The expression ‘thinking out of the box’ fits Snøhetta like a ‘T’. This is because each and every architectural achievement of this Norwegian company is as beautiful as it’s diverse. Dealing mainly in architecture and landscape architecture, the company also undertakes interior designing, product designing, and graphic designing.
Snøhetta was founded by Kjetil Trædal Thorsen and Craig Edward Dykers in Oslo, Norway. Although it began as a collaborative architectural and landscape workshop, the trans-disciplinary way of thinking made it one of the top global architectural firms.
It was only a matter of time that Snøhetta went international. Today, it has branches in Adelaide, Australia; Hong Kong, China; Innsbruck, Austria; New York, USA; Paris, France; and San Francisco, USA. The company employs around 250 designers involved in both local and international projects.
What the company actually accomplishes is beautifully stated on its website: “Our work strives to enhance our sense of surroundings, identity and relationship to others and the physical spaces we inhabit, whether feral or human-made. Museums, products, reindeer observatories, graphics, landscapes, and dollhouses get the same care and attention to purpose.”
Snøhetta has many iconic projects to its credit. It constructed Snøhetta underwater restaurant in Lindesnes, Norway, a first in Europe. It also constructed the world’s northernmost energy-positive building in Trondheim, Norway, and many others.
In the international arena too, Snøhetta has created a niche of its own. In Sydney Australia, it constructed Aesop’s largest store to date; in Egypt, it built the Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina); in Berlin, Germany constructed the Norwegian Embassy; it also reconstructed the Times Square in New York, USA; and many more.
Besides this, Snøhetta has also designed a new banknote for the Central Bank of Norway. Its installation, ‘The Best Weapon’, commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center, is currently displayed at the UN in New York, USA. It designed S-1500 chair made entirely out of recycled plastic from the local fish farming industry in Hemnesberget, Northern Norway. There are many more diverse Snohetta projects to the credit of the company.
For its outstanding work, Snøhetta has won many laurels too. Its Bibliotheca Alexandrina received both the World Architecture Award and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Its Oslo Opera House too was conferred with World Architecture Award; the Mies van der Rohe Award; and others. There are many more awards in this company’s kitty.
