Process
Sustainability
Fundamental to all our work is a commitment to social and environmental sustainability. Because of that, our projects involve extensive collaboration with clients, users, contractors, and other stakeholders. We know that with well-conceived design we can help things run more fluidly, improve people’s well-being, and make life more enjoyable. Every project is a unique expression of the ethos of its users, climate, and context.
Recognizing the wide range of environments that the building industry impacts, Snøhetta remains committed to careful analysis of the environmental and social effects of each phase of a project.
Snøhetta is the lead architect in the Powerhouse collaboration, a multidisciplinary partnership with building industry leaders dedicated to creating energy positive buildings. These Powerhouse projects are developed in collaboration with research institutions including the Research Centre on Zero Emission Buildings in Norway; and SINTEF, Scandinavia’s largest independent research body amongst others.
Ongoing post-occupancy studies of our high-level research projects provide valuable feedback that informs our approach to each new project. The real success indicator of a high performance pilot is not how long it remains relevant, but how quickly it is superseded. The goal of these pilot projects is to impact policy and to set new market standards for planning and construction.
ZEB Pilot House won the WAN Sustainable Building Award in 2015
Policies requiring ZEB or similar definition can help navigate the silent and invisible fossil carbon embodied in materials and can bring about the necessary wholesale changes to the way we build. We work with the world’s leading experts to identify potential energy offsets through material innovation, challenging building conventions and redefining what material use will look like in the future.
We look to shape the future through design intelligence and integrated interdisciplinary research; a future with harmonious, flourishing environments for the endowment of all living things.
Powerhouse Kjørbo is the world's first renovated energy positive building
Studio Space
Our studio spaces are important in facilitating our collaborative working process. You’ll find the same fundamental elements in the layout of all our offices.
Collaboration
Snøhetta thrives on rich collaborations to push our thinking. A continuous state of reinvention, driven by our partners in the process, is essential to our work.
Design Methodology
Our design methodology is rooted in our core values. We combine a wide spectrum of tools and theories with a good portion of generosity.
Transpositioning
Snøhetta practices a self-defined trans-disciplinary process in which different professionals – from architects to visual artists, philosophers to sociologists – exchange roles in order to explore differing perspectives without the prejudice of convention.