The department has special expertise in the following areas:

Building materials and construction

This area of expertise addresses the technical and structural aspects of building design and use. An important challenge for architects is to take advantage of the technical, physical and aesthetic characteristics of specific materials and components to develop high quality architectural solutions. The department has had a special focus in recent years on developing an understanding of wood as a building material.

Energy and environmentally responsible buildings

Buildings are responsible for 40% of Norway’s energy use, and generate 40% of the country’s waste. Architects have a great responsibility to help reduce these numbers, both the fabrication and operation phases. This area of expertise aims to develop knowledge and skills in different areas of energy and resource use and indoor environmental quality, and to apply them both in the design of new buildings, and for energy and environmental measures in existing buildings.

Transformation - preservation and development

The conservation and development of existing structures is of increasing importance for architects, and affects both individual structures and built environments. This requires a comprehensive architectural approach that encompasses all aspects of the processes of change - cultural, functional, technical and experiential including an appreciation of the relationship between architecture and natural conditions, and the design of architectural modifications in relation to their built context[AHW4] .

The contextual understanding of architecture through history, theory, learning and communication.

Knowledge of architectural practice perspectives, structures and contemporary theory are a prerequisite for understanding, interpreting and communicating today's architecture and our built environment. There is a particular emphasis on identifying and explaining the social, ideological and technical assumptions that influence building design and built environments combined with active development of learning in all aspects of the design process and its communication.