Snøhetta

Snøhetta is an integrated architecture practice established in 1989 upon winning the international design competition for the Alexandria Library in Egypt. Since its completion in 2001, this historic building has received many awards and prizes, including the highly valued Aga Khan award in 2004. The company currently employs 120 staff, based in Oslo with a smaller branch office in New York, and is soon to be represented in the Middle East.

The practice has a long track record of delivering world class arts and cultural buildings across the world. Our concern for cultural buildings has sustained the practice throughout its life and is reflected in their current portfolio that includes the 1,600 seat Norwegian National Opera in Oslo, the World Trade Centre Museum in New York and the Cultural House in Sandvika, Oslo.

"Our museum is designed to engage with the light of the river, the dynamic of the river and with the energy of the river. Our design seeks to exploit and heighten the experience of this unique river setting by creating a direct relationship between the 'building' and the movement, flow and surface of the water as it changes throughout the course of a day. Rather than a fixed pier or landfill outcrop that 'landlocks' the Discovery, our design sits directly into the water, floating on the very surface of the river - the perfect, designed container of the museum creating a new public place and destination on the river that continually rises and falls in rhythm with the Tay's tidal change."

The Snøhetta multidisciplinary team for the V&A project includes Gareth Hoskins Architects (UK), Lord Cultural Resources (Canada), Davis Langdon (Scotland), Adams Kara Taylor (UK) and the BDSP Partnership (UK).