interaction is evident in the architecture of the place and the placement and materiality of the simple structures. The architecture and infrastructure is not trying to control nature, it is adapting to it. Rather than constructing large docks that can withstand tidal actions and difficult bottom conditions, fisherman simply tie their boats to buoys and access them with skiffs. There is rarely an attempt to cut and fill for roads. They just simply follow the contours and demand that people adjust their speeds. Nothing appears tamed.
Interaction with smooth space is also evident in people's actions. On the winding, tight rural roads drivers are very courteous and safe, always slowing down and giving plenty of room. It is almost as if they appreciate and recognize your right to enjoy the outdoors. Conversely, in the few larger towns (now with the wide, straight streets--the State) people are in much more of a rush and are more willing to compromise your safety on a bike. Only in the cities is their an experience similar to riding in the United States.
This interaction is also evident in Norwegian's attitude about touring (by foot, bike, or RV). One of the first ten verbs that we learned in Norwegian class at UW (along with eating, sitting, standing, etc.)was 'gå pa tur'. The illustration next to this verb was a hiker with a walking stick jumping and screaming in the woods. We all thought that was a little strange to represent hiking, but after some time here I get it. Most maps include roadways and hiking routes. People on walking 'tur' far out number of cyclists. A common phrase heard is 'God tur!'. On map signs with multiple languages, this phrase doesn't translate. Apparently, 'Have a good hike!' doesn't fully capture the meaning or relevance of this phrase.

July 18, 2007 (Bodø, NOR)

N 67°16.844', E 14°22.396'


travel notes_BOM!
I learned today the Norwegian word for wind. I hadn't paid attention to the 'bom' signs with the exclamation mark before. The winds from last night continued all day. I had 60 km left to finish the Lofoten Islands and make the ferry back to Bodø. I was excited about this last stretch because it gets out of the remote mountains and covers many historic and modern fishing villages. Unlike the headwinds yesterday that destroyed my legs, today the wind was mostly tailwind with some direct cross. That was fortunate as the wind speed easily doubled today. I don't have a good estimate for average wind speed. I suspect that there are a lot of local conditions due to topography. I do know that going into the wind I could only manage 10 kph and with the wind I could sustain about 40 kph. For comparison, I can average about 20 kph on calm flats. The scary portions are the bridges over the fjords. Of course they are all perpendicular to the wind that gets funneled between the steep sides. There were multiple times that I had to put my feet down and lower my head to the handlebars to prevent blowing over. Once, my helmet blew off but was caught around my neck by the chin strap. Having made the ferry early thanks to the boost, I am now writing this entry on the four hour trip back to the mainland.


research notes_FISHING VILLAGES
The fishing villages lived up to their hype. Far from feeling touristy, they have clearly maintained their history while adapting to the more recent tourism boom on the Lofoten Islands. The villages on the southern end of the islands don't have a Hurtigurten ferry stop. Thus they have not been infected with the squeeze tube cheeziness that is evident at every other town with a Hurtigurten dock. They do cater to the hiking and RV tourists that arrive from the Bodø ferrry. The ferry dock is the beginning of the 'Kong Olav' tourist route that extends all the way to the Swedish border. It is named after King Olav that toured the route four times and made a priority of establishing routes for the people to experience the Norwegian landscape.
I learned from the host at the last family run campground that the fishing village housing is for the fisherman during the winter fishing seasons but is opened up to the tourists in the summer. This was a fascinating example of seasonal migration and use change. This combination of tourism and commercialism preserves the historic nature of these buildings while still demanding that they are capable of providing their original use.


thesis notes_MOBILE 'MIXED-USE'
The nodproject has always intended on offering living, working, and leisure capabilities. These options so far have been conceived as divided by pods. Each pod offers a specific use. The choice of pod location or combination is what offers the variety. Exposure to the Norwegian fishing villages raises the question of variety in use for the pod destinations or 'nodes'. How flexible are they to accept different pods? Clearly nodes like Jackson needs to accommodate different seasonal uses. The different uses are probably primarily recreational, but maybe more consideration needs to be given to worker or business housing. In this example, the seasonal workers are probably more likely to need longer term housing needs that might be an appropriate fit to the nodproject system.


July 19, 2007 (Bodø, NOR)

N 67°16.844', E 14°22.396'
travel notes_DARLIGT VÆR
The weather has turned very wet and cold. I was actually somewhat relived to have an excuse to take a day off of riding. I broke the head tube cap on my bike so the front wheel and handlebars were not tight. I of course noticed this after my late afternoon visit to the bike store yesterday when they had just closed. Because of the weather and the opportunity to catch up on more of my documentation to the website, I decided to stay in a hotel for another night. I feel guilty about spending money (and that hotels are not consistent with my studies) when I have an alternative choice (the tent), but I find some justification having a warm place with internet to work.

July 20, 2007 (Skauvoll, NOR)

N 66°59.520', E 14°11.743'
travel notes_RIDING IN THE RAIN
It looks like I left a day too early. It was still cold when I left Bodø. Thirty minutes after leaving, it started to rain. This is the first real rain that I have ridden in on the trip. Thinking that touring means that you have to ride in all weather, I just kept going. It was miserable--partly because there is one road out of Bodø, so it is very busy. Having cars speed by is made worse by the increased highway noise because of the rain. I learned later that there was a ferry out of town that would have placed me on a remote coastal road away from the traffic and would have saved me significant time. I will no longer feel guilty about taking ferries when they are available. Multimodality is part of this nomadic research process.
research notes_ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION AND THE RV
It was hard to take anything positive out of today's experience. There was little to see along the busy highway and thus no distractions from the constant onslaught of cars and dry RVers speeding by. There is a convincing argument for the constant shelter offered by an RV--even when moving. Part of the reason for the bike touring is to experience the Norwegian connection to the environment. Exposure and vulnerability is part of this. According to the paper by ____, this exposure increased your appreciation of your surroundings. Despite the desirability of having a constant interior environment (temperature, moisture, sound, etc), one can definitely understand that some connection to your environment is lost at 60 mph in a sealed white box. Despite today's unpleasant experience, feeling the water penetrate through your layers of clothing and the wind make your hands so cold that they can no longer grip the handlebars clearly has some benefit in understanding how to design for the elements. If the ultimate goal is to provide a mode to experience the environment when pleasant and shelter from it when it is not, as an exercise this exposure is valuable…although next time I would prefer the RV.


July 21, 2007 (Forøya, NOR)

N 66°44.323', E 13°30.866'
travel notes_DRYING OUT
It down poured all night. I woke up in the morning with standing water in the tent that had seeped through the bottom. I guess the waterproof footprint isn't if you are floating on saturated moss. It was the most comfortable ground that I have slept on. It felt like sleeping on a mud filled water bed.
Because everything was wet, I was going to wait until it stopped raining to set out again. Fortunately, the rain stopped about 9 am. I hung all of my gear on the small mountain pines growing out of the massive rock slope that I was on. It was a pretty interesting site. It wasn't sunny, but with the light breeze, I was packed up after about three hours.
thesis notes_SHELTER AND VENTILATION
It is pretty easy to make a connection from this experience to the shelter offered by a no.D pod. Keeping weather out will not be the main design issue (although it is obviously relevant considering the proposal to have interchangeable pods). From experience living in my van through wet Seattle winters, the real issue is how to get moisture out. I learned the hard way about condensation and mold and the consequent respiratory issues.
It might make sense to use the separation between the pods as an opportunity to provide ventilation. The current idea for joining the pods is to have them connected by pipe or rails to allow them to be threaded together. I envision that they could slide together and apart like library book stacks--opening areas in current demand while closing off areas not in use. Not only is this a design to conserve or create flexible space, it could also be used to vent all or some of the areas. The bath area may need maximum ventilation after a shower. A storage pod with wet kayak gear could likewise open up until dry. The challenge is of course to design the gasket in between to be both weather tight and breathable when necessary.

July 21, 2007 (Arctic circle, NOR)

N 66°33.333', E 13°10.555'
travel notes_BELOW THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
I crossed the 'polarsyrkle' on a ferry trip. There was this sense of excitement when it was announced. People got up, grabbed their cameras, and ran outside to take a picture of a line that exists on a map--except that there was something to take a picture of. It was marked with a steel globe sculpture placed on an inaccessible shoreline that we could see off of our port side. Someone recognized that we feel the need to mark such boundaries.
travel notes_SHAKER SUPER
I had more bike problems today. I broke another spoke about 100m before I entered a 3200m long uphill tunnel. As if riding in a dark, narrow, damp, exhaust filled cave isn't enough, some are in fact uphill. Obviously I understand that some need slopes to connect portals at different elevation. I also understand when a tunnel goes under a fjord that it will dip down at the middle. I don't understand why some rise up to a high point in the middle just to come back down. I thought that it might be about ventilation, but I see no signs of any exhaust shafts in these tunnels. Tunnels are the only place in Norway that one can get a long straight even ride.
Back to the bike…I am getting a little beaten down with the issues. Fortunately, the last two spoke incidents happened in good places and with good weather. I would have been horrible to have equipment issues two days ago in the cold rain.
Some of the problems stem from my attempt to convert a Cannondale racing bike to a heavy duty touring bike. It just wasn't designed for the beating that I am giving it. An example of its shortcomings is with the front panniers. My attempts to find a proper touring fork with rack mount tabs and disc brake tabs failed. The bike has too long of a head tube. I would have to buy a custom fork. Because I am using the original aluminum racing fork, I had to rig the racks. In addition, I have attached full size bags which isn't very common. To support the weight, I have nylon straps attached to the handlebars. The straps not only support the weight, but they also cross to stabilize the bags laterally. The fear is that heavy bags will shake and affect your steering, especially at high speeds. I had it dialed in for the first week, but I had to redo the straps in Bodø when I had to replace the head bolt cover. This time, I spaced the cross straps even further. Surely, more lateral bracing would be better. It made the problem worse. After a day retrying the straps, I finally applied some engineering thought to it and realized that it was too stiff. All shaking in the bags was now translated to the handlebars making the riding uncomfortable. It worked better before when the movement was allowed to dissipate down low at the wheel and never twist the frame.
One of the common challenges in structural engineering, especially with seismic engineering, is how to dissipate energy and control failure. The best solution is not always the strongest and stiffest. Rather, a safe solution is one where the failure mechanism is controlled by making certain elements or connections weaker and ductile to that the structure behaves and fails (in an extreme event) in a predictable way.
My last attempt to minimize the cross straps to the handlebars worked and I haven't had a problem since. I had some fast and rough descents today (fast is 60 km/hr with all of this weight) and had no issues controlling the bike while the bags shook up front.
In case you are wondering, 'Shaker Super' was the title of an promotion that was running in Copenhagen before I left on my trip showing a male model shaking his butt to advertise a mobile phone sale.


research notes_SUPPLIES
Because Norway is so expensive (most people that I speak with say it is about twice as much as where they are from), people appear to take different strategies to save money. I am trying to camp in the wilderness rather than at campgrounds. I give in sometimes if the weather is bad and I need a warm shower, but for the most part I hold to it. Because camping is legal on any public land and on private land as long as a certain distance is maintained to structures, it is fairly easy to find a place to camp. In addition, it is fairly easy to find a mountain stream to fill water bottles or bath. I use a water filter when taking water from a stream, but most people tell me that is an unnecessary step. The water comes right from glaciers and is probably cleaner than anything that you buy in bottles.
Another cost saving strategy with RV'ers is to pack food from home. In my conversations, this seems to be particularly true with Germans. One German couple were on a 6 week 'holiday' and packed all the food they needed in coolers. Each meal was already prepared and vacuumed sealed. They would only buy dairy products, fruit, and vegetables. The best I can do is dehydrated camping meals. Unfortunately, I bought them here for about $15 a piece.
Another very nice German that I met today at the ferry dock offered me one of the fish that he just caught waiting for the ferry. I politely declined telling him that I only had a plastic spork and could only boil it in water.
Although touring by bicycle is appropriate for my research because of cost and the ability to study the landscape and culture at a slow and intimate pace, I look forward to someday having the convenience and comfort offered by an RV (or no.D pod).
research notes_SOUNDS
One of the intimacies of cycle touring in Norway that one would probably miss at highway speed is the sound of the landscape. It is common to be riding along and come upon the sound of a rushing stream or waterfall before you can see it. It is also curious to be riding along a steep slope or cliff and hear a random sheep bell straight above you to remind you that you are not alone. In a lot of places, the sheep roam freely. The bells are very effective to locate them although I wonder what psychological issues that sheep develop because of the constant clanging. Another environmental sounds is the sound of the guard barriers when they expand in the sun. It is a good reminder of why the slotted bolt holes are necessary where they are connected to the posts. A strange material lesson where you would least expect it.


July 22, 2007 (Sandnessjøen, NOR)

N 66°01.267', E 12°37.856'
travel notes_FERRIES
There is a definite rhythm to time on the bicycle and time on the ferry in this section of Norway. It breaks up the monotony of riding all day to have shorter riding sections and waits for the next ferry. I personally enjoy the wait for ferries. It is time that you are forced to slow down and find something to do like read or write. This is also compatible with the RVers. They often unfold their lounging paraphernalia such as chairs and tables and set up a meal or snack. Some retreat to their table inside and play cards or simply spin their driving seats around and read.
I am now definitely looking for opportunities to take the ferries. To me, it is free time where I keep moving and can recharge--both my energy with rest and food and literally a place to plug in my electronic equipment like computer, cell phone, and camera.
Tonight, I found a long ferry opportunity on a shipping ferry. It left at around 10 at night and arrived in Sandnessjøen, another Hurtigruti port around 1 in the morning. There were only two other passengers on board, a couple who were kayaking off one of the islands. Because there really isn't a passenger lounge, they just spread out their sleeping bags on the deck in an area shielded from the wind. I found a similar area and had a pleasant ride looking off the back of the ship to the north as the sun briefly dipped below the horizon around midnight.
Once in Sandnessjøen, I was too tired to ride out of town and find a spot to camp. In addition, I wanted to stock up on food in the morning so I just found a steep hill in the one block city park and pitched the tent. To my surprise, this didn't seem to visibly surprise any of the people using the park the next morning.

July 23, 2007 (Holm, NOR)

N 65°08.934', E 12°06.925'


research notes_SELF SUFFICIENCY
I caught a late ferry and found a spot the put up the tent along an exposed stretch of a very rocky coast. There was a small, black station wagon parked nearby, but I thought the couple was just resting as I didn't see a tent. The man was fishing down on the shore.
I crawled into my tent to make dinner, and the man surprisingly approached the tent to see if I wanted tea. Normally, I would interpret that once you are in your tent that you in someway have established a level of privacy even though all that separates you from your environment is a thin layer of bug mesh and nylon. I thought it was a nice gesture and accepted their offer. The couple was on a road trip from the Czech Republic and appeared to have packed almost everything that they needed for their five week trip to Russia, Finland, Norway. Establishing their route and timeline was not trivial since we did not share a common language. We gestured a lot and just accepted that our shared presence was sufficient. While boiling water for tea, I could see that the back of their car was completely packed with food rations. Before I could start drinking my tea, they broke out a brand new bottle of Czech liquor--apparently straight tea is not enough at night. It was brand new bottle and I sensed that it was somewhat symbolic of a special occasion to break it out. I am not sure what it was, but it did make the tea better. They also offered individually wrapped Czech cookies and a laser cut wood ornament. When I asked where they sleep, they simply pointed to the front seats. I asked it they every stay at campgrounds and they gestured no. The man was able to communicate "wilderness only" and beat his chest. The next morning they both bathed in the ocean, put their seats back up, and started driving.
Their satisfaction in being completely self sufficient (out of pride or financial necessity) was good motivation for me to try and be more so. Although I don't have the ability to carry my food with me, I can definitely push my independence from campgrounds. I am better understanding that the idealness of Norway as an environment to study nomadism (in this case tourist nomads) is not because of established camping infrastructure. Rather it is because of its remoteness, policies, and natural opportunities to roam freely. The bad experience that I had a few days ago trying to escape Bodø was partly because of weather, but was mainly because of the overwhelming incompatibility of my roaming on a bicycle and the road and city infrastructure that was not designed for a cyclist. Fortunately, because of Norway's low population density, this experience is rare.

July 24, 2007 (Rørvik, NOR)

N 64°51.628', E 11°14.861'
travel notes_MORE BIKE PROBLEMS
It is a good thing that the weather is nice today. I have battled with multiple broken spokes (4 in the last 2 days). I had enough spares, but clearly I need to make a change to address this problem. I have serious doubts that I can make it to Trondheim like this. I have decided to adjust my route and head to the coastal port of Rørvik. It is the last Hurtigruti port before Trondheim. I realized that if I hurried, I could make the 9:30 departure and arrive in Trondheim the next morning at 6:30. I can find a bicycle shop and also make up a lot of time overnight on the ferry. This stretch of the coast is mainly farmland that is very repetitive and has very few streams to collect water and bath.
research notes_NORVEG CENTRE FOR COASTAL CULTURE AND INDUSTRIES
I am glad that I had an excuse to visit Rørvik. It is a charming fishing town (with the usual Hurtigruti tourist influence). It also has a significant architecture project that I forgot about. I probably wouldn't have travelled so far out of my way to visit it, but it was a pleasant surprise. It is a museum that has a decent exhibit on Norwegian coastal history. Like a lot of new architecture in coastal towns, it uses a metaphor of a ship or, in this case, sails. In this case it is fairly dramatic. The sails are clad in aluminum and enclose the cafeteria portion of the building. The multistory concrete box towards the shore houses the museum exhibits. The whole building is built on piers. The aspect that I appreciate the most of the building is that, unlike a neighboring Telenor building, the gesture with the sails is singular and balanced by a simple solid box. The whole building doesn't need a dramatic sea form.
One of the better details is a chain downspout from pipes in the sails to a core drilled hole in the pier slab. The chain floats freely in the hole and the splash marks around the hole are starting to leave a mark.

July 25, 2007 (Trondheim, NOR)

N 63°26.223', E 10°24.947'
travel notes_SYKKLECENTERET
I spent most of my day at a bike store watching my rear wheel get rebuilt with all new spokes. To throw more money at the problem, I decided to buy a one wheel trailer to get some weight off of the back wheel. I had debated during my trip preparations in Seattle to get a trailer, but decided that it would be a hassle to ship it. Now, I bought a trailer from California in Trondheim for at least twice the price that I would have paid at REI in Seattle. It becomes a question of how much is it worth to finish my trip and research.
research notes_SVARTLAMOEN CO-HOUSING PROJECT
Returning to Trondheim allowed me the opportunity to visit a co-housing project that I earlier was unable to make time for on my way north. Svartlamoen is a unique project in a very industrial part of the city. It faces the edge of shipping and industrial yards in a rundown and struggling neighborhood. I ran into a man living in one of the apartments and was able to discuss the project briefly with him. He happened to have done a one year long foreign exchange to Spokane, WA in high school. He explained that the project was funded by people living in the neighborhood. It had a very low budget and reflects this in its upkeep and finishes. This should not understate the creativeness of the design. It has two main volumes, a two story apartment block and a three story cohousing block. The cohousing block has half of its space dedicated as shared living, kitchen, balconies, etc. It is intended to be affordable housing which seems appropriate for the neighborhood. This project is clearly not about gentrification.
The construction is especially interesting. It uses glued timber slabs for the walls and floor plates--making this building a true monolithic wood load bearing structure. All of these slabs are exposed on the interior. To the exterior, there is presumably a layer of insulation and then the visible vertical untreated wood rain screen siding. The solid wood panel construction allows for attachment anywhere on the walls or floors.

July 26, 2007 (Grötvågen, NOR)

N 63°21.800', E 09°00.794'
travel notes_ANOTHER ESCAPE FROM A CITY
Again, I am faced with how to get away from an urban center. My original plan was to avoid Trondheim (I had visited it previously on the train ride north), but bike problems forced me to go back. Like Bodø, there are few roads out of Trondheim because of its isolation by water. Unlike Bodø, Trondheim has designated bike paths and side roads marked as cycling routes to get out of town. Not only is this used for commuting, but this is the first time that I saw cyclists training. The paths and routes were well maintained. This type of commitment to cycling infrastructure clearly encourages this mode of transportation and recreation.


July 27, 2007 (Kristiansund, NOR)

N 63°07.513', E 07°44.366'
travel notes_LAST HURTIGRUTI
I am taking a rest day today to explore Kristiansund. I will make up for it by taking the Hurtigruti to my next stop Molde tonight. Kristiansund is an old fishing town on an inward facing harbor of an island.
I ran into the older man with the B.O.B. trailer and solar panels that I saw two days earlier at the bike store in Tronheim. He had 6000 km marked off on his pack. I don't know if that is this year or lifetime total. Somehow I suspect that is just this trip. I tried asking him about his travels, but he didn't speak English (he is from Austria as indicated on his bike) and he seemed to be in a hurry. I figured that he moved pretty slowly but somehow he beat me here. The next morning he was already gone by the time I woke up. I guess he attacks it a little more than I do.
research notes_FISHING VILLAGE
Off the coast of Kristainsund about a half hour ferry trip is an old fishing village of _______ dating back to the 1600's. It is a curious and exposed location for a village and must have been a tough existence. The 100+ inhabitants built tightly spaced houses that have been maintained and are now almost exclusively used as summer vacation hyttes. I intended on taking that three hour trip out to visit them, but it appeared to be rather touristy and expensive. I anticipate that I might be able to find more genuine examples as I move down the coast south of Bergen.

July 28, 2007 (Molde, NOR)

N 62°44.319', E 07°12.922'
travel notes_JAZZ CITY
Apparently, this is what Molde is famous for, a large jazz festival every year. The direct impact of this for me was a great city park on made infill land next to their harbor where they welcome RV's and campers to overnight for free. Here I met two groups from the Netherlands headed in different directions. One woman was travelling with three kids in their pink car and trailer. I would later see the woman and kids at Trollstigen and I questioned whether or not her rig would actually make it up the mountain.

July 29, 2007 (Trollstigen, NOR)

N 62°27.159', E 07°39.706'
2403 ft
travel notes_TROLLS
Today I headed into the 'real' mountains for the first time on the bike. Of course there are mountains everywhere in Norway--there have only been a few extended flat stretches along the lower, rounded peaks that have seemed to eroded more than the jagged peaks of the Lofoten Islands to the North and the troll area that I am approaching. I assume that these flats are areas that experienced more glacier activity that rounded the peaks and deposited the sediment flats.
I now head straight into the high peaks northeast of Bergen. The first climb from the inland fjord port town of Åndalsnes approaches a famous series of switchbacks called Trollstigen. It is a popular tourist destination. It is a steep climb of 10 to 12 percent even up to the switchbacks. Knowing that this climb was going to take a significant physical effort, I paid extra attention to the timing of my food and rest leading up to it. With all of the weight that I am pulling, a 10 percent climb often requires me to stand up on the pedals even in my easiest gear. I was a little concerned about the condition of my left achilles that I apparently strained and is quite painful when climbing.
On the climb up to the switchbacks, I took frequent, short rest stops that offered an opportunity to take pictures. The road is very narrow but this doesn't stop the train of oversized tourist buses from charging up the hill. I tried to time my climb for later at night thinking that there would be less traffic, but I am not sure that anytime in July would be quiet. Halfway up the switchbacks, the rain that I could see chasing me up the valley finally caught up. It was heavy. When it hit, it was one of those moments where you feel really exposed. I was halfway up this mountain with no where to find cover. I knew if I stopped, I would get very cold. Because of this extra adrenaline boost, I didn't stop at all for the second half of the climb. It was one of those athletic moments where your body just finds a rhythm and goes. The support of the drivers coming the opposite direction with honks and thumbs up recognizing that I was probably not in a happy place was also encouraging. Once I got to the top, I quickly found a flat, rocky area by a waterfall to frantically pitch the tent, jump in the freezing stream to bath, and dive into the wet tent to warm up.
research notes_TURISTVEJEN
The route that I have chosen is one of the first 'turistvejen' (tourist ways) that the Norwegian government has designated as having significant cultural or natural significance. In all 19 routes will be designated and improved by 2015. Along with the road improvements, the government has taken interest in and funded architecture and art with view stops and tourist centers. I have documented a couple of the view stops of another completed tourist routes earlier in the Lofoten Islands. The top of Trollstigen is the first building project that I have come across. Unfortunately, the building is still under construction. However, there is still a lot of interest in the construction process--especially in a site perched hanging over the edge of a waterfall looking down on the steep switchbacks of Trollstigen.


July 30, 2007 (Trollstigen, NOR)

N 62°27.159', E 07°39.706'
travel notes_FLOODING
It rained hard all night. I woke up (it was still raining) to find that my tent was actually sitting in 2 inches of water. The pool at the bottom of the impressive waterfall that I camped next to had flooded. This was probably not the time to go for drama in my campsite selection. I carelessly camped a little to low. I guess that is why the rocks were so smooth in that clearing. The ten bottom is waterproof, so water wasn't in the tent yet, but I quickly attempted to drag the tent and contents to higher ground.
It was so wet and cold, I couldn't imagine starting out. I used the weather as an excuse to sit in the nearby tourist café all day and catch up on my blog entries. At 7 pm, it was still raining so I headed back to my tent, checked the flood level, and went to bed early. Again, these are the times when one feels very exposed. It forces me to constantly think how this experience could be greatly improved traveling 'no.D' style. At the same time, I remind myself that this is part of the research intent--to experience the extremes of smooth space and feel a little vulnerable. Without these experience, how would one be truly qualified to address the issues of navigating smooth space?

July 31, 2007 (Hornindal, NOR)

N 61°58.163', E 06°31.267'
travel notes_BUSTED
It was a very long day from Trollstigen. I woke up to the same down pour that I have been stuck in for two days. I decided that I can't wait this out. I think that my location at the end of the fjord/valley makes the local weather wetter than the surrounding mountain. I got up, put all of the wet gear in bags, and continued up the road. I didn't realize that I was only 2/3 of the way up the pass in terms of elevation. I climbed approximately another 1000 feet to cross my highest pass of the trip somewhere around 3400 ft (I think). Because it was so wet, the descent was very cold. Towards the bottom, the valleys were filled with strawberry fields. It apparently is the middle of the season because every field has dozens of workers picking. I found out later that most of the pickers are migrant workers from the old Eastern Bloc countries.
I climbed two more passes during the day and was just physically destroyed by 9:00 pm. I stopped in a small town at the end of 'Europe's deepest lake' (500+ meters deep apparently) called Hornindal. I found what I thought was a city park and tried to set up my tent in an area out of sight behind some pines and along the shore. Before I even got my tent out of the bag, a man approached me to question me. His name is Rasmus Kirkhorn and is a farmer from across the road that owns the property. We started a long conversation about my trip and his career in oil production in Bergen and now back at the farm where he grew up (his father unfortunately passed away recently and he came back to help run the farm with his mother, Helga). I asked permission to camp along the shore, but after a while he extended a welcome to come visit the farm.
research notes_TRADITIONAL FARMING
Approaching the house and barns, I met Helga still doing chores at 9:00 pm. After a quick tour of their house (which has beautifully painted ceilings in a very traditional Norwegian style), Helga came in and prepared tea and rolls. We had a nice conversation about the farm and my travels/research. Helga insisted that I stay in the guest house as a room was open until the following night when her other son came to visit. While discussing my trip, I mentioned my desire to find a traditional farm setra. Luckily, the Kirkhorn family has a very well preserved setra up the mountain directly behind the farm. Helga explained how, as a child, they would bring the cattle up to higher elevations to graze in the summer. Similar to what I learned at my ancestors' farm in Tilldalen, they would bring them up after the spring to let the lower fields regrow so they could harvest the hay for the winter. Every afternoon they would hike up the mountain to milk the cows. They would sleep in the setra, milk the cows again in the morning, and carry the milk down to the farm on their shoulders. They would then spend the day working on the farm or in the fields and repeat the cycle. Sunday was the only day that the family might spend the whole day up at the setra. They would bring food to prepare a nice meal.
Sleeping in a warm bed was much appreciated after the cold, wet week that I have had. I woke up the next morning and headed up the mountain to find the setra. It is a fairly decent hike up switchback roads. It is quite impressive that they would make this trip everyday (and probably not empty handed like I was). After about a 40 minute trek, I found the cluster of setra(r). They are no longer used for traditional farming, but the families still maintain them. The cluster that I visited were protected from new development, but other groups apparently have new additions of larger, vacation hytte.
I would like to thank the Kirkhorns' for their hospitality. The conversation was both delightful and relevant to my project. The actual experience of hiking up the mountain from the farm and on the historic path that they used was a first hand experience that far outweighs any other method to study traditional Norwegian farming nomadism.

August 1, 2007 (Fjærland, NOR)

N 61°34.429', E 06°28.954'


August 2, 2007 (Eivindik, NOR)

N 61°00.043', E 05°10.976'


August 3, 2007 (Bekkjarvik, NOR)

N 60°01.030', E 05°16.769'


August 4, 2007 (Haugesund, NOR)

N 59°24.600', E 05°16.246'
travel notes_RAIN
I left the ferry today with everything in the bags dry for the first time in about a week. This was fortunate because the rain and wind stepped it up about ten notches today. Luckily it was warm enough that I made it the whole day without being cold despite being the wettest that I have gotten so far. To top it off, there was a driving head wind the whole day. Clearly there was a front coming in from the south which is bringing the warmer air-- but it lasted all day.
thesis notes_TOO MUCH SMOOTH SPACE
I have been thinking a lot lately about the scope of my project. The ideas can easily span many scales. Although I was comfortable today because of the warmer temperatures, it was pushing too far away from the comfort level that no.D should provide. Thinking about this helped to clarify how the smooth/striated duality informs the design of the system. I have started to break down the scope into the system, the service, and the nodes.


August 5, 2007 (Sola, NOR)

N 58°52.122', E 05°33.982'


August 6, 2007 (Ogna, NOR)

N 58°31.902', E 05°46.398'
research notes_HITLER'S TEETH
At the end of the day (and after taking a 7 km wrong turn up a mountain) I found the beach and was looking for a campground shown on my map. I came upon a series of concrete barricades that I had read about earlier. They were built by the Nazi occupation in World War II to prevent the Allies from making it past the beach in case they invaded. It looks as though some have been removed, but there is a few kilometer long stretch near Ogna in a protected landscape area that they have been preserved. It is fascinating how something placed by an occupation war regime can have such an almost Cristo artistic quality to them. Although they are reminders of the War, they connect you even more with an already engaging landscape.


August 7, 2007 (Egersund, NOR)

N 58°26.410', E 05°58.613'
travel notes_LAST LEG IN NORWAY
Egersund is one of two southern ports that have frequent ferries to Denmark. Kristiansund, further around the south shore of Norway, is the other. I had earlier considered riding to Kristiansund because it is further south than Egersund and has a shorter ferry trip to Denmark. However, it would take another two days on the bike to get there and I would rather spend those days riding across Denmark. The Egersund ferry goes to Hansholm at the northwest corner of Jylland (the western pennisula of Denmark), while the Kristiansund ferry goes to Hirsthalls at the northeast corner of Jylland. I think that riding across the whole of Denmark might be more relevant to my research right now.


August 7, 2007 (Hanstholm, DEN)

N 57°07.418', E 08°36.654'


August 8, 2007 (Havnebyen, DEN)

N 55°58.239', E 11°22.311'


August 9, 2007 (Copenhagen, DEN)

N 55°40.999', E 12°33.791'
travel notes_OFF OF THE BIKE
total--2141 km (1330 miles)
avg speed--16.5 kph (10.3 mph)
total ascent--72,836 feet
broken spokes--8 (+ one complete wheel rebuild)

August 15, 2007 (Copenhagen, DEN)

N 55°40.999', E 12°33.791'
thesis notes_CROSS POLLINATION QUESTIONS
Deleuze discusses the controversies related to giving innovation credit to the nomads related to weapons. The challenge for historians is to determine how much of the innovation of stirrups, sabers, canons, etc. comes from the nomad and how much came from the empires that the communicated, conquered, or integrated with. For me, it raises the additional question of the modern nomads' role in propagating innovation. It seems obvious that exposure to multiple cities, cultures, and technology is beneficial to the individual nomad, but how beneficial can it be to the local and global economies? Is information sharing already open enough with virtual data communication and internet technologies? Or, will innovation economies still benefit from the physical movement of people? Is their real benefit from cross pollination? Is exposure to different ideas not as effective as actual collaboration with others that live and work differently? This might be related to Richard Florida's theories of the creative class. Lifestyle penetrates innovative and design thinking greater that simple exposure.


August 25, 2007 (Copenhagen, DEN)

N 55°40.999', E 12°33.791'
travel notes_WHY SCANDINAVIA
"Why did you come all the way to Copenhagen to finish your thesis?" Surprisingly, I get asked this question frequently by Danes. My response and my hypothesis is that Scandinavia (and Copenhagen in particular) offers a culture that more openly embraces and encourages creativity than the US. This is not a 'grass is greener' statement. Rather, for me, it is an opportunity to learn from a region that has a culture in place or that is acting politically and economically on priorities consistent with my project. I am here to research what creates this environment and how can my project initiate similar priorities in areas, like the U.S., where alternative lifestyles (such as proposed by 'no.D') might be more challenging.
research notes_THE RISE OF THE CREATIVE CLASS
Part of my response to the Copenhagen question builds off of Richard Florida's 2002 book The Rise of the Creative Class. Florida makes statistical and theoretical connections between the type of people that live in cities and regions and the region's economic health.



August 30, 2007 (Copenhagen, DEN)

N 55°40.999', E 12°33.791'
thesis notes_KUNSTAKADEMIETS ARKITEKTSKOLE
'The Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture' in English. I am enrolled for the fall semester to finish my Valle research and thesis design. I have spent the last week documenting my Valle work to further refine my thesis project. I am going to adhere to the schedule of the thesis level students here at the Academy. Because I am an exchange student, I am not officially part of their degree program. I am still conforming to my University of Washington requirements. I will be in frequent contact with my advisors at UW, but I am also excited to get feedback from the instructors and students here. The department that I am in appears to be focused on a smaller scale than is typical at UW. I was told that their focus extends beyond industrial design. A design might include an object or a piece of furniture, but the spatial context that the object occupies is equally important. I will use this opportunity to focus on the modules of my project--now called 'no.Dules'--here in Copenhagen. I am trying to push the global infrastructure and urban theory design as far as possible in my document before school starts next week.
The students turned in their written proposals last week for comments. They heard feedback from their advisors yesterday and our now revising and adding to these proposals. Once the proposals are approved, they have 100 days to complete their design. At that point, they turn it in and have about a month to prepare their final presentation (in the middle of January). The revisions to my project proposal will allow me to follow their schedule and have a very clear outline for my advisors at UW when I visit for two weeks at the end of September.
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