MEET THE SPEAKER\\ Martin Gran, Partner Snøhetta, Norway
Built matter and human matter. The dialogue in architecture
Martin Gran, Partner at Snøhetta, will share his sharp meaningful insights into matters of architecture, design and the human mind as a speaker at SHARE Cyprus 2024.
Martin Gran is a partner at Snøhetta — an internationally acclaimed practice with a cross-disciplinary approach, transgressing and uniting the territories of architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, art, product design, graphic and digital design. In line with the multifaceted activity of the office, Martin Gran himself has a complex professional career and a study background spanning from management, organisational behaviour, psychology, sociology, scientific methodology and philosophy. Working in the industry for a long time and having a pivotal role in developing Snøhetta’s methodology, he has also co-founded Snøhetta Design in 2010 thus extending even more the palette of projects by introducing product design and graphic design as two new disciplines. The innovative architectural and design solutions are always to be read along with the humanistic values that Snøhetta tries to include and express not only through the projects, but also through the internal process of the office. In this sense, Martin Gran has a great impact in the international think-tank of Snøhetta due to his experience in strategy, communication and leadership and thanks to his interest in humans and the human mind.
In the circular process in which people define architecture which further defines the framing of people’s lives, each actor involved has to do its part in order to keep the creative operation going at full speed and value. In his discourses, Martin Gran always underlines the way that human-centred approach gives more to the collective, appraising what each individual can bring to the big table. Fostering motivation, cultivating the inner drive of the individuals and enhancing their particular assets have always proved to be the right way to achieve the best results as a team.
This line of action is a method to solidify not only the structure of the practice, but also the position of the office in the international arena. Collectivism, inclusivity, integration, openness are built-in principles of Snøhetta, which are to be observed right from the name of the office which was a well-thought choice, fit to express their creed and their Nordic model. The office has taken its appellation for a mountain in Dovre, Norway, a natural element, powerful in its overall context, accessible to all, unclaimed by any individual, belonging to the collective. The name also announces the approach of the office in which the dialogue with the nature, landscape and context is crucial and constructed with careful consideration. Their design choices are a materialisation of their distinctive attitude. The impressively extensive portfolio of the projects made at Snøhetta speaks for itself. It is a challenge to be able to make iconic architectural objects, in which the image of a building is so powerful, while not losing the attention to the human factor and to the context that the object is inserted in. But Snøhetta successfully takes it on. Their buildings might not adhere to a specific style and take pride in their variety, but they certainly bear an unmistakable Snøhetta patent that distinguishes them.
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