News:Snøhetta has designed a visual identity for Oslo‘s bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Snøhetta, an architecture and design firm in Oslo and New York, developed a design that combines geometric shapes taken from the letter O and the number zero, as well as forms that recur in the number two and the letter S.
The rings of the Olympic logo informed the repetition of circles and the choice of colour palette used to render the simple forms.
“The identity of Oslo 2022’s visual language honours the inherent simplicity and openness in Nordic culture,” said the designers in a statement.
“By balancing playful graphics and strict geometry, the identity represents both the celebration of the Games and the solid planning of the Norwegian bid.”
As part of the development process, Snøhetta worked with the bid team to create an initial identity without a logo for the funding application to the Norwegian government. The designers then created the logo and typography, which also included creating architectural elements and signage for a presentation during the recent Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
The identity was finally applied to an application document submitted to the International Olympic Committee in March.
Some of the material created by the designers for the bid, including maps of the potential venues, was required to include content and colour coding determined by the IOC.
Branded material produced to demonstrate the application of the identity includes brochures, business cards, a website and a CD ROM, onto which the designers silkscreened the logo’s negative space in white, allowing the iridescent surface of the CDs to recreate the colours of the logo.
Oslo is competing with Kraków in Poland, Almaty in Kazakhstan, Lviv in Ukraine and the Chinese capital Beijing for the right to host the Games, with the winner due to be announced on 31 July 2015.
Architecture firm Snøhetta has unveiled images of a hotel that will wind across a rocky outcrop in Norway’s Lofoten archipelago.
Expected to start on site later this year, the Lofoten Opera Hotel will be located on an outlying site in Glåpen flanked by a mountain range. The new low-rise structure will loop a central courtyard, but will offer views out across the sea to the south and west.
“The spectacular view and the feeling of being ‘in the middle’ of the elements are the premier qualities of the site,” said Snøhetta in a statement.
“In a unifying gesture the site is captured in a circular movement, the complex layers of references to nature, culture, land qualities are translated into a band that transforms the site into a place.”
The 11,000 square-metre building will accommodate a mix of hotels and apartments within its curved body. There will also be spa facilities, seawater basins, hiking resources and an amphitheatre.
The project looks set to attract new guests to Lofoten, which is home to one of Norway’s 18 national tourist routes. Stretching along an 184-kilometre road, the route encompasses facilities for tourists exploring the natural landscape, including the Eggum rest stop completed by Snøhetta in 2007.
Eggum rest stop completed by Snøhetta in 2007 in Lofoten
Here’s a description of the project from Snøhetta:
Lofoten Opera Hotel
Furthest west of Lofoten, in Moskenes community close to the town Sørvagen, is Glåpen.
The site extends out to sea to the south and west, linking the contact between ocean and the tall, shielding mountains to the north and northwest. The location is spectacular, sunny, in the mighty landscape elements, yet in touch with old settlement and sheltered harbors.
Snøhetta has developed a project and looked at a number of factors: the landscape “critical load” vs. new construction, functional and technical aspects of access, infrastructure, ecology and sustainability, connection to outdoors areas and existing buildings. The main goal is to find the development patterns and shapes that trigger the functional, architectural and experiential triggers the plot’s formidable potential. We think it will be essential to find a building program and a scale that “hits”, both in terms of economy, market and individual experience opportunities.
The spectacular view and the feeling of being “in the middle” of the elements are the premier qualities of the site. Plot view, organisation and habitat as form have been inspiring elements behind the concept. In a unifying gesture the site is captured in a circular movement, the complex layers of references to nature, culture, land qualities are translated into a band that transforms the site into a place.
This form creates an inner and outer space, and enhances the site’s inherent potential of an architectural expression. Concept and program are balanced in a mix of hotels, apartments, amphitheatre, spa, hiking and sea water basins within a total size of 11,000 m2. The local beach culture and storstuga are included in the project. The organic form protects and opens at the same time.
Location: Lofoten Typology: Residential & Hotel Client: Lofoten Opera AS Status: Ongoing Size: 11,000 sqm
News: architecture firm Snøhetta has concluded the first phase of a major overhaul of New York‘s Times Square, continuing the initiative started in 2009 to pedestrianise large sections of the popular tourist destination.
The $55 million reconstruction project is the largest redesign of the square in decades and encompasses the transformation of five public plazas between 42nd and 47th Streets, which will be entirely reconstructed to remove any traces that vehicular traffic once ran through the square along the Broadway.
Rendering by Snohetta and MIR
Snøhetta completed the redevelopment of the plaza between 42nd and 43rd Streets just in time for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. It features flattened-out curbs that create single-level surfaces for pedestrians, as well as new benches and paving surfaces.
Working alongside engineers Weidlinger Associates and landscape architect Mathews Nielsen, the architects plan to open a second plaza by the end of 2015 and complete the entire project the following year.
Rendering by Snohetta
This stretch of the Broadway was first closed to traffic in 2009 as part of an initiative by New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to provide additional space for more than 400,000 pedestrians who pass through Times Square every day. Since then the square has seen a 33 percent reduction in traffic-related injuries, as well a 180 percent increase in shop lets around the square.
“Since we first introduced temporary pedestrian plazas in Times Square, we have seen increased foot traffic and decreased traffic injuries – and businesses have seen more customers than ever,” said Bloomberg. “With more than 400,000 pedestrians passing through Times Square every day, the plazas have been good for New Yorkers, our visitors, and our businesses – and that’s why we’re making them permanent.”
Once complete, the restructuring will add 13,000 square-metres (140,000 square-feet) of new pedestrian space to Times Square. It will feature ten solid granite benches, as well as two-tone paving slabs with embedded metal discs, designed to reflect the neon glow from surrounding signs and billboards.
“With innovative designs and a little paint, we’ve shown you can change a street quickly with immediate benefits,” said transportation commissioner Sadik-Khan.
The terrazzo stairs will lead visitors from the Hass Atrium of the old San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) building to the first floor of the Snøhetta-designed extension, which is scheduled to open in early 2016. It will be positioned directly beneath a large circular skylight designed by Mario Botta, the architect of the original building.
“We have imagined a stair that feels at home in Botta’s atrium, yet introduces the visitor to the language of the new spaces, creating a powerful overlap moment between the two worlds,” said Snøhetta principal Craig Dykers.
He continued: “It bridges the current and future buildings, and extends the existing design vocabulary, while foreshadowing that of the new Snøhetta addition. Most importantly, the new stair serves the next stage in the trajectory of the museum, which is about reaching out, embracing a wider public and becoming more extroverted.”
The cantilevered body of the structure will be made from wood and will feature a clear glass balustrade.
“While grand in dimensions, the stair’s impressive cantilevered construction gives it a very modest footprint,” said Dykers. “Its atypically low walls make it feel smaller than it is, which gives the atrium a new, open, airy, character that looks to SFMOMA’s future.”
Snøhetta broke ground on the SFMOMA extension earlier this year. Once open it will double the gallery’s exhibition and education space, creating 12,000 square-metres of indoor and outdoor galleries.
Architecture studio Snøhetta of Oslo and New York has revealed designs for a community library in Queens, New York, with a shimmering golden exterior and a triangular entrance at one corner.
Proposed for the neighbourhood of Far Rockaway, the new building will replace a well-used but small existing library that functioned as a disaster relief centre during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy last year.
Snøhetta’s design is for a two-storey structure that will double the floorspace of its predecessor.
The exterior will be screened behing fritted glass, creating a golden surface intended to reference the colour of the skies along the Long Island coastline. A sliced-off corner will be clad with transparent glass, providing the building’s entrance.
Snøhetta releases design of the new Far Rockaway Branch Library, Recipient of the 2013 Public Design Commission’s Design Excellence Award
Today, Snøhetta releases the design of the Far Rockaway Branch Library in Far Rockaway, Queens. The new building will replace the existing library building, while also doubling the area of library spaces. The project, currently in design development in New York City, has also received the Public Design Commission of the City of New York’s recognition for outstanding public projects, the Annual Award for Excellence in Design.
Community Context
The Far Rockaway Library is located at the prominent intersection of Mott and Central Avenues in Far Rockaway, among the more dynamic, ethnically diverse communities in the borough of Queens. While the current library is small, it is heavily used, and its local importance is well-demonstrated in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy when it was used to provide disaster relief to the community. This new building seeks to increase the services needed by the neighbourhood, and it is hoped that along with other revitalisation efforts, it will serve as a catalyst for community transformation.
Design Intent
The massing is a simple volume clad in fritted, coloured glass, with a gradient of colour reminiscent of the sky off the coast of Long Island. The simple form provides a calm contrast to the visual noise of surrounding retail outlets. The combination of transparency and translucency of the façade provides an awareness of the activity within as well as a degree of privacy for occupants of the library.
The primary organising elements are indicated with simple, clear forms. The entry is announced with a tall transparent glass pyramidal opening at the corner. The interior is organised around an inverted pyramidal atrium, which allows the penetration of natural light to the ground floor as well as a view of the sky from within the building. Combined, they provide the entry and circulation sequence through the building, and orient the visitor within.
The Far Rockaway Branch Library will comply with Local Law 86, seeking LEED Silver Certification, and will be sited at an elevation exceeding the new FEMA flood zone guidelines. As part of the Percent for the Arts program, Snøhetta will be collaborating with an artist to create a site specific artwork within the library.
Architect: Snøhetta Structural: Robert Silman Associates MEP/FP Engineers: Altieri Sebor Weiber Sustainability/Lighting: Atelier Ten
The latest Maggie’s Centre for cancer care has been completed by Norwegian architects Snøhetta at the Foresterhill site of the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in Scotland.
Oslo-based studio Snøhetta designed the centre in collaboration with Scottish firm Halliday Fraser Munro as a curved pebble-shaped building.
Set to open later this month, the design features a single-storey reinforced concrete exterior and a timber interior.
Steel reinforcements were used to form the building’s outer shell, along with thick insulation moulded by hand to fit the shape of the building.
Activity and meeting rooms are primarily located on the ground floor, with a small mezzanine office space above.
The care centre is set apart form the hospital by a small landscaped area.
“In a world of architectural commercialism, it has been the most meaningful task to seek employment with spaces, materials and landscapes in the service of psychological and emotional healing processes,” said Snøhetta’s Kjetil Thorsen.
The Maggie’s foundation was founded seventeen years ago to provide emotional and practical support to anyone affected by cancer. There are a number of centres throughout the UK and one international centre in Hong Kong.
We published the plans for this building when they were originally released. Read the story here.
Product news: Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta showed this range of blankets in New York.
Mountain Fold
Snøhetta first presented the Mountain Fold blankets as prototypes for traditional Norwegian firm Røros Tweed tweed last year, but they’re now going into production alongside two new designs by the firm called Color Noise and Islandskap.
The Mountain Fold design features a seemingly abstract geometric design, but is meant to represent the Snøhetta mountain – after which the firm was named – when folded in a certain way.
It comes in six different colours representing six different architecture projects by the studio.
Islandskap blanket
The two new designs were chosen from an internal competition between all the company’s designers.
All the blankets are made of 100% Norwegian sheep’s wool.
At the 2013 ICFF, Røros Tweed, the traditional Norwegian Blanket manufacturer, announced the American launch of several new blankets designed by Snøhetta: the Snøhetta Mountain Fold, Color Noise, and Islandskap.
The first design was announced last year when the Mountain Fold was commissioned by Paul Makovsky of Metropolis Magazine, curator of the Inside Norway booth at ICFF 2012. The design was produced as a prototype but due to the overwhelmingly positive response, it will be available at American retailers in August 2013.
By following the strict graphic pattern, the Snøhetta Mountain Fold can be folded into the profile of the mountain Snøhetta at Dovre in Norway, the namesake of the architecture and design studio. The blanket is available in 6 different colors representing 6 different architectural projects designed by Snøhetta.
Each blanket can be also arranged or folded in a different way, presenting itself with different amount of pattern and color, and may serve as a blanket pillow due to its puffy nature when folded.
Following the success of the Mountain Fold blanket, Snøhetta has developed two additional designs, both representing a graphic presentation of architecture in abstract forms. Islandskap and Color Noise were developed after Snøhetta held an internal contest amongst all of its designers from New York and Oslo.
Retailers carrying the Røros Tweed brand include Anthropologie, Design Within Reach and Scandinavian House. Røros Tweed blankets are made out of 100% Norwegian high quality sheep wool.
News: construction has started on a major extension to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), designed by Snøhetta to double the gallery’s exhibition and education space.
Outside glass-fronted gallery
Snøhetta’s design will provide SFMOMA with around 12,000 square metres of indoor and outdoor gallery space, as well as over 1000 square metres of public space filled with art.
An admission-free glass-fronted gallery on the ground floor of the new building will entice passers-by inside to explore large-scale installations.
Living wall on sculpture terrace
A double-height box on the fourth floor will host the museum’s programme of live art as well as film screenings and special events.
Exhibition space
An outdoor sculpture terrace on the third floor will be home to a huge living wall of native Californian plants, while a terrace on the seventh floor will offer views across the city.
Glass-fronted ground floor gallery with Richard Serra sculpture
Additional public entrances to the building will increase access, while a street-level pedestrian promenade will open a new route of circulation in the neighbourhood.
Performance space
The new building will be over 15 metres taller than the existing SFMOMA building, which was completed by Swiss architect Mario Botta in 1995.
Architects Snøhetta and AECOM have revealed their latest renderings of a new stadium for NBA basketball team the Golden State Warriors on the waterfront in San Francisco (+ slideshow).
Set to replace the team’s existing home at the Oracle Arena in Oakland when the lease expires in 2017, the 67,000 square-metre arena will be constructed in time for the start of the 2017-18 basketball season and will also provide a venue for music concerts, conventions and other cultural events.
Snøhetta and AECOM‘s latest design shows a circular building with large areas of glazing around the facade, designed to give visitors a view from outside into the practice facility and the arena during games.
Additional high-level windows will allow spectators inside the building a view through the walls to Bay Bridge just beyond.
“We believe our new design lives up to the importance of this incredible waterfront site and fuses together the vision of the Golden State Warriors with the landscape of the bay,” says Craig Dykers, architect and founding director of Snøhetta.
The Golden State Warriors arena will also accommodate 8000-square-metres of retail, plus a fire station with docks for two fireboats.
The large disc-like roof is to be covered with LEDs and will be used for the projection of images and motifs.
Construction is expected to take three years and will include $100 million worth of repairs to the piers, where the arena is set to be located.
Golden State Warriors release updated design of new arena on San Francisco waterfront
Today the Golden State Warriors released the updated design of their new sports and entertainment arena on the waterfront at Piers 30-32 in San Francisco.
“This new design by Snøhetta and AECOM builds on the first draft we released to create an arena experience on the waterfront that is unique, community-focused and unlike any other venue in existence around the world,” said Joe Lacob, Co-Executive Chairman and CEO of the Warriors. “The new design creates more open space and accessibility to the waterfront, new berths for fireboats and cruise ships and public views into the arena that will be one-of-a-kind for an NBA venue.”
“From the beginning, we’ve said this arena will be world-class, incorporating the best in design, technology and sustainability,” said Peter Guber, Co-Executive Chairman of the Warriors. “Snøhetta and AECOM have done a masterful job designing an arena and public space that will serve as the model for a 21st century digital sports and entertainment center.”
The new arena design now includes a fire station with berths for two fireboats, a deep-water berth for large ships, public access space on the eastern edge of the pier, a sustainable “Gabion Wall” stormwater filtration system and public views that allow visitors to see inside the Golden State Warriors practice facility and into the arena during Warriors games. Additionally, the Warriors have removed nearly 750 seats and several luxury suites to allow fans to view the Bay Bridge from their seats inside the arena during games. The exterior roof of the arena will also feature small LEDs similar to the current Bay Lights art installation that can project images, patterns or shapes.
“We believe our new design lives up to the importance of this incredible waterfront site and fuses together the vision of the Golden State Warriors with the landscape of the bay and the community input we’ve heard over the past several months,” said Craig Dykers, Architect and Founding Partner of Snøhetta. “When people view the new designs, they will see a place that provides for everyone: fans, pedestrians, bicyclists, tourists, local residents and the diverse community of San Francisco.”
“The NBA is thrilled about this new design and excited that the Bay Area’s NBA team will be playing in a unique, world-class facility on the San Francisco waterfront,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern. “Once completed, the Warriors’ arena will provide our fans with one of the most technologically advanced and unique fan experiences in the NBA and all of professional sports.”
“These updated designs show the incredible potential of a new waterfront venue at Piers 30-32,” said San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. “In addition to hosting the Warriors and enabling our city to host major indoor sporting events and concerts, the Piers 30-32 project will provide tremendous public benefits to San Francisco, including a new fire station, berths for large ships and SFFD fire boats and an expansive new civic space for fans, residents and tourists to enjoy.”
The privately financed arena will be located at Piers 30-32 on San Francisco Bay, south of the Bay Bridge, between the Ferry Building and AT&T Park.
Under the agreement, the City will provide the land and the Warriors will pay to repair the crumbling piers and privately finance the arena project. The cost of repairs alone is estimated at $100-120 million.
The new facility will host the Bay Area’s NBA basketball team, as well as provide a spectacular new venue for top-tier concerts, cultural events and conventions – prominent events the City currently cannot accommodate.
Architecture firm Snøhetta has completed a library at North Carolina State University that features a robotic book retrieval system and a 3D printing workshop (+ slideshow).
Named after a former North Carolina Governor, the James B. Hunt Jr. Library is a four-storey building at North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus.
The robotic bookBot system controls over two million of the library’s books, labeling them with barcodes and storing them in a space far smaller than traditional library shelving. To retrieve a book, students and library users simply browse an online catalogue and select the volumes they want the system to pick out for them from the vast numbers of subterranean bins in which they’re kept.
The 3D printing workshop is positioned within a digital production suite that also accommodates a digital games research lab and a visualisation studio. Other facilities include an auditorium and offices for the Institute for Emerging Issues, a political thinktank led by James Hunt.
Snøhetta designed the library as a mixture of traditional reading rooms and brightly-coloured group study spaces, which include a double-height atrium and a series of indoor balconies.
Aluminium panels clad the exterior and create a fixed system of louvres, providing solar shading for expansive areas of glazing that let natural light pass right through the building.
Official Opening of SNØHETTA’s James B. Hunt Jr. Library
On April 3, 2013, North Carolina State University will officially dedicate the James B. Hunt Jr. Library, making it Snøhetta’s most recently completed project in North America.
Snøhetta, the internationally acclaimed architecture and landscape design practice, worked closely with NCSU Libraries to set a new benchmark for technologically-sophisticated collaborative learning spaces with the design of the new Hunt Library. It serves both as NC State’s second main library and the intellectual and social heart of the university’s Centennial Campus plan. The Hunt Library also houses the Institute for Emerging Issues, a political think tank led by former North Carolina Governor James Hunt, academic offices and an auditorium. It is designed to be a decisive competitive edge for the university by democratizing access to the technologies driving our economy.
Design
Snøhetta’s Hunt Library design balances the understood pre-existing needs with the University’s emerging needs to create a forward-thinking learning environment. While clearly a contemporary structure within a traditional context of the NCSU campus, the Hunt Library provides a positive platform for influencing its surroundings. Both technical and programmatic innovations are celebrated as part of the learning experience and provide a versatile and stimulating environment for students.
Generous open spaces connect all floors of the library and open stairs emphasise an interactive and social environment alongside more focused study areas. A wide variety of study and learning environments, and technology-focused experimental labs break the now ubiquitous model of the learning commons. “Disruptive” learning spaces with colourful, dynamic furnishings exist beside more traditional study rooms. The design recognises the power of chance encounters and celebrates the role of physical space in the intellectual stimulation of its users.
The new LEED Silver (pending) project provides spaces awash with natural light, expansive views of the nearby lake and outdoor break and seating areas. The building’s façade of fritted glass and a fixed external aluminum shading system help diminish heat gain while maximising views and ambient natural light. Robust materials form the interior spaces and unique, brightly-stained wooden stairs help library users orient themselves throughout the building. Ceiling-mounted active chilled beams and radiant panels provide heating and cooling for the interior spaces.
Snøhetta’s integrated architecture and landscape architecture practice also designed the Hunt Library’s surrounding landscape. The design creates a fluid transition between the masterplanned landscape to the Hunt Library’s north with the natural environment of Lake Raleigh to the south, and links the library to the western edge of NCSU’s Centennial Campus. Snohetta’s plan breaks down the larger masterplan into individual diverse experiences, creates outdoor learning environments and teaching spaces for NCSU students, and incorporates rain gardens and green roofs into the building’s infrastructure for storm water management.
Technology
The integration of state-of-the-art library technology is highly visible in the building’s design. The Hunt Library’s 5-storey robotic bookBot automated retrieval system is capable of holding two million volumes in 1/9 the space of conventional shelving. The system is supported by Virtual Browse, a user-friendly browsing software which enhances the traditional pleasure of browsing a collection by allowing users to see a virtual shelf of materials classified near the resources found by their initial search. The bookBot effectively reduced the total area of the building by 200,000 GSF, allowing more space for collaborative learning environments and technology.
In addition to the bookBot, innovative building features give faculty and students hands-on experience with the large-scale visualisation tools. The Game Lab supports NC State’s Digital Games Research Center by providing an experimental commons to explore collaborative game design and the role of gaming in education. The library’s Teaching and Visualisation Lab, the Creativity Studio, a 3D printing workshop and extensive digital media production facilities enable faculty and students with rapid prototyping, modeling, and visualisation capabilities. State-of-the-art videoconferencing and telepresence technologies allow collaboration with colleagues across the state and around the world. ROTC students are even able to practice commanding a submarine in a simulation environment developed in partnership with the Navy as a tool to better train cadets.
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Library Collection capacity (# of volumes): 2 million + Total Square footages: Gross – 221,122, Net – 149,226
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