Snohetta: The Latest Architecture and News

The City of Prague announced the international competition results for the design of the Vltava Philharmonic Hall. The winning project is designed by Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group – BIG. The new concert hall aims to become a focal point for the city and reinforce Prague's reputation as a European cultural capital. The proposed volume of the new Philharmonic Hall presents a recognizable image while also being well integrated into the complex topography of the Vltava riverbank. Visitors are invited to follow the meandering series of plazas connected by sloping roofs that take them from the riverbank to the rooftop, promising views of the historic city center of Prague. Spanish architecture practice Barozzi Veiga collaborated with local office Atelier M1 and won second place. Bevk Perović Arhitekti and Petr Hájek Architekti won third and fourth place, respectively, while Snøhetta's proposal was declared the fifth winner.

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Snøhetta was founded on the United Nations 1987 Brundtland Commission’s three main pillars of sustainable development: economic growth, environmental protection, and social equality. Their highly value and purpose-driven operations has since then expanded to 330 employees in 7 studios all over the world, from hometown Oslo to Adelaide, HongKong, Paris and Innsbrück, as well as their sister studios in New York and San Fransisco.

Snøhetta and Dartmouth have unveiled images of their upcoming expansion and redesign of the Hopkins Center for the Arts (the Hop) in Hanover, New Hampshire. The project aims to modernize the existing arts center and create a renewed gateway to the campus’s Arts District. The new architecture will feature new practice and performance spaces, increased connections to surrounding arts buildings, as well as upgraded accessibility and mobility throughout the master plan.

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Under the latest round of NYC's Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Project Excellence Program, Commissioner Thomas Foley has announced that the agency has selected 20 firms to provide architectural design services for New York City’s future public buildings project. 10 of the selected firms are certified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs), meeting the city’s ambitious goals of supporting M/WBEs and increasing its ability to generate culturally competent designs.

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Last year, the Basque Culinary Center announced the creation of the GOe: Gastronomy Open Ecosystem. A project that seeks to generate a gastronomic ecosystem focused on research, innovation and entrepreneurship. It will have its own building in San Sebastian, Spain, becoming the new headquarters complementary to the previous BCC building designed by VAUMM in 2011.

With the aim of selecting the best proposals for the construction of the GOe building, an international architectural competition was launched in December 2021. After receiving and analysing different proposals, five finalists were selected to move on to the next phase of the award process: 3xn (Denmark), BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark), OMA - Office of Metropolitan Architecture (Netherlands), Snøhetta (Norway) and Toyo Ito & Associates (Japan).

Construction broke ground on the Wendelstrand residential development that will transform an old quarry outside Gothenburg into an environmentally friendly and socially sustainable neighbourhood. Developed by Next Step Group and designed by Snøhetta and White Arkitekter, together with Tham & Videgård, Andreas Martin-Löf Architects and Liljewall, the project will feature 1000 homes of various typologies and a series of amenities. The first stage of the development debuts with the Snøhetta-designed Lakehouse, a communal building that blends with the landscape.

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Following an international design competition win in 2018, Snøhetta and ECADI have been commissioned to design a new sub-center library in Beijing, offering visitors a contemporary space for learning and sharing knowledge while celebrating the rich cultural China and its capital. The library sets new standards for traditional library designs, featuring technology-driven designs and locally-sourced materials, as well as a glass enclosure of up to 16 meters, which will be China’s first self-supporting glass facade project.

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Snøhetta+Hassell were announced as the winners of an international competition to transform Sydney's Harbourside in Darling Harbour into a new mixed-use destination. The design was selected by the jury for how it envisioned a place that brings people together, featuring an all-inclusive shopping, hospitality, and entertainment center, an exclusive 42-storey residential tower, as well as a redesign of the public spaces on the waterfront.

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Snøhetta won the competition to redesign the Eliel and Asema Square in Helsinki, a public space neighbouring the city’s historic railway station, into a vibrant central hub. Developed together with Finnish practices Davidsson Tarkela Oy and WSP, the proposal aims to contribute to Helsinki’s strategy to increase green mobility by reconnecting the urban fabric to the rail station and framing a “porous new city block” that would foster a more diverse array of indoor and outdoor activities.

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The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has unveiled the 2021 MPavilion program, offering over 250 free events over the span of 152 days, its longest to date. Now in its 8th season, the event welcomes design enthusiasts from Australia and across the globe to celebrate the important contributions of the design community to cultural landscapes. This year's pavilion, titled 'The LightCatcher' is designed by Venice-based MAP studio, and will be installed in Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Gardens from the 2nd of December until the 24th of April 2022.

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Snøhetta revealed its design for Duett Düsseldorf, a new opera house set to become the German city’s new cultural destination. Stemming from the horizontal volume containing the new music venue are two sloping towers containing a hotel, restaurants, office spaces and residential units, creating a multi-layered development serving the arts and culture scene of Düsseldorf. Neighbouring the historic Hofgarten park and the Rhein river, the project’s ground-level blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, with a glass façade revealing a cultural wood wall within the foyer, welcoming users to the opera house.

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SUMMIT One Vanderbilt is New York’s latest observation viewpoint, soon opening to the public on top of the KPF-designed tower. Featuring an observation deck, skyboxes, an all-glass elevator, complemented by a walk-through art installation, the entertainment space designed by Snøhetta provides visitors with a multisensory experience.

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Snøhetta has revealed the latest version of its reconstruction plan for the traditional Knubben Harbour Bath in Arendal, Norway. Originally built in 1937, the structure was representative of both the period's functionalist architecture and the recreational facilities created in Norway at the time. Snøhetta's proposal reinterprets the original design, conserving its clean modernist lines and most distinctive features, while creating an artificial topography reminiscent of the islets along the Norwegian coast, thus creating a new leisure destination for the city of Arendal.

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Snøhetta has unveiled his latest project, the expansion and site redesign of the Joslyn Art Museum, in Nebraska. Developed in partnership with local architects Alley Poyner Macchietto Architecture (APMA), the project seeks to add new gallery space, public gardens, and outdoor spaces as well as restore and modernize existing office spaces in the Joslyn Memorial building.

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UNStudio and South Korean design firm DA Group have been selected to design the Chungnam Art Museum in Naepo, South Korea. The proposal will provide an immersive cultural experience, with a strong focus on the interaction between art and the public. In addition to creating an assemblage of technology and art, the project will serve as a social anchor for the local community, a space defined by notions of flexibility and “art for all”.

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