Snøhetta is a prestigious, architectural design studio based in Oslo, Norway with sub offices in San Francisco, California, Innsbruck, Paris, Hong Kong, Adelaide and Stockholm. Snøhetta began as an alliance architectural and landscape workshop.
Their work aims to enhance our sense of neighoubering, recognition and relationship to others and the physical spaces where we live, whether wild or human-made.
The firm has recently designed a tourist shelter dubbed Tungestølen project which is looking on a small plateau behind the Jostedalen glacier, Norway. The project is owned by Norwegian National Trekking Association, Luster, western Norway.
The Tungestølen project includes nine cabins of different sizes two of which so far has been completed. The main cabin offers a dormitory area which can accommodate 30 individuals and it is attached to a dining hall, it contains stone fireplaces and large dining tables. The main cabin also offers some private cabins.
The interior of the building is simple and sustainable, however, the exterior keeps atypical appearance which is designed to minimize the effects of the strong winds.
“With the ravaging of the original Tungestølen cabin fresh in mind, Snøhetta designed a new constellation of nine robust pentagonal and oblique cabins, made with wooden glu-lam frames, covered by sheets of CLT and clad in ore pine,” explains the firm. “The outward-facing walls of the cabins have been given a beak-like shape to slow down strong winds sweeping up from the valley floor. Inside, the playful shape of the cabins frames the mountains and valleys outside through angular and panoramic windows, adding views and light to the spaces while encouraging individual contemplation and respite.”
In fact, this project will take place of a historical tourist cabin called Tungestølen Tourist Cabin which demolished due to a cyclone on December 25, 2011.The firm has consulted wind experts and used special wind analysis software on a 3D model during design process. The cabins will be constructed in a specially planned panicle to reduce the wind effects and to ensure that same thing won’t happen in coming days.
