Snøhetta AS

Formed in 1989 and led by principals Craig Dykers and Kjetil Thorsen, Snøhetta is an award-winning international architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design firm with offices in Oslo, Norway, and New York City. As of 2010, the firm, which is named after one of Norway’s highest mountain peaks, has approximately 100 staff members working on projects in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The practice is centered on a transdisciplinary approach where multiple professions work together to explore differing perspectives on the conditions for each project. A respect for diverse backgrounds and cultures is a key feature of the practice; reflecting this value, Snøhetta is composed of designers and professionals from around the world.

The firm has completed a number of critically acclaimed cultural projects, including the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt; the new National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway; and the Lillehammer Art Museum, built for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway.

Current projects include the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center site, New York; the new expansion for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia and the reconstruction of the public spaces in and around New York City’s Times Square. Alongside these commissions Snøhetta is currently completing the construction of several libraries, theaters and college buildings in Ohio, North Carolina, and Canada.

In 2004 the company received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the library in Alexandria and in 2009 it was honored with the Mies van der Rohe Award for the Oslo Opera. Snøhetta is the only company to have twice won the World Architecture Award for Best Cultural Building, in 2002 for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and in 2008 for the National Opera and Ballet in Oslo. Snøhetta is also a 2010 recipient of the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture.