Environmental Adaptions

Thurs., April 24, 2025 | Cambridge, MA

This event will take place on Thursday, April 24 from 6:30-7:30PM in Piper Auditorium in Gund Hall and virtually. This event is open to the public.

KEYNOTE ADDRESS:
Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, co-founder of Snøhetta, will share insight into the firm’s work, highlighting the relationship between people, nature, and built environments. Established in Oslo, Norway, in 1989, Snøhetta was inspired by the Brundtland Commission’s report on sustainability, Our Common Future, published by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) two years earlier. Today, Snøhetta is a transdisciplinary practice with studios in eight locations worldwide.

As the building industry accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions, Thorsen believes designers and architects must take significant responsibility while recognizing the opportunities to drive the industry toward a greener transition. He will discuss how social and environmental sensitivity can inform design, showcasing notable projects globally, including the Library of Alexandria, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, the firm’s material exploration, the Powerhouse series—buildings that generate more energy than they consume— as well as Harvard HouseZero, an energy-positive prototype and Vertikal Nydalen, Norway’s first naturally climatized mixed-use building.

SPEAKER:
Kjetil Trædal Thorsen is a Norwegian architect educated in Graz, Austria, who co-founded Snøhetta in Oslo in 1989. He has played a crucial role in shaping the firm’s philosophy and its evolution into a transdisciplinary, global architecture and design practice. Thorsen has been involved in several notable projects, including the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the Le Monde Group Headquarters in Paris. Before establishing Snøhetta, he practiced architecture in Scandinavia for several years and co-founded Norway’s leading architecture gallery, Galleri Rom, in 1986. His work has earned him numerous awards, including the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – the Mies van der Rohe Award and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Thorsen is a frequent lecturer and served as a Professor of Architecture at the Institute of Experimental Architecture at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, from 2004 to 2008. He also frequently acts as a jury member for various international design and architecture competitions and awards, including the Obel Award, the Zumtobel Group Award, the Frederick Kiesler Prize, and the Holcim Awards.