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architect, Oslo/NO Snøhetta
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Born in Norway, Kjetil Thorsen studied architecture at the Technical University Graz. In 1987, together with Craig Dykers (USA) and Christoph Kapeller (Austria) amongst others, he founded the practice Snøhetta, which today numbers around 90 employees and works on projects operating at the interface of architecture, landscaping and design. One of the practice’s first projects was its entry for the competition for the new library of Alexandria (Egypt), which it won. Following some delays due to the politically tense situation in Egypt, the library opened in 2002 and has since received many accolades, amongst others the Aga Khan 1st Prize in 2004.
Snøhetta is the name of a large mountain standing in the middle of Norway, where Vikings believed heaven to be located. For the Snøhetta team, a mountain represents a complex form, at once landscape, quasi-architectural object, and, in this particular instance, a powerful symbol. It is a form which, in the final analysis, sums up their approach to architecture – an ongoing, extensive approach whose intent, without any disciplinary divide, is to work not on objects but on environments, in all their varying dimensions. The Snøhetta team has once and for all rejected the classical vertical functioning of architectural practices, in which those who get their ideas across, at the top of the pyramid, are those most removed from the realities and details of the project. This verticality, responsible for wasted time and lost efficiency, recurs, in their view, in the management and uses of buildings once finished. Snøhetta has radically opted for a horizontal and cross-disciplinary practice, refocussing on the project. The Snøhetta team makes this search for efficiency, flexibility and professionalism available to a sensitive, significant and almost metaphysical architecture, incorporating the most immaterial and fluctuating elements of real time passing, the weather, light, the seasons, movement.
Snøhetta’s major achievement is the construction of the new WTC Cultural Center at Ground Zero, which will house the site-wide visitor’s centre, the International Freedom Center, and the Drawing Center. Kjetil Thorsen‘s team was selected amongst 60 competitors and the entire complex on today’s Ground Zero is due for completion by 2009. Kjetil Thorsen describes the basic idea as follows: "Imagine a braking movement: when you approach the museum, everything becomes slower, the fast-paced character of the city evaporates. And conversely: when you leave again, you need to be able to quickly settle back into the city’s rhythm." Snøhetta also won the international competition for Oslo’s new national opera house. The design’s most seductive feature is the roof, which rises directly from the fjord. Oslo’s new landmark will open in style in April 2008. Further projects are the Turner Contemporary Museum in Margate/UK, the Petter Dass Museum in Alstahaug/Norway, the National Academy of the Arts in Bergen/Norway and the Serpentine Gallery Summer Pavilion 2007 in London, created in collaboration with Olafur Eliasson.
A further interesting project by Kjetil Thorsen and his team is being built in the Middle East. On behalf of Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, they are planning a building complex for the new capital Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. The complex will operate as "entry point" into the capital and host a convention centre, exhibition halls, a 5 star plus hotel and a 4 star hotel.
Kietil Thorsen has served as jury member at various design competitions in Europe and has been involved in several architecture exhibitions, design symposia and conferences worldwide. He lectures regularly and is involved in the promotion of Norwegian architecture abroad. In 2004, he became professor at the University of Innsbruck, where he heads the Institute for Experimental Studies in Architecture together with Patrik Schumacher from Zaha Hadid Architects.
Valid as of: 27.5.2006