• Blick in die Ausstellung „Snøhetta: Relations“ im aut mit der von Snøhetta realisierten ­„Sozialen Landschaft“
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snøhetta: relations

exhibition

“Our projects are examples of attitudes rather than designs. They are samples in a series of contextual examinations rather than isolated masterpieces. They are associative rather than symbolic. They are comments rather than statements. Every story told is a shared experience of contemporary conditions set within a given frame.” (Snøhetta)

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Their first major project was the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. With the Oslo Opera House and its accessible roofscape — for which they were given the Mies van der Rohe Award and the European Prize for Urban Public Space — the Norwegian studio Snøhetta established its international reputation. Founded in 1989 as a working group of architects and landscape architects, Snøhetta is involved today in a multitude of projects worldwide in the fields of architecture, landscape design, interior design and brand design, with 180 employees at its two main studios in Oslo and New York, as well as branch offices in San Francisco and Innsbruck.

In New York, for instance, they realized the entrance pavilion for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and recently redesigned Times Square. In San Francisco they expanded Mario Botta’s San Francisco Museum of Modern Art building, transforming the exhibition house into an open, inviting location for art and education. In Toronto they created extensive spaces on the eight individually designed floors of the Ryerson University Student Learning Center, where students are able to meet and communicate. In Saudi Arabia the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture is currently under construction, and in France Lascaux IV was recently opened at the Centre Internationale d’Art Parietal, which is oriented on the idea of a cave. Besides such renowned projects, which trace back for the most part to competition successes, Snøhetta devotes itself just as equally to small-scale works, such as a pavilion that enables visitors to observe wild reindeer herds in the Dovrefjell National Park, a small hunter’s cabin, reachable on foot only, in the middle of the Norwegian mountains, or a tree house, ten meters above the ground, as a component of a treehotel in Northern Sweden.

What connects all of Snøhetta’s projects is the approach that views architecture as a constructed landscape, a landscape that defines an architectonic space which also articulates itself socio-politically and opens possibilities. Starting from the intensive engagement with the respective local contexts of landscape, history and social environment, the always multidisciplinary teams attempt to find a harmonious solution for the respective location.

Interdisciplinarity is not a buzzword at Snøhetta, but rather the driving force and attitude that allows as broad a conglomerate of knowledge, experiences and ideas as possible to flow into the formation process. Because a design never arises from a single author at Snøhetta, but is always the result of joint draft work. Not only internally, where female and male architects, interior designers, landscape planners and graphic designers work together on every project in hierarchically flatly organized teams and bring in their different perspectives, but also externally in collaboration with experts from the various fields — be they men and women artists, tradespersons, philosophers or sociologists — and interest groups making an impact in the particular project setting. Behind this pluralistic process stands the goal of approaching a set of tasks as impartially as possible and developing holistic approaches that ultimately lead to solutions that gain high acceptance among all concerned parties.

The exhibition „relations“ would like to make this interdisciplinary, social and landscape-related approach of Snøhetta visible and experiential. Accordingly, this is not a matter of a small work exhibition, but rather of a reworking and redesign of the existing spaces and structures. In this way, both of aut’s upper spaces are transformed into a “social landscape” which people can lay, sit and walk on, which questions common usage, and wants to animate visitors to an unusual way of spatial perception.

Under the motto “Snøhetta and friends – details of collaborations” and by contrasting designs, materials and prototypes with the finished project, it becomes clear which disciplines and craftspeople respectively played a part in the origination process. A “Nordic room” is dedicated to the theme of location and landscape and partly introduces very small-scaled and rather unknown projects by Snøhetta with photographs and stories. On top of this, “A House to Die In” comprehensively documents the formation process of a concrete project, a house for the Norwegian artist Bjarne Melgaard.

exhibition duration
June 30th to October 7th 2017

opening hours   
tue – fri 11am to 6pm
sat       11am to 5pm
closed during holidays

snøhetta

Snøhetta began as a collaborative architectural and landscape workshop, and has remained true to its trans-disciplinary way of thinking since its inception. Today, Snøhetta has grown to become an internationally renowned practice of architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, and brand design, with more than 180 employees from 30 different nations at its two main studios in Oslo and New York, as well as branch offices in San Francisco, Innsbruck, Stockholm, and Adelaide. Snøhetta is currently involved in numerous projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

selected awards
2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture; 2009 Mies van der Rohe Award; 2010 European Prize for Urban Public Space; 2011 World Architecture Festival, Display; 2013 AIA/ALA Library Building Award; 2014 MIPIM Award, Best Future Project; 2015 WAN Sustainable Buildings 2015 Award; WIN Interior Practice of the Year; Red Dot Award, Communication Design; 2016 Award for Design Excellence 2016, DOGA; AIA/ALA ­Library Building Award

selected projects
1992 Sonja Hennies Plaza, Oslo (N); 1994 Lillehammer Art Museum, Lillehammer (N); 1998 Karmøy Fishing Museum, Karmøy (N); 2000 Hamar Town Hall, Hamar (N); 2001 Turner Contemporary Proposal, Margate (E); The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Berlin (D); Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria (EG); 2002 Courtyard Fredens Garden, Oslo (N); Artesia Wellness Center, Oslo (N); 2003 Tafjord Gallery, Tafjord (N); Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Oslo (N); Bjølsen Campus Landscape, Oslo (N); Bærum Cultural Center, Sandvika (N); Mediterranean Institute of Neurobiology, Marseille (F); 2004 Morild Light Project, Skien (N); 2005 Herning Center for the Arts Proposal, Herning (DK); Karl Johans Gate, Oslo (N); Snøhetta Oslo, Skur 39 2005 Oslo (N); 2006 Tuballoon, Kongsberg Jazz Festival, Kongsberg (N); 2007 Kivik Art Museum, Kivik (S); Petter Dass Museum, Alstadhaug (N); Bjørnsrudskog Kindergarten, Eidsvoll (N); Think, Geneva (CH); Eggum Tourist Route, Lofoten (N); University Campus Dublin Proposal, Dublin (IR); Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London (GB); 2008 Hotel Brosundet, Ålesund; Dansens Hus, Oslo (N); Bølgen & Moi, Nydalen, Oslo (N); Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Oslo (N); 2009 Lysaker Station, Lysaker (N); Bølgen & Moi, Tjuvholmen, Oslo (N); VM Pavilion, Oslo (N); Eggemoen Aviation & Technology Park, Eggemoen (N); 2010 Guatemala City Benches, Guatemala City (GUA); 2011 Seaside Cabin Larvik, Lille Aarøya, Larvik (N); Marmomacc, Verona (I); Stillspotting Guggenheim, New York (USA); Tverrfjellhytta, Norwegian Wild Reindeer Pavilion, Hjerkinn, Dovre (N); Wolfe Center for the Collaborative Arts; Bowling Green, Ohio (USA); DNB – The Norwegian Bank; Oslo (N); 2012 Alice Fine, Stockholm (S); Idea Work, Oslo (N); Nordic Built (N); Heinemann Duty Free Shop, Gardermoen (N); 2013 Sup-Plywood, Nordic Cool; Washington DC (USA); ROM, Oslo (N); Barcode B.10.1, Oslo (N); Bjellandsbu – Åkrafjorden Cabin, Etne, Hordaland (N); Hudøy, Hudøy (N); Avinor (N); OkCupid Headquarters, New York (USA); Rema1000 Sustainable Concept Store System, Kroppanmarka (N); Telemark, Telemark (N); Premier 45 High Performance Cruiser; Dallas Park Pavilion, Dallas (USA); James B. Hunt Jr. Library, Raleigh (USA); International Museum of Children‘s Art, Oslo (N); 2014 José Parlá’s Studio, Brooklyn, New York (USA); ZEB Pilot House 2014 Larvik (N); National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion, New York (USA); YME Universe, Oslo (N); Aesop Oslo, Oslo (N); Felleskjøpet Headquarters, Lillestrøm (N); Vulkan Beehive, Oslo (N); The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, Queen‘s University, Kingston, Ontario (CDN); Powerhouse Kjørbo, Bærum (N); Braastad XO Contemporary (N); Living the Nordic Light (A); Edge Effect, International Garden Festival, Jardins de Métis, Quebec (CDN); Olympic Games Oslo 2022; Oslo (N); 2015 Obama Presidential Center Proposal, Honolulu, Hawaii (USA); Swarovski Kristallwelten, Wattens (A); Melgaard + Munch, Oslo (N); People Process Projects, Oslo (N); Ryerson University Student Learning Centre, Toronto (CDN); Norway‘s National Parks (N); RELAX! Market Street Prototyping Festival; San Francisco (USA); Kaspar Weyrer Straße, Innsbruck (A); 2016 Aesop Raffles City, Singapore; Shoot Gallery, Oslo (N); MAX IV Laboratory Landscape, Lund (S); Aesop Homansbyen 2016 Oslo (N); Lascaux IV – The International Centre for Cave Art, Montignac (F); Lillehammer Art Museum and Lillehammer Cinema Expansion, Lillehammer (N); Aesop ION, Singapore; Faust, Oslo (N); Houdini Retail Hub, Oslo (N); SFMOMA Expansion, San Francisco (USA)

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