The route as infrastructure

Losæter is more than an urban farm: it is a place where growing, cooking, learning and sharing come together. This project explores how small, mobile and modular infrastructures can support these practices by bringing materials closer to the people and activities along the route.

Losæter is much more than just an urban farm. It’s a place where agriculture, cooking, art, learning, and community activities come together. Behind these activities lies a less visible infrastructure: tools need to be stored, materials need to be transported, people need spaces to gather and work, and food and supplies need to be managed. Today, some of these functions are spread out between a shipping container and the bakehouse, making Losæter’s infrastructure fragmented and difficult to grasp as a whole.

This project explores the possibility of transforming the existing path through Losæter into something more than just a means of getting from one place to another. It could become an infrastructure that distributes and connects the functions necessary for the community: storage, tools, cooking, culture, gathering, and learning. Rather than adding a large building, the project explores a network of cabin interventions along the route. These elements could adapt to different activities and seasons, while making the infrastructure more accessible, easier to use, and more flexible. In this way, the route becomes a system that supports both Losæter’s current practices and its potential future development.

Losæter is a place shaped by the people who use it. As a design student exploring the site, I became interested not only in its visible activities, but also in the infrastructure that makes them possible. Growing, cooking, learning, making and gathering all require tools, materials and spaces that are currently scattered across the site. The existing shipping container provides storage, but its central and closed position can create a barrier between the resources and the people who need them. My project therefore looks at the route through Losæter as an opportunity to bring these resources closer to the different zones and their communities. Through small, mobile and modular wooden cabins, the project aims to make the infrastructure more visible, accessible and adaptable to the people who use and take care of the site.

The existing path through Losæter connects different activities, but today it mainly acts as a way to move from one place to another. This made me question what a route could provide beyond circulation. What if walking through the site could also mean encountering the tools, resources and spaces needed to participate? My motivation is to transform the path into an active infrastructure that supports the people using Losæter. Instead of creating one large and centralized structure, I wanted to explore a lighter system that grows from the existing landscape. Small mobile cabins can follow the needs of each zone, bring materials closer to activities and change over time. The project is therefore not about building more, but about making what already exists more accessible, visible and connected.

The gigamap shows Losæter in its existing condition, before the proposed interventions. It can be read as a network of activities, people, spaces and resources that are already connected, but not always visibly or efficiently. The map follows the different practices taking place across the site, from growing and harvesting to cooking, learning, gathering and sharing, while identifying the infrastructure that supports them. Tools and materials are mainly concentrated in the existing shipping container, while the Bakehouse supports cooking and other activities. By mapping these relationships, flows and points of storage, the gigamap reveals where the existing system works and where gaps or barriers appear. It highlights the distance between resources and activities, as well as the places where infrastructure is missing, limited or difficult to access.

[PARAGRAPH NOT PROVIDED – explain how to read the gigamap]

The second gigamap shows how the proposed project transforms the existing network of Losæter. Instead of concentrating resources in one central container, the project distributes small modular cabins along the route, placing storage, tools and other resources directly within the different zones of activity. The route therefore becomes more than a connection between places: it becomes an active infrastructure that supports the people using the site.

The map shows how each cabin can respond to the specific needs of its zone while remaining part of a larger network. Each one is managed by a zone leader, who can organise its interior according to the activities taking place there. Perforated walls allow shelves, drawers and other ready-made modules to be attached, removed or rearranged. The cabins themselves can also be dismantled and moved when the needs of the site change.

By making resources more visible and closer to the activities, the project aims to reduce the barrier created by the existing central storage. People coming to help can more easily identify where materials are located and feel invited to use them. The gigamap therefore illustrates a shift from a centralised and fragmented system towards a distributed, flexible and user-led network, where the infrastructure can evolve together with Losæter and its community.