Oslo, Norway

Last weekend myself and Kirsty of JMD took a short trip to Oslo, Norway. Amongst visiting the Architecture Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, Ice Bar, sculpture gardens, and general city centre, we also visited Snøhetta's Opera House. I was first made aware of their work when they were one of the six finalist architects bidding for the V&A Dundee project, to which Kengo Kuma won.

Upon getting home and reading up further on them, I have realised we also unintentionally visited another of their builds, in the form of Lysaker Stajon - a train station on the outskirts of Oslo.

I was very impressed with their work, as the Opera House in particular had a fantastic mix of architecture coming inside, as well as the roof becoming a fully open walkway for sightseeing. Upon walking up to the highest point (the walk ways were a series of flat angular planes that acted as "tiers" for visitors to meander around) you were able to see quite a distance, unfortunately a  lot of building work was currently going on in the immediate vicinity, causing quite a bit of visual obstructions. Aside from allowing visitors the ability of distance sights, it also allowed a view into the central glass atrium, housing the staircase to and from theatres, along with a general open space for crowds. This in particular was where you could see that the architects and interior designers had worked extremely closely to create a streamlined design from exterior to interior - without creating a mirrored shell of textures on the interior. On entering the reception area you are fronted with a large, somewhat overwhelming wooden organic structure, which is quite the contrast to the angular white slabbed exterior. It does not however feel too much of a contrast, as the floor flows from outside to inside, becoming a constant.

Their website informs me that Snøhetta have another company called Snøhetta Design, who provide (to quote):

"Snøhetta Design is a multidisciplinary graphic design agency incorporated within Snøhetta. Our services are based upon designing brand relations between corporate identity and architecture, between people and brands.

Snøhetta Design clients have projects integrated with Snøhetta Architecture or without any relation to architecture. They all, regardless of grapihic design, interior, landscape or architecture, are projects where we nurture concepts."

So basically, they are an all round design house who provide a service from start through implementation to execution and beyond.

I love them!