Snøhetta AS is an architectural practice based in Oslo, Norway and New York City, USA., with the present organisation established in 1989, when they won – firm among more than 500 architects worldwide – the competition for the new library in Alexandria, Egypt.
Simon Ewings is a Project Manager & Senior Architect at Snøhetta. The firm works from its own premises, located within an old warehouse by the waterfront in the Oslo dock area. The calmness of the location and the open office plan strengthens the co-operative attitude and simplifies internal communication and sharing of experience. The office has more than 120 employees from 17 nations, with a conscious mix of gender and age.
Snøhetta has developed a reputation for maintaining a strong relationship between landscape and architecture in all of its projects. They’re committed to the idea of teamwork throughout the entirety of the design process. The office is multidisciplinary, comprised of architects, landscape architects, interior architects and industrial designers working closely with artists and engineers as collaborators.
The practice, Ewings emphasises, strives for eco-effective and beautiful design solutions, with the aim of achieving “good growth”, i.e. spaces that are experiential, restorative and attractive; creating accessible habitats adapted to the surrounding culture, climate and ecosystem. Ongoing investigation and advanced technology, he notes, are core tools in creating cost-effective sustainable designs.
Opera House; Oslo, Norway
Snøhetta proposed that the production facilities of the opera house, completed spring 2008, should be realised as a self-contained, rationally planned ‘factory’ that should be both functional and flexible.
The building connects city and fjord, urbanity and landscape. To the East, the ‘factory’ is articulated and varied, and one can see the activities within the building: ballet rehearsal rooms on the upper levels, the workshops at street level.
The materials, with their specific weight, colour, texture and temperature, were vital to the design of the building. Snøhetta’s architecture is narrative: it is the materials which form the defining elements of the spaces. Three main materials are employed: white stone (Italian marble) for the ‘carpet’, oak timber for the ‘wave wall’, and metal for the ‘factory’, and glass for transparency throughout.
The main auditorium is a classic horseshoe theatre built for opera and ballet, housing almost 1400 visitors divided between stalls, perterre, and three balconies; technical spaces occupy the area above the third balcony. The orchestra pit is highly flexible and can be adjusted in height and area with the use of three separate lifts.
The King Abdulaziz Center for Knowledge and Culture; Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
When completed in 2011, the project – over 45,000 m2 – will contain some 50,000m2 of diverse cultural facilities, including an auditorium, cinema, library, exhibition hall, museum and archive.
The auditorium will seat 1000 visitors and will provide for a wide range of events. The library is planned to be a center of learning containing some 300.000 books on open access. And the great exhibition hall will accommodate large scale travelling exhibitions, as well as providing the setting for social events, banquets and conferences.
The museum and archive facilities connect the vibrant cultural life of the center to the past and to the roots of the society from which this center is conceived.
[...] Snøhetta, Norway [...]