A mountain, a method, values: the distinctive Snøhetta architectural practice

Snøhetta is the name of a mountain in Norway, at the base of which the 350 employees of the eponymous practice converge every two years from all corners of the globe to climb it together. A pyramid-shaped mountain for an architectural practice that refuses to be pyramid-shaped, unlike most of its high-profile counterparts. The firm, recognised for projects such as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and the Oslo Opera House, consists of seven studios across four continents, involved in 340 projects spread across 40 countries. The glue that binds its staff together is the practice’s values, which include consideration of environmental issues, interdisciplinarity, and trust both in individuals and in the collective. At Snøhetta, there is no founding master who controls all projects, nor any overarching stylistic direction, but rather a formalised process, common to all offices, which produces a consensus-based concept for each project, to which the architects commit themselves.