A master’s thesis by Dagny Lein Værnes and Erlend Tegneby Vegstø explores how digital 3D reconstruction can make lost cultural landscapes visible again, using Oscarshall’s Neo-Gothic greenhouse and the historical landscape of Thulstrupløkken at Bygdøy as a case study.
How can digital tools help us understand cultural landscapes that are fragmented, transformed, or partly lost? This question is central to the master’s thesis by Dagny Lein Værnes and Erlend Tegneby Vegstø, completed in June 2026 as the final project of their five-year Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). The thesis was supervised by Bjørn Anders Fredriksen and Ramzi Hassan.
The project investigates the Neo-Gothic greenhouse at Oscarshall, built in 1856, and its relationship to the surrounding landscape at Thulstrupløkken on Bygdøy. Through historical sources, archaeological findings, maps, photographs, illustrations, and landscape analysis, the students developed a digital 3D reconstruction of the greenhouse and its landscape context.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, Thulstrupløkken was an important part of the public landscape park at Bygdøy. The greenhouse functioned both as a production facility and as a visual focal point along the carriage road leading to Oscarshall Palace. Together with open lawns, winding paths, vegetation, and viewpoints, it contributed to the park as a place for recreation, education, and encounters with nature.
Over time, much of this landscape changed. Former park areas were gradually transformed into grazing land and production-oriented areas, while many historical structures, views, and spatial qualities disappeared or became difficult to perceive. Today, much of the historical character of the landscape is no longer easily readable.
The digital reconstruction makes it possible to re-examine these lost relationships. The 3D model shows how architecture, vegetation, terrain, and pathways may once have worked together as part of a coherent park composition. At the same time, the thesis presents the reconstruction as a knowledge-based hypothesis rather than an exact image of the past. Some elements are supported by strong evidence, while others are based on qualified interpretation and comparison with similar historical sites.
The thesis is a strong example of how digital visualization can support the analysis, interpretation, and communication of cultural-historical landscapes. It shows how 3D reconstruction can make hidden historical qualities visible again, while also communicating uncertainty and gaps in historical knowledge.