Case: Snøhetta – a world-class value workshop

Written by Espen Andersen, BI Norwegian Business School

@ Fagbokforlaget 20214

Snøhetta Arkitektur og Landskap AS was started in 1987 by two architects and four landscape

architects, under the direction of Kjetil Trædal Thorsen. The founders stressed that architecture should

be holistic - that architecture, landscape architecture and interior architecture should not be carried out

separately, but in interaction right from the start of a new building. In 1989 the company changed its

name to Snøhetta, led by Kjetil Trædal Thorsen along with the American Craig Dykers. The company

achieved its international breakthrough when it was decided in 1989 to participate in the competition

for the design of the modern library in Alexandria. Snøhettas solution, a circular, oblique building with

a water mirror outside and a large, airy main hall, won the competition, resulting in great attention

overseas and ensured Snøhetta access to a variety of new projects and architectural competitions.

Figure 15.1: Interior, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

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Figure 15.2: Exterior, Bibliotheca Alexandrina

In 2014, Snøhetta had 140 employees - 100 in Oslo and 40 in New York - in the specialties of

architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture and, since 2009, design.

The firm has designed a number of signal buildings, such as the Opera in Oslo, Lillehammer Art

Museum, September 11, Manhattan Museum, redesign of Times Square Manhattan, the opera in

Busan, South Korea, and many others. Common to the buildings is a modern one style - often an

organic form inspired by nature - design driven by function and focus on natural location and

interaction with the surroundings. Several of Snøhtta's projects are however, smaller buildings, such as

a Rema 1000 convenience store on Kroppanmarka outside Trondheim, which combines a modern look

with advanced energy-saving solutions 1 (for example, that the waste heat from the freezers was used

to hold the loading ramp ice-free in winter) which combined reduced energy use by more than 25%.

Another

example was Tubaloon, an inflatable stage designed for Kongsberg Jazz Festival.

1 Brochmann, Gaute: Brød og miljø, Morgenbladet, 18–24 oktober 2013.

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Figure 15.3: Tubaloon, Kongsberg

Customers and customer interaction

Snøhetta's customers included public and private organizations worldwide, and came to Snøhetta

because they wanted something special, something out of the ordinary.

The company did not have its own sales department. The assignments often came through being

invited to competitions, direct inquiries (e.g., from potential customers who had seen one of Snøhetta's

signal projects like the Opera house in Oslo), and through partners who had an extensive network

within business and government.

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Figure 15.4: Rema 1000, Koppanmarka

The company was very keen to understand the customer's situation and to have a continuous

interaction with the customer to come up with a good solution. The company therefore involved

customer directly in the design process, by being present and physically participating in the design of

prototypes and concepts on Snøhetta's premises. This process - internally called transposition - aimed

for the architects to put themselves in the customer's place, and the customers in the architects. They

could also invite others into this conversation - philosophers, sociologists, industry experts - to get a

good supply of ideas. They did not just put together multidisciplinary teams, people were intentionally

given tasks outside their own field – graphic designers created architect drawings, architects created

graphic designs - to create ideas without being bound by traditions and perceptions of what was

possible.

Such a focus on creating concepts together with the customer could provide both competitive

advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the company got a very good understanding of what

the customer wanted by not giving preconceived opinions: Snøhetta winning part of the decoration of

the 9/11 Memorial Park in Manhattan, a mission which was crucial to the company's growth and

development in the US, was believed to be partly because they had, among other things, included a

crisis psychologist on the team and had not designed something in advance. On the other hand, you

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could - even for a company with Snøhetta’s international reputation - risk being excluded from some

bidding competitions, especially for public projects.

Physical and malleable prototypes

Snøhetta emphasized creating physical prototypes, preferably in direct collaboration with

the customers. Customers and designers usually started with a discussion around concept,

then with paper and ink, before moving into one of several workshops where one cut out details in

plastic, textile, wood and other materials, both for modeling buildings and designing visual

impressions such as company logos and more. The company had invested heavily in technologies that

supported this process: laser cutters that could cut precisely into different materials, an industrial robot

that could shape larger works, and several 3D printers that could create models by layered deposition

of plastic or metals. One also had a warehouse with many kinds of materials, to be able to demonstrate

differences in texture, strength, appearance and other characteristics of materials.

Competencies, organizing and recruiting

Snøhetta grew organically - one hired people one by one, not through the acquisition of

businesses. Recruitment was based on what kind of expertise one needed, professional

skills, but also team spirit and social competence. The company did not have room for “single stars”

and did not have to advertise open positions - on the contrary, many architects and designers

approached the firm to inquire about jobs. The company had a very egalitarian management structure,

with strong employee involvement.

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Figure 15.5 Interior Snøhetta Oslo

In 2014, Snøhetta had two physical locations: In a former harbor shed on Vippetangen below

Akershus Fortress in Oslo and on Broadway farthest south in Manhattan in New York, just off the

New York Stock Exchange.

In both locations, almost all employees were in one room. Everyone had their own worktable,

arranged in rows like the reading room of a library, and basically the same type of computer and other

equipment, whether you were a designer, architect or accountant. Each year, every single employee

was assigned a new workplace, assigned by lottery. The idea was that everyone should be able to work

with everyone, without getting groupings based on professional specialization. Much work was done

at large work desks adjacent to the canteen.

Management and finances

Snøhetta had at times uneven earnings. The owners have never paid any dividends -

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to the extent it had a surplus, it was reinvested in the company, in premises, in technology and in

various common measures. The company was owned by Ketil Trædal Thorsen in Oslo and Craig

Dykers in New York.

The company had sevral projects all over the world, but also a high-risk profile: For example, a major

project in Saudi Arabia in 2008 where the customer complained over problems with the building, put

the equity at risk. The dispute went to trial and represented a threat to the company until 2013. From

2011 onwards, the finances improved, and the company largely made a profit.

In 2009, the company created its own design department, focused on the design of company logos and

other physical designs. Design projects are smaller than building projects, takes less time, and the

consequences are more reversible. Important in the buildup of this department was that they got DnB,

Norway's largest bank, as an account early on, allowing Snøhetta to not only create a new company

logo, but design the entire bank's physical identity, from letterhead to web pages and buildings.

The design department's bold style and insistence on designing together with the customer resulted in

a number of assignments, but also some discussions and engagement: For some public or publicly

owned customers, such as Avinor (the state airport) and the Telemark County Council, Snøhetta's

advanced design and high bills – resulted in a number of newspaper articles about whether public

organizations should spend money on design.

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DnBs logo, designed by Sønhetta.

Development and new assignments

An ongoing discussion involving all employees (in groups and as a plenary discussion) was the

question of what kind of projects to look for, and - too big individual projects - what kind of

assignments to undertake. The company wanted to work with exciting design and architecture

projects, where profitability was also crucial in addition to the academic challenges.

One example was the opera house in Oslo, designed as a glacier with a marble roof the audience could

walk on. The building quickly became an important tourist attraction and meeting place for the city,

and many potential customers made the trip to Oslo to get inspired. One delegation from the city of

Busan in South Korea saw the Opera and was inspired by the building, and gave Snøhetta commission

to build an opera house in the city. One ended up with a concept which continued several of the

qualities of the Opera in Oslo, while the Opera in Busan is different from the Opera in Oslo, both in

functionality and design.

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Figure 15.6 Opera house, Oslo

Figure 15.7 Drawing of the house, Busan

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Appendix 1: Income Statement

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Appendix 2: Balance sheet

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