Snohetta: The Latest Architecture and News

Construction has just begun on Snøhetta’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Library in North Carolina, USA. The new project is designed to become a significant destination in Uptown Charlotte. Last week, the main library organized a commemoration to celebrate the beginning of the demolition phase on site in anticipation of the upcoming construction. It is set to open in the spring of 2026.

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In a time marked by environmental challenges and a growing demand for authenticity and cultural diversity, architects are increasingly turning to indigenous knowledge systems not only as sources of inspiration, but as viable solutions to adapt and respond to local and global challenges. As traditional custodians of the land, indigenous communities posses a profound understanding of their ecosystems, locally-available materials, cultural norms and social constrains. This knowledge holds insights valuable for shaping contemporary architecture, helping it adapt to both the people and their environments.

Vernacular and indigenous practices are emerging as a foundation for architectural reimagining, informing spatial lays, the choice of materials and building techniques while also allowing for the integration of innovation and contemporary expression. This careful blend of tradition and modernity can have a significant impact in terms of sustainability, as architects who adopt the indigenous approach to harnessing available resources can not only create structures rooted in their context, but also minimize the ecological impact of the construction. Additionally, collaborating directly with indigenous communities leads to projects that prioritize community participation, cultural sensitivity and sustainable development.

In 2021, the architectural practice at large started to transform; people “no longer felt the need to stick to the traditional way of doing things when it came to matters related to the work environment”. Employees all over the industry have spoken up in recent years and have considered the solution of unionizing. In May of 2023, the employees of the renowned New York office Snøhetta announced a bid to unionize the studio, the second private-sector architecture studio in the United States to take this step. This week, it was declared that the workers voted against unionizing.

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Five finalists have been shortlisted in the competition to design the new Griegkvartalet Theater in Bergen, Norway. The project is set to be a cultural powerhouse in Western Norway, hosting multidisciplinary forms of art, including opera, musical theater, ballet, dance, concerts, and conferences. The competition emphasizes integration with the surroundings, urban space, energy efficiency, and feasibility.

The shortlisted teams include Henning Larsen Architects, Snøhetta, Zaha Hadid Architects, MAD arkitekter and Kengo Kuma, and the Nordic Office of Architecture includes Arkkitehtitoimisto ALA in the architecture subjects. Each studio was selected from 32 participants worldwide and will be filtered into three winners in the coming stages in the fall of 2023. Ultimately, by March 2024, one winner will be selected and receive the official service contract to begin construction.

In parallel to this year's Venice Architecture Biennale, The European Cultural Centre (ECC) presented the sixth edition of its extensive architecture exhibition titled Time Space Existence. The 2023 iteration of the group show draws attention to expressions of sustainability in its numerous forms, ranging from a focus on the environment and urban landscape to the unfolding conversations on innovation, reuse, community, and inclusion. A total of 217 projects by established participants like Snøhetta or MADWORKSHOP and emerging players such as Urban Radicals or ACTA are currently on show through the 26th of November, 2023, at Venice's Palazzo Bembo, Palazzo Mora, and Marinaressa Gardens.

In response to climate change, the installations on show investigate new technologies and construction methods that reduce energy consumption through circular design and develop innovative, organic, and recycled building materials. Participants also address social justice by presenting living solutions envisioned for displaced communities and minorities, while others examine the tensions between the built urban environment and the nature surrounding it to identify opportunities for coexistence.

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Milan Design Week is an annual festival that returned to Milan this April, with as a main event, The Salone del Mobile, which runs from April 18 to 23, 2023, at the Fiera Milano exhibition venue. Over 370,000 people attended the furniture fair this year, while thousands of design studios presented furniture, lighting, appliances, kitchen, bathroom, outdoor and workstation products. To highlight furniture and object design and the broader context of Milanese architecture and culture, many architectural offices collaborated with various businesses to make architect-designed items and construct architectural installations.

Reputable architects participated in the week-long event as they do every year, using products, furniture, and installations to share their expertise, address some of the most pressing issues facing the field, and demonstrate how their work can benefit the environment and society. Many firmly established architecture studios, from Foster + Partners, Mario Cucinella, and Hassell, designed various products. Furthermore, architects such as The New Raw, Snøhetta, and Studio Etienne Bastormagi have designed products focusing on efficient and sustainable systems that can inform future decision-making.

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Kengo Kuma and Associates have just been awarded second place in an architecture competition to design the expansion and renovation of the Egyptian Museum in Torino, Italy. It served for many decades as the primary civic space in Turin, with its public areas closed off from the rest of the city. Kengo Kuma’s proposal aims to recreate the public plaza, a city center covered by a thin glass canopy. Founded in 1824 and is the oldest museum for Ancient Egyptian culture, the Egyptian Museum in Torino held a competition earlier this year and received entries by Pininfarina Architecture, Carlo Ratti Associati, and Snøhetta. The winning project by OMA / David Gianotten and Andreas Karavanas will transform the museum into a cultural space, creating one covered courtyard and a series of connected urban rooms within the existing settlement.

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The finalists for the Opera of the Future competition have been announced. This urban planning competition, commissioned by the state capital of Düseldorf, was created to select a location for the new cultural institution. After an extensive examination of potential site locations, the two options for the competition proposals were: Heinrich-Heiene-Allee, where the current opera house is, and Am Wehrhahn.

Throughout the brief, firms were encouraged to figure out how this future project could become a lively and public space open to the entire city, offering a wide range of services. As a result, submissions were received for both prospective buildings, and the finalists for each location were announced. 

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Snøhetta, in collaboration with MQDC, has released the design for Cloud 11, a large-scale mixed-use complex in the South Sukhumvit district in Bangkok, Thailand. The new development addresses the pressing need for urban green spaces in the densely built neighborhood. The project, measuring a total of 250.000 square meters, also aims to help transform the Sukhumvit into a hub for innovation and tech companies in the city while providing the area with a large, green public space and spaces for artists, makers, and tech entrepreneurs. Construction has already started, and the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

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Snøhetta, the Norweigan-based architecture and landscape practice, has been chosen to re-imagine the French Asylum and Administrative Courts of Montreuil. The proposal puts together both institutions on one site, surrounded by luscious green areas and a biophilic landscape. Set to begin construction in 2024, and be completed by 2026, the project includes the design of the buildings, landscape, wayfinding, interior, and furniture.

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The Sámi National Theater Beaivváš and Sámi High School and Reindeer Husbandry School are two of the most important cultural institutions of Sápmi, a region in northern Norway, Sweden, and Finland traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. To strengthen the position of the two institutions, a project was initiated in June 2021 to create a shared cultural and educational facility. A design proposal by 70°N arkitektur, in collaboration with Snøhetta and artist and architect Joar Nango, was chosen following a competition. The building, also known as Čoarvemátta, is currently under construction and is expected to be completed by 2024.

Snøhetta unveiled the design of a new building and landscape design for the Vesterheim campus in Decorah, Iowa. The campus, which also contains the National Norwegian-American Museum and Folk Art School, explores the diversity of American immigration through the lens of the Norwegian-American experience. The new 8,000-square-foot building, known as “the Commons,” is set to become the entry point and main gathering space for the cultural campus. Aside from anchoring the site, the intervention also aims to strengthen the site’s connection to the city. The building is scheduled to be completed in the Summer of 2023.

Developed by WERK Arkitekter and Snøhetta, the new maritime center on the coast of Esbjerg, Denmark, opens to the public. The wooden structure is conceived as a gathering space for watersports clubs and other visitors to the harbor, providing the coastal town with a maritime social hub. The circular structure protects the visitors from harsh weather conditions, while the large windows and amphitheater stairs open up views of the sea. Dubbed “The Lantern,” the project represents the winning design of a competition organized in 2019.

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Snøhetta, the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC), and the New York Public Library (NYPL) unveiled designs for a new 12,000-square-foot branch library in the Westchester Square neighborhood of The Bronx, NYC. Inspired by the surrounding greenery, the energy-efficient building will be wrapped in pastoral print fritted glass, defining the new structure as an important economic and educational node within the neighborhood. Construction on the new Library is anticipated to start during mid-to-late 2023.

New York’s Museum of Sex announces its expansion to Miami in spring 2023 with a 3000-square-meters museum designed by the international studio Snøhetta. The converted warehouse will feature three extensive exhibition galleries, retail space, and a bar to preserve, present, and celebrate the cultural significance of human sexuality in one of the most vibrant and diverse arts communities in the USA. The inaugural program will include work by Hajime Sorayama and Super Funland: Journey into the Erotic Carnival, the museum’s main immersive experience.

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550 Madison Avenue (née the AT&T Building, more recently Sony Plaza) is among the more recognizable figures on New York’s skyline. Designed by architect-provocateur Philip Johnson, the 37-story skyscraper stands out thanks to its curious headgear: a classical pediment broken by a circular notch, inviting frequent comparisons to the top of a Chippendale grandfather clock. A singular, if largely inoffensive presence on today’s icon-heavy streetscape, the design was positively shocking on its debut in 1979, when Johnson himself appeared on the cover of Time holding a model of the project, then still four years from completion. The image heralded the arrival of something new in American architecture: the fading of the flat-crowned Modernist towers of the midcentury and the onset of the Postmodernist wave.

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