THE WALL

The creation of the exterior stone wall of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina together with Snøhetta architects in 1989. 

1 .Prize in an open competition.

This facade is a 6000m2 big granite wall consisting of split stoneslabs with handcarved signs and symbols. The work was developed together with the norwegian sculptor Kristian Blystad.

The new Library opened in 2002.

Architect: Snøhetta

THE ROOF

In 2002 a team consisting of sculptor Kristian Blystad, artist Kalle Grude and I got the commission to create the large roof of the new National Opera and Ballet in Oslo as a large piece of public art.

1. Prize in an open competition. 

The 20 000m2 marble roof consists of about 30 000 different and individually sculpted stone pieces. Each piece is part of a large composition expanding the experience of the different surfaces and the shifting light and shadow conditions of days and nights throughout the year.

The opera opened in 2008. 

Architect: Snøhetta

SMYKKESKRINET

In the new conference centre for the teachers organisation, Lærernes Hus in Oslo, the task was to make an artistic expression on a 250m2 glass facade. In addition it should have an energy reducing effect.

I created a pattern of letters and numbers as mirrors. This pattern was silk-screen printed directly on the outside of the inner layer of glass.

In this way this large street glass façade reflects its surroundings clearly in the pattern during the day, whilst casting distorted shadows onto the interior surfaces. At night the expression is reversed.

Completed: 2009

Architect: Element

SPEILVENDT

At Kulturtorvet in Vigeland, one large window free and wooden façade of 7,5m height and 7,5 m width was to become a piece of art. The task commenced after the architectural design was completed, and thus the wall itself became the site of the artwork. The artistic reaction became contextual in its relationship to the building, using the existing design as a starting point.

By removing series of wooden planks in a certain sequence, openings where created to the solid wall behind. This solid wall was clad with mirror polished stainless steel plates. At the back of the reminding outer wooden planks, a strong coloured geometrical painting was mounted, the result being a mirrored picture of the hidden painting on the back wall, visible to passers by.

As a last element, a water pool of same sizes as the wall horizontally mirrors the wall once more, translating the picture into a subtle water reflection

Completed: 2008

Architect: BGO arkiteketer

MOPEDSPEILING

A glass fasade for the entrance of Sortland junior high school. Around 400 motorcycle mirrors are mounted on the window frames to form jumble of reflections up along the facade.

Completed: 2011

Architect: Toft arkitekter

HjerteSlagOrdet 

A commission to design the end of the wall in a foyer at Bjørnsveen Ungdomsskole together with poet Per Ivar Martinsen. The letters are made in mirror and painted with a fluorescent varnish at the back of the letters.

HjerteSlagOrdet

Completed: 2011

Architect: Jaff arkitekter

Rehabilitation of an apartment building.

The balcony fronts are made of colored glass elements.

Gives a contrast to the traditional style of the building.

Completed: 2012

Architect: Element

LYSEKRONE

A sculpture shaped in a half circle made of painted and polished metal pieces.

The object is mounted on a glass facade so the reflection gives the impression of a full circle.

Completed: 2012

Architect: Brekke Helgeland Brekke Arkitekter 

“Svevende perle og jordet boks”

I wanted to create the identities of two spaces portrayed as volumes inside a Culture house at Ørlandet. With a tight budget he Cinema was simply painted with a mother of pearl varnish and the Black box was given a strong, red varnish and covered partly with anthracite grey wool felt in an organic pattern.

Completed: 2009

Architect: PKA arkitekter

CRYSTAL RE-CIRCLE

A installation made of 2400 glass objects shaped like a circle of 7 meters in diameter.

The glass objects were made of glass prisms, big glass bobbles, glass blocks and mirrors.

Architect: Lund + Slaatto

Completed: 2013

LYSENE PÅ BROEN

When you move inside the bridge you will experience the fragmented reflection of the surroundings and yourself.

By giving the lights strong colors, the structure desolves as the lights fades away and being reduced to fragments of itself.

Architect: Planforum Arkitekter AS

Completed: 2014

For our project at Holmen, Jorunn Sannes has been working on an art installation for the entrance to the industrial area. The 3 x 15-meter corten steel wall has a fish scale pattern creating a wave movement. 

2018
 

Design and Reuse for Maihaugen’s Christmas Tree

Dec 07, 2017

Snøhetta has designed this year’s Christmas tree for the open-air museum Maihaugen in Lillehammer, Norway. This is the tenth year in a row the museum invites artists to design the Christmas tree decoration.

Experimenting with reuse and recycling, we used only existing materials from our office and workshop spaces. The installation is made up by more than 600 transparent glass tubes filled with materials such as crushed glass, paper clips, model pieces, cables, fabric, paper, old drawings, coffee, ropes, spray paint, wax and old business cards. Each tube tells a short story of its own, and together they create a vertical contrast to the horizontal branches of the tree. 

The tree was lit up on December 1 and you can see it at Maihaugen until January 7, 2018. For more information, see https://eng.maihaugen.no/. 

Proposal for 22 July National Memorial

Introduction

Snøhetta's artist Jorunn Sannes and architect Kjetil Trædal Thorsen formed one of ten teams invited to design sketch proposals for a new national memorial in Oslo, commemorating the terror attacks of 22 July 2011.

The proposal is a place to remember the tragedy but also of hope, unity, and strength. It can be associated with the struggle between good and evil, opposites that challenge us.

The memorial consists of two identical spherical forms. One is turned upside down and forms an inclined and protective vault over the entrance to the 22 July center. The other is an open bowl to the sky and a communal and embracive outdoor space for visitors, where 77 of the seats are sculpted and highlighted. The two forms are alike, yet become unlike, and are linked together through an internal and eternal movement.

"Walking"

A lamp made of neon shaped as a hieroglyph.

Prints with signs taken from the wall of Alexandria Library