The act of exhibiting works of art, human history, designed
objects, or any other creative output is inherently rife with difficult
decisions and problems involving deep thought and contemplation. There are
issues of curatorial intent, physical siting, and historical context, among
others. Those problems are only magnified when the exhibited topic is
architecture. Simply put, to exhibit architecture is to exhibit something
incomplete. The intrinsic purpose of architecture is the creation of built
form, useable by humans and supporting the clients’ goals. Placing completed,
to-scale architecture in an exhibit or gallery space, for obvious reasons, is
out of the question. Logically, many exhibition organizers veer toward
the question of "How do I properly represent the architect's or studio's
goals?" While architecture is necessarily focused on the final product, it
is also an art and craft that thrives in process – from initial creative spark,
guiding research, and client meetings, to prototype models, engineering drafts,
and completed form. In order to properly craft an architectural experience
based in a gallery, the exhibit’s curator must adequately leverage an
architect’s or firm’s process such that the visitor can appropriately
understand the means by which any buildings came to be. Luckily, the Danish
Architecture Center’s exhibit on Snøhetta and their work did just this.
Figure 1 - Snohetta Exhibit in the DAC
For background, Snøhetta is a Norwegian architecture firm based in
Oslo that has worked with clients ranging from The French Laundry to the
Norwegian national government, The Presidio Trust in San Francisco to the
National September 11 Memorial Museum. As a firm, Snøhetta also works in
landscape design, interiors, and branding, making them a firm steeped in
quasi-Renaissance ideals of wide-ranging ability and creative expression. They
take a highly collaborative approach to their work and ensure the client’s
involvement at every stage of the design process. Further, they seem to embody
a singularly Nordic ideal in that they are intimately tied to place (whether
that be the rural woodland of northern Norway or the cosmopolitan bustle of
South Korea) and a cool, collected, calm nature when they dive into their
architectural and design projects.
Fortunately, the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) created a
remarkably complex, cohesive, and immersive experience in their exhibit on
Snøhetta and their work. As a resource, the DAC is a remarkable place. They
host an impressive and comprehensive bookstore of global and Nordic
architectural trends, and apparently an equally impressive cafe serving
perfected espresso and small lunch dishes. When guests visit the DAC, they are
not only treated to incredible displays of architecture, but also the ability
to broaden their understanding of architecture, not to mention a beautiful
lunch spot. This serves to offer a lens through which to
view Snøhetta’s work on display. Further, the exhibition is sited to
the rear of the space which mentally removes it from the outside world and
creates a singular focus on a world of Snøhetta's design. The context is so
removed from the canals of Copenhagen that the patrons are transported to a
mental and quasi-physical space made to replicate Snøhetta’s main office,
which is a truly marvelous and ingenious idea.
Structurally, the exhibit consists of three disparate zones that
focus on separate aspects of Snøhetta – initial creative process,
prototyping work, and real-world examples. While working within the mental
space of “incompleteness”, this clean separation makes the understanding of
architecture much more digestible, especially with a firm like Snøhetta whose
work is far-ranging and eclectic. The presentation of Snøhetta’s creative
process was one of the clear successes of the exhibit, an impressively complete
articulation despite the intrinsic challenge of representing the amorphous,
frustrating, and intellectual process that is
"architecture". The DAC and their advisers at Snøhetta chose to
frame the space through a top-down photo of the firm’s central creative table,
a tool they use in the beginning phases of every project.
Figure 2 - Snohetta's "Creative Table"
From the three-dimensional material examples to the interactive
exercises and video screens, this portion gave a frame and jumping-off point
for patrons with which to understand and enjoy the rest of the exhibit. In
many of the videos, Snøhetta’s architects and designers spoke to
their personal experiences with the Snøhetta way and to the overwhelming
power it has on their creative process. perhaps the most valuable lesson I
learned was the Snøhetta-made term "transpositioning", where different
professionals change roles so as to remove the chance of creative myopia. By forcing
uncomfortableness, the architects, designers, and other staff in the firm
broaden their horizons. As a piece of wall text stated, “It’s about dropping
the tunnel vision to make way for humour, ingenuity and creative power”.
Figure 3 - Protoyping Room in the DAC
Personally, the prototyping section of the exhibit was the most
fascinating to me. Similar to the first “room”, the prototyping portion was
created as a facsimile of Snøhetta’s own model-making studio at their office in
Oslo. Tools hung on the walls, spare and waste material was scattered on the
tabletops, and forgotten or partially completed models crowded the table at the
center of the space. The feeling was gritty, intense, and verged on mad because
of the hectic nature of the space. It deeply connected to a pervasive aspect of
the studio’s work and its namesake, which is the tallest mountain in the Dovrefjell
range in Norway. Often, through the exhibit, architects at Snøhetta recalled a
phrase repeated around the office – “Snøhetta is a place that no one is from
but everyone can go to”, which I find particularly poignant. By transporting a
facsimile of their prototyping studio to the DAC, they are allowing any patron
to go to Snøhetta even though none of us are from there.
Figure 4 - Busan Opera House
The conclusion of the exhibit showcased finalized designs in model
form, interviews with consumers of the spaces, informational screens on well
over 100 projects, and parting words from designers reiterating everything
Snøhetta thinks that itself is about – from initial creative spark to final
opening of the spaces. Again, having the ability to physically move through the
space and understand the architecture from a variety of angles and perspectives
gave the exhibit a sense of completion that I would argue is nearly impossible.
While there is no way to fully understand a piece of architecture until
physically experiencing it, the conclusion of DAC’s presentation of Snøhetta
left me feeling deeply satisfied and inspired, hopeful for the continued success
of the firm.
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