Axel Olson Leans Into the Conceptual Side of Architecture

This project allowed him to open up an alternative: a temporary structure built out of cast-off things that would otherwise go to waste. Solid items like furniture or strong cardboard boxes could serve as the frame, and other items could be infill. And his strength in narrative and digital design (Olson is also working toward a certificate at Michigan’s Digital Studies Institute) helped shape this vision into a dramatic reality. “Tell more and say less,” he notes of his visual approach, which can fit a whole story into one image. 

Olson’s interest in the intersection of digital and physical has shaped most of his endeavors. In That’s a Wrap, he activated a postindustrial site as a film base camp, with strategic placement of green screens and props that allow users to stage the space both physically and digitally in creative ways. “The image of the building becomes what people want to imagine it as,” he says. In Signs of Life, zones for urban construction or maintenance at Ann Arbor’s Nichols Arboretum are enlivened by signage, which is then organized and monitored via a digital platform. 

His approach helps him use this balance between digital and physical to tackle larger issues, usually in unexpected ways. Before the Bright Shadow scoops out or “redacts” part of the U.S. embassy in Havana to create a zone for community internet connectivity. And Some of This Is That, a group project, suggests new typologies for collective living.

After graduation, Olson hopes he can continue to work on projects that exist beyond the typical physical realm of architecture, be it embedded digital applications, new interfaces, or things that haven’t been thought of yet. “There’s always a chance to rethink uses, building types, and reality,” he says.