“Utedoen” (The outhouse) – A diploma project by Hanna Lie Bakken and Kine Nordgård Ugelstad. The diploma is an exam at the end semester at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. (AHO) Supervisors: Petter Kveseth and Matthew David Dalziel.
How does architecture affect our everyday routines? How can architecture inspire or force us to change our habits? Can unexpected events serve as an opportunity to change habits, routines and architecture?
We wanted to explore and learn by building during our diploma. How are the things we draw as architects actually built? Can building something real, in 1:1 size, teach us something drawing does not? When the sewage pipes in Kine´s house froze the winter of 2021, a need for another temporary (or permanent) solution for toilet visits occurred. This form the backdrop and starting point of this project. To be able to build something within a tight student budget and with a curiosity of what can become of what others have discarded, the entire utedo is built with re-used and reclaimed materials. The only things bought were screws, pins for the columns and spare parts for tools. The materials and the state they were in set boundaries for how we could build. For instance, some elements are oversized, considering the structural strength of materials that have been lying outside for a long time. The method of trial and error and intuitive testing in 1:1 made us feel in control of what kind of room we would end up with and it allowed for specific adaptations along the way. Like highlighting a dent in the terrain after preparing the site.
Besides the obvious function of the utedo – to go to the toilet – we wanted the building to add something more to everyday routines. By removing the toilet and its room from the house, the whole ritual of going outside and walking the path to the utedo and back becomes an experience. The themes of the toilet, the room it sits in and the infrastructure it’s connected to have also been explored throughout the semester and the research done has raised a lot of questions. How does the flushing toilet affect how we relate to our own “waste”? How do visits to the toilet impact our habits and routines and what happens when we take the room of the toilet out of the house? How does the fact that most of us are reliantly connected to sewage infrastructure affect our environment? How have humans “gone” throughout history? What are the systems, rules and regulations we are obliged to follow?
The simplicity of the utedo serves as a comprehensible entryway to more complex topics. The initial goal of this project was to build something and to learn from it. Throughout the semester we’ve understood that the topic of the toilet and the utedo connects to cultural, economic, social, environmental and political spheres. Our project does not offer a perfect solution, not for a perfect sewage-system and not for the utedo. For us it has been a tool for learning and a generator of discussions. Discussions connected to the specific topics of sewage and human waste, but also on how we learn, how we want to live our lives and who we want to be as architects.
“When the invisible infrastructure that supports our lives fails, it opens a space for us to rethink how we live. Confronted with a timely infrastructure failure, Hanna and Kine embarked on a project of learning through ‘do-ing’. The result is a project that addresses multiple scales of concern with confidence and playful ingenuity. They have made a complex little building that is both beautiful and challenging. As a simple building for an everyday ritual, it is grounded, practical and resourceful, addressing themes of materiality, tectonics, landscape, and form to great effect. And, through constructing an alternative place for that everyday ritual they have made a project that engages critically with human waste practices at every scale, making both a theoretical and physical space to reflect on how we live.” (Matthew Dalziel, supervisor)
