Current Work is a lecture series featuring leading figures in the worlds of architecture, urbanism, design, and art.

Snøhetta is an integrated design practice of architecture, landscape, interiors, furniture, graphic and brand design, with offices in eight cities including Oslo, Norway, and New York City.

In 1989, Snøhetta received its first commission to re-invent the great Alexandria Library in Egypt, after winning an international design competition. This was followed a decade later by another competition-winning proposal for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. In 2004, Snøhetta was commissioned to build the only cultural building on the World Trade center memorial site, and a permanent office was then set up in New York. Snøhetta is currently involved with more than 50 projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.

Current U.S. projects include the redevelopment of Times Square in New York City, which is currently under construction, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion, The French Laundry Kitchen Renovation and Garden expansion in Yountville, California, the Far Rockaway Public Library in Queens, and the Westchester Branch Library in the Bronx. The firm was recently shortlisted for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Current international projects include the Calgary New Public Library and Plaza, Museo de Ciencias Ambientales, an environmental science museum in Guadalajara, Mexico, and the Lascaux Caves Museum in Lascaux, France.

Craig Dykers is a Founding Partner of Snøhetta. He has taught at the Architectural College in Oslo, Syracuse University, Cornell University, Parsons The New School of Design, and Washington University in St. Louis. Dykers is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a member of the American and Norwegian Institutes of Architects.

Elaine Molinar is a Partner and Managing Director of Snøhetta. She helped found the firm’s New York office after working on their winning commission for the Alexandria Library and as a team leader on Snøhetta’s Norwegian National Opera and Ballet. Molinar has won numerous awards including the Stanford Prize for Innovation in Research Libraries, AIA/ALA American Library Award, and an AIA Presidential citation. She is also a member of both the American and Norwegian Institutes of Architects.

Snøhetta has won numerous international awards, including the Mies van der Rohe European Prize for Architecture, the Aga Kahn Prize, and has twice won the World Architecture Award for Best Cultural Building.

The lecture will be followed by a discussion with Nader Tehrani, Dean of The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union. Tehrani is also principal of NADAAA, a practice dedicated to the advancement of design innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and an intensive dialogue with construction practices with offices in Boston and New York City.

This lecture is co-sponsored by The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union. It is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.