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FOOD:SERVICE DESIGN_AHO2022S

Week 11:

Monday morning included a collective intro to the written report, scheduled for delivery in two weeks. We began exploring typographical options concerning columns, paragraphs, imagery and layout. These were printed out and discussed privately. Afterwards we continued our preparations for the field trip coming Tuesday. The preparations included arranging a meeting with the mayor of Hjartdal, in addition to printing maps and relevant information. Benjamin left early because of a creeping illness. Bjørn explored and designed some possible promotional surfaces for the service, such as receipts, apparel, stickers and other merchandise, before going home to his hometown to prepare the car for the day to come.

Tuesday was excursion day. Benjamin felt better than the day before, and headed to Lier by train. A well timed delay in the railway service gave us a slow start, but we met up at Drammen station at 09:30. Happy to finally (!) be on the road, we cheered as we drove west. After some kilometeres we made a quick stop, picking up a flower for the road, as a part of our planned rituals. This was to be brought to the destination. The drive westwards sparked some interesting discussions about local potential, possible promotional surfaces and roadside services. Deciding to drive on the new highway between Eiker and Notodden included an interesting reflection on the almost unnoticeable passing of Kongsberg. We passed the famous Hengselva bridge, and approached Notodden in sunny weather. Before driving down into the Notodden valley we stopped at a standard rest area to explore the service it included, and how our association could benefit from using such stops. Tourist information, signs and picnic tables were obvious possibilities. Another quick stop before Notodden came rather abruptly. A few months earlier, Bjørn had driven the same route and had become curious on some subtle headstone looking installations carefully placed along the road. Reaching out to both the Notodden municipality and the State Highways Authority had brought no luck on finding the stones symbolism. Being able to stop this time, we stopped by the most accessible stone we found. Still unsure of their importance, our curiosity grew. Could we take inspiration from this in the creation of our local ritual shrines?

We passed the Notodden Industrial Heritage Site, inscribed in UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. This is where Norsk Hydro started its pioneering activities – in both a Norwegian and international perspective – to develop the electrochemical industry, which revolutionized food production globally. We also stopped at an abandoned petrol station beautifully placed at the entrance of Notoddens city center. The local departments of our national association were planned to develop clubhouses. Would this be such a solution for the department of Notodden?

Driving past Rygi and Stivi, we could see the approaching Stave church in Heddal. A quick stop felt natural. It's historical significance in the development of Norway's constitution was new to us. Suddenly we had entered Hjartdal, and our well planned prototyping began. First stop was the former site of Fossen Kro - an iconic and picturesque roadstop to be burned to the ground in 2009. The only remnant today is the foundation. A ritual including placing a hand on the foundation and saying "If only the troll was alive, so it could extinguish you with the river" was completed. Finding out that the troll in question had survived the fire gave the location a whole new meaning. Sitting lonely in the former play area outside the burned down roadstop, the stone troll looked sad. An iteration to the ritual could include a shift of focus from what was gone (the roadstop) to what remained (the troll). Crossing the Heddøla river we immediately stopped for the next ritual prototype, located at Heddal Mølle, Hjartdals contribution to the national list of locations encapsulating the transition to the 21st century. We quickly discovered that we weren’t the only ones working for development of meaningful local rituals. A local couple had hung up a printed and laminated ritual connected to the river path using the same tone of voice and approach as us. This gave an optimistic spark to the two travelers. We completed our own ritual connected to the site consisting of collecting a handful of earth and dropping it into the foaming waterfall envisioning it being turned into pearls by the local endangered Freshwater Mussel. Discovering a White-throated Dipper, Norway's national bird, flying up the river showed the the vast possibilities for rituals on this location.

Arriving in Sauland, home of Hjartdal's administrative center, we decided to abort the ritual connected to the people emigrating to USA in the eighteen hundreds, because of the lack of brought documents showcasing the names. An iteration could be to say farewell, but not include any names. As soon as we took right onto Tuddalsvegen, we played ritual-connected music from local artist Ingvill Marit Buen Garnås, while driving northwest towards the coniferous gates of Tuddal. Stopping at a location we found perfect, we were ready to test a ritual connected to enviromental attention. Quickly discovering that 50 steps were too few from the parked car, we quickly iterated to 100 steps. We walked into separate directions, stopping at exactly 100 steps, then observing the enviroment for something in particular to remain in thought. Bjørn discovered a Green hairstreak, a small green butterfly, and reflected on the meeting between the two. Benjamin discovered abundance of spruce pinecones and saved this. Leaving the location, we made moose antlers with our hands above our heads and wished the locals a fruitful hunting season. We played some more ritual-connected music, this time from local artist, Knut Buen. The tunes lengths showed the possibilities for visual cues along the way to perfectly time the experience. Beautiful music played on local historical instruments combined with narration gave the entrance into Tuddal an almost sacral feeling.  

Safely arrived in Tuddal, we made a quick stop at the only market in town. "Tuddal pastry" was a welcoming taste. The petrol station, consisting of two subtle rusty pumps was a possible spot for shrines or other physical presence. We decided to head directly into Bondalen, known for untouched cultural landscape and historical significance. It's also, however, known for exceptionally horrible roads. After a couple hundred metres on the narrow and bumpy road, a sound from the rear left wheel gave us a shiver. Something was not right. We stopped at the nearest stopping option: a beautiful summer mountain pasture on a green hill, to discover that the rear left shock absorber was completely broken. This left us stranded, and lacking cellular coverage made contact outwards difficult. Bondalen, also happens to be a several kilometre dead end with very few inhabitants. Finally being able to contact a tow truck, we waited the two hours it took for it to reach us. We explored the area, finding several hundred old wall written scribes in an abandoned and almost fallen wooden shack. Some other planned rituals were tried and reflected upon. A rest in the warm hills between the ancient stone fences proved to be a good way of relaxing. Finally a red truck approached in the far distance. Together we decided that the car was not drivable. The car, with us two inside, was strapped to the truck bed, and we headed back to Notodden. The journey back proved to be an exiting one, as the car couldn’t be put in park mode, so Bjørn kept a firm grip on the steering wheel. The tow truck driver had local knowledge of the roads, so he kept a steady speed of nearly 80km/h on roads meant for way lower. In Notodden we were met by a tired mechanic. We could choose between abandoning the car there, or carefully (!) driving it home, avoiding all uneveness in the road. We decided to do the latter, and headed slowly home, stopping at Elgjsjø café, having meatloaf sandwiches, before driving back to Drammen. Benjamin hopped off at the station, leaving for Oslo, while Bjørn delivered the car at the usual mechanic. An exiting end to an exiting day in an exiting project.

On Wednesday we sat down and reflected upon Tuesdays field trip. We used the information we gathered, doing the "local rituals" in Hjartdal, to iterate and improve the overall experience of the service. We later went on to get an overview of what we had done thus far in the project, and what we had left. We got a rough outline of the tasks we need to tackle, and started on writing the final rapport.

The following Thursday became a day of writing. It started off with discussing a text we had written, with fellow students. This was apart of a design theory course. After lunch we spent the rest of the day writing on the final rapport.

On Friday morning Benjamin continued working on the final rapport. Bjørn occupied his time with design renderings showcasing the service. After lunch Benjamin worked on a fictive commercial for the association, and Bjørn began to write on this weeks tumblr-post (which ended up being the biggest post, thus far). By the end of the day, we felt satisfied with our work, and we looked forward to the evening as we were going to a concert.