AHO was established in 1945 initially as a “crisis course” for architects who had seen their education interrupted by World War II. Prior to this, most Norwegian architects were educated at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in Trondheim, a polytechnic school. Throughout the interwar period, many architects had called for a more artistically oriented architectural education, and for an institution based in Oslo, where the most qualified teaching personnel were located. The architecture programme was initially run as part of The Norwegian Arts and Crafts School (SHKS), but in 1962 AHO was established as an independent institution.
The first industrial design programme in Norway, the Institute of Industrial Design, was established at SHKS in 1983. In 1996, the Institute merged with The Oslo School of Architecture. Master of Landscape Architecture became part of AHO’s master’s programmes in 2004. In 2005, The Oslo School of Architecture changed name to The Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In 2009, the Institute of Industrial Design changed its name to the Institute of Design.