Architectural Design

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1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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Initial ideas › Development and detail

› Construction and occupation

Interview summary

The willingness of Snøhetta to embrace duality and see

a situation from an opposite perspective is a driver for,

and result of, their collaborative, discursive approach to

architectural design. Both within and outside the office,

debate is a creative act. The public and sensitive nature of

several of their buildings demands this. One suspects that

they refuse to be precious about ideas. The range of their

development work shows that they explore ideas in many

different media and use new technology to test their work.

Architects can fall into the habit of seeing design as a broadly

linear journey, with decisions being made from an initially

large scale until they reach the precision of detail design.

By maintaining an awareness of the tactile and the human

scale throughout, and simultaneously considering the social

and the global scale, Snøhetta, with their ‘trans-disciplinary’

approach, retain a clarity of concept that is communicated

in the finished building. Complexity is kept in check where

appropriate: detailing in the Opera House dictates that no

more than three materials meet. Their conception of scale as

a relative experience rather than a hierarchical order means

that ideas can be communicated on many levels.

They describe the importance of the ‘performative’ quality

of their buildings and open them up to be tested and

experienced as widely as possible. The roof of the Opera

House is designed as a public space that links the city back

to the fjord and the hills. This requires the architect to resolve

technical issues, such as designing a surface that is safe

to walk on while also enabling the walker to experience the

poetic qualities of the journey from water to sky mapped out

by the roof. The interrogative development of the design and

the tactility of building details are symptomatic of their

interest in the human condition.

Project: National

September 11 Memorial

Museum Pavilion

Location: New York, USA

Architects: Snøhetta

Date: Ongoing

Initial study model for the façade.

Natural light was used to create

constantly changing prismatic

patterns.

Text

1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design

Job No: PD0710-67/4028

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