01x07 - The Mind of Kjetil Thorsen, Inspiration in Nature

[bunniefuu]

For Arch, our journey
is about seeking inspiration

wherever it can be found.

Sunset, PCH.

From a design perspective,
one of the things that, you know,

this process we do with our customers
where I give them some homework

and ask them to collect
and send to us imagery,

"Please, look for things
that inspire you from nature,

- from culture, from architecture."
- Mmm.

And nature has a way of
solving engineering problems.

Yeah, I mean, I think if anything,
it's an engineering solving matrix.

You know?

So our designer, James,

he has this kind of
saber-toothed dog-tiger.

Well, there you go. There's an example
of nature inspiring design, right?

Like the gas tank and the headlight
and this aggressive stance.

Just as we're inspired
by the natural world...

the fjords of Norway have inspired
a globally innovative mind

in the world of design
and architecture.

I think the most significant
thing that we're dealing with is

architecture as a way of
opening up people's minds.

There's a Norwegian architect
whose design firm, Snøhetta,

is truly revolutionary.

We want to understand
their unique approach

and how their groundbreaking
projects come to life.

We founded Arch Motorcycle
to challenge the perception

of what an American
motorcycle could be.

Our ambition is to create a
beautiful, aesthetically interesting,

seductive machine
that you can ride.

Curiosity has been our
lifeblood since the beginning,

and we're fueled by far more than just
a passion for designing motorcycles.

Arch is a mindset,

a lens through which
to see the world.

This is a quest
for inspiration.

To witness visionaries
pushing the bounds of innovation,

to understand why
inspiration strikes,

and where human
creativity comes from.

Just being
on the fjord here,

we have this...
notion of calmness.

This is my brother, Reidar.

We... we grew up in
this fjord together,

in our family's place over here.

So we know this
fjord in and out.

We go out fishing, and
we've done it together

since we started with my father
many, many, many years ago,

since we were tiny.

The west coast of
Norway is my base.

It's where landscapes are harsh,

confronting,

in the sense of how
to experience things.

It's one of these places where I think
you can come and get quite peaceful.

Sometimes words don't matter.

You know, the fishermen
from this place,

they have a different
pace of conversation.

So they can sit down by the harbor, and
one old fisherman says to the other,

"So, the wind is hard today."

And then after five minutes,
the other one would say,

"Yes. But it was just
as hard yesterday."

When you're out fishing, it creates a sort
of intimacy that you have with nature.

And that provides you with the best
possible way of thinking into design.

This is Kjetil Thorsen,

an architect whose vision has been
the driving force behind Snøhetta,

a think-outside-the-box
award-winning firm

creating design and architecture that
blurs lines with the natural world.

In design, sometimes you have
a tendency of getting caught up in

too many details too
early in a project.

So you want to fit
everything into the project

on all levels and
all kinds of details.

But this makes you think in the
bigger lines, the bigger concepts.

The wider view, if you wish.

And I think that's what
this place does to the mind.

That approach to design created
one of Snøhetta's first major projects.

The Oslo Opera House perfectly
incorporates its surroundings,

inviting the public to
enjoy its structures

far more than a house for music.

I think it's the first
opera house I know of in the world

where you can be both on and in.

Most likely you would not have
been able to create this roof

had it not been that
it is a piece of art,

because it's breaking all
the building regulations.

So architecture has to
follow building regulations.

Art does not have to follow
building regulations.

The winner is from Norway.

Winning the Opera
House in Oslo, for us,

it was our first big
project in Norway, in Oslo.

Uh, Jorunn and I, we were down
on the site of the Opera House

on the night of the prize
ceremony for the competition,

and we said goodbye to
this beautiful location.

We had absolutely no idea
we were going to win it.

We thought we were much too
early with these type of designs.

It was this kind of
notion of saying,

"We gave it our best shot. It won't
win. We'll never see it happen."

But it was a thrill
just to think it.

We thought it was far too
experimental to be taken seriously.

And then they did.

Crazy. And I stopped
smoking immediately.

Architecture can never,
ever compete with nature.

Architecture, it's sort of a
human interpretation of things

that we feel, see, and
appropriate in nature.

So if you think of architecture
more than something

that is based on four
walls and a pitched roof,

if you think of architecture as something
that is kind of exploding out into nature,

this is maybe where the
deep end of designs lay

in the architecture of Snøhetta.

Justin Bieber was here with
10,000 people on the roof

with the stage
floating in the water.

It's more about trying
to create architectures

that brings the public together.

This is a socializing structure.

It treats everyone equal.

I'd say that the vast
majority visit the Oslo Opera

not necessarily to view opera, but
for a Sunday stroll on the roof

or a lunchtime break
to enjoy the view.

People go skiing on it in
the wintertime.

You do not meet absolute complexity
until you've worked at an opera house.

An opera contains perhaps
every type of typology

you could possibly work
with in one building.

You hear the acoustics?

Hey!

We started getting recognized
in the professional environment

of architecture, design,
landscape architecture.

Our peers started
recognizing our work.

From there, we started moving step
by step into what we are today.

We're thinking about,
like, something you can go into.

- Yeah.
- Like, that is for peace

and being more alone.

- Mm-hmm.
- Of course, the form is, uh...

- not there yet.
- No, no.

Jorunn Sannes is
my wife. She's an artist.

We've been working together since
the very, very beginning of Snøhetta.

Uh, and even before.

She's not only an artist, but she's
also probably at least my best critic.

She has fantastic
way of seeing things.

Uh, much better than I do.

It seemed like we had to work
with the two sides of life.

I have been together
with Kjetil for 47 years.

Ah!

My family is a little bit, uh,
different, because we have two boys,

one adopted and one self-made.

I was five and a
half months pregnant

when we were going to Ethiopia
to pick up our son, Isak.

I had to hide my pregnancy
to be able to get Isak.

And then we came home with Isak, and
three months later, Alexander came.

So it was a kind
of instant family,

after waiting many years.

I love to work side
by side with Kjetil,

and he's developing
his ideas all the time.

One idea becomes two,
together with another idea,

and together we create,
like, an orchestra.

When we started Snøhetta
with a small group of friends,

we just started on our own.

Trying to do competitions,
architectural competitions,

trying to debate and discuss

this action of landscape architecture
and architecture combined,

uh, and see how that could
actually evolve into designs.

Those architecture competitions
inspired Snøhetta to think differently,

to create innovative concepts that could
win projects over more established firms.

The competition to rebuild the library
attracted architects from 77 countries

with a lofty goal to
re-establish the historic library

destroyed 2,000 years ago.

The winner of the top
is a Norwegian firm

that's a collaborative group
headed by Mr. Kjetil Thorsen,

which is put together of
six different nations.

621 participants from
all over the world,

and the jury chose our project.

I mean...

it's almost incredible
they accepted us

and didn't say, "Okay, you've never
built anything in your lives."

I mean, you never expect anything like
that to happen when you're 30 years old.

So, you know, it
was, like, cool.

When we did the competition
for the Library of Alexandria,

I was given the task to do
something about the exterior wall,

and what would be better to have outside
a library than symbols and letters?

So it's like a collage of around
140 living and dead languages.

And in the beginning, everything was
put into the AutoCAD, to the computer,

so it should actually
be drawn by a computer.

But the diamonds went
bad, and after some time,

they decided now that it would take too
long time to get new ones from Italy,

so they started to
make it by hand.

Euron, together with another sculptor,
they helped each other implement it,

teaching the young stone masons in
Egypt how to hand carve the granite.

It was great to see what
my work has done with people.

Every human being can find something
there that they can relate to.

I must say it was
really touching.

So we won it in '89.

We signed the contract in '93 and then
up until 2002 before it actually opened.

Uh, but when it
did open in 2002,

we already won the competition of
the Opera House in Oslo in 2000.

So as a... as a company, we were
no longer a one-time wonder.

We could actually
repeat success.

And repeating success
is the best proof

that you're alive and kicking
and you're moving forward.

And slowly, slowly, we've evolved
into what we are today with nine

studios around the world and then the
different projects around the world.

As Snøhetta evolves,

each new project
shatters expectations

and creates unique experiences
for those who visit them.

Coming here feels like such
an amazing opportunity.

And I'm fascinated by
what I know about Snøhetta

and hopefully I learned
something that inspires or helps

us understand how
to maybe employ,

you know, some of what they do in our
business and make what we do better.

Um, unfortunately, Keanu
wasn't able to join me

on this journey because he has
a day job that took him away.

- Great to see you.
- You too.

- Wow.
- Wow.

Yeah.

It was a... a gift to my parents
in 1995, I guess.

It was repayment for the gift
they gave you in the beginning.

Yeah.

And it's very unique architecture
for this neighborhood, yes?

Very much so. I mean,

as... if you look at all the other
buildings along the street, they're all

singular houses where the gardens
are sort of surrounding the house.

Here the garden is in the middle
of the house in this atrium.

And that's more like a southern
Spanish, maybe Mexican,

kind of inspired rather
than Nordic inspiration.

We just do whatever
has always been done.

This sounds very
Snøhetta-ish.

Yeah, it is in a way.

Yeah, they didn't really
want us to do this.

So we had to fight for two and a half
years in order to get the permit.

- Really?
- Yeah.

What... What could
their argument be?

- Just visual?
- It's different. Just different.

- Ah.
- Yeah.

How dare you do something like this?

Well, it'd be lovely
also if you'd take us...

- Yeah, let's go for a walk. Absolutely.
- ...and show us some of the town.

Uh, I was thinking we'd just
walk down to the harbor.

- Yeah, fabulous. Let's go.
- Okay,

There was relatability between the
challenges and the time it takes

to do some of these projects, you
know, especially public projects and

how Snøhetta has to fight to
defend some things they want to do.

I found this with
them in every project.

Like, they always have these
challenges that instead of just

- giving in to them, you know...
- Right.

- ...like, you got to use this term.
- Obstruction is opportunity.

Yes, exactly.

Which I know we've... you know,
it's been a big experience for us.

And I think part of what
makes what we do, what we do.

Mhm.

Good morning, everyone.

Ready to go?

The creative process
differs for everyone.

Snøhetta's is called idea work.

And to illustrate it,
Kjetil offered to conduct

an exercise using Arch
as its inspiration.

We've been challenged to interpret Arch
Motorcycles in an idea work workshop.

The understanding of what Arch
could mean more than motorcycle.

So right now, much better
to let Keanu talk about it.

Hi, I'm Keanu Reeves.

I'm a co-founder at Arch
Motorcycle with Gard Hollinger.

Yeah, Arch Motorcycle.

We wanted to make what ended up being
a kind of production custom motorcycle.

I talked about it, early days,
about like being a fitted suit.

And we wanted to say that
no two arches were the same.

So that it would be
your Arch Motorcycle.

What we've hoped to do is
kind of like Arch design.

And it's a lot of fun.

You know, we were
talking about lighting.

What's the Arch chair?

What are some objects that
convey the idea of Arch design?

And I guess everybody has
their own flavor, right?

So what's the Arch
design flavor?

Arch Motorcycle.

Thank you very
much for your time.

Hope everyone is well out
there. And, uh, thank you.

So it's a
very, very clear-minded

way of interacting
between groups of people.

Where we align the topic,
we have some information.

We have some springboards
for people to think about.

We have some pictograms
they should be choosing.

Do they like this?
Not like that?

People are contributing to
concepts and design possibilities.

Yeah, or is it a vinyl?

It's also, you know,
the man and machine.

It's very tech.
Yeah, it's an android.

- What about this?
- There's like artificial...

Artificial and the
same over and over again.

We are kind of looking through
just to find images that

will make us think differently.

I... I think we
need beauty into this.

As cheesy. As cheesy.

The process is extremely important if you
want to break out of the conventional.

And you bring singular people
together in a collective.

You expand the borders of
where you think you can go.

Each and everyone contributes.

In... In the... You
have the Arch motorcycle.

It has two wheels.

It has an arch that
links that together.

And you have another one, which is the
driver, who is arched down to them.

It is a structure at Snøhetta where there
is room for thinking your own thoughts.

And they seem to have the same value
when we meet up in a discussion.

And if you're a fresh new architect with
a good idea, that has the same weight

as an older architect than
where they've been for 15 years.

I was just thinking
an arch is more than an arch.

We could begin at the
word, like, force.

There's always a collaboration
between our disciplines in Snøhetta.

It reflects in every
aspect of what we do.

Kjetil has an incredible ability
to include, to work together.

There's never a situation where
Kjetil decides or... or drives.

The end product is a collective idea
of many great minds put together.

- The user is the keystone.
- Yeah, yeah.

The person sitting down in
the chair is the one distributing

the weight of the body.

In the keystone, all the
forces are coming together here

and distributing
back into the ground.

- Okay?
- Okay, yeah.

When you're on a bike,
you use gravity to balance.

Could the word be gravity?

I think everyone here
has learned from Kjetil.

Um, the way that
Kjetil wholeheartedly

approaches everyone with a very open mind
and a very honest approach to actually

want to hear your opinion, what you think
you may be able to bring to the table.

It's something that grows
throughout the studio in its whole.

Okay, everyone. We've come to the
final conclusion of today's workshop.

Thank you so much. Now we have
three extremely important words.

We have gravity, we have
force, and we have keystone.

So now we're going to present a
small booklet with the options and

the possibilities
to Arch Motorcycle

and sketching out for them
what these three words might

mean in the future
development of

Arch Motorcycle Company and how
they're going to move into the future.

So thank you. Successful.

We believe architecture is
a collective profession,

but that doesn't mean
we're not competitive.

We are a competitive
organization, right?

We want to be the best.

For Kjetil, all
designs are born like this.

And in 2019, it helped them develop one
of their most challenging concepts yet,

a restaurant on the southern
coast of Norway called Under.

Why Under?

So Under was this restaurant where
we were trying to sort of again

reinterpret the movement from
above water to underwater.

So we said, okay, this is our
interpretation of a unique location

with a totally different understanding of
what an underwater restaurant could be.

Some buildings are
function above all else.

This is not one of them.

It's called Under.

Under, a word in Norwegian that
means both underneath and wonder,

are two promises this
structure makes good on.

To actually construct a
building that goes underwater,

you construct it on a sort of big
vessel and you cast it in concrete.

You transport it over to the location and
then you sink the building into the water.

And then you pump the
water out of the building.

And all of a sudden, you
have an underwater space.

- Okay, it feels the nautical thing a little bit.
- Yeah.

How this is like we're
walking from land now to the vessel.

Is there a reason you used a
visually very different material?

- It needs to be detached from the object per se.
- Oh, okay.

So this is sort of like a rope
connecting the land with the vessel.

Okay.

Hey! Welcome to Under.

- Hello, I'm Gard.
- I'm Heidi.

Heidi has been
with us for a long time.

She's an interior architect and
she was responsible for a lot

of the development of
the interiors of UNDER.

Now it's so
peaceful in here and warm.

That's because you now
enter the buildings through,

- you know, quite harsh weather conditions.
- Yes.

It's important that this calm
environment is for us to prepare

you for what's about to come.

All right. It's almost like
we're entering the womb.

- Ah, don't be surprised...
- Yes?

...if you have a slight
experience of rebirth.

Okay. - Just have a look at it. See how it goes.

Standing up here, you can
look all the way down to here.

Wow. Goodness gracious.

- It's very theater-like in here, you know?
- Yes.

For this project, we wanted to explore
just to have as few materials as possible.

The construction itself
is watertight concrete.

And then it's wood, both on
the facade and the entrance.

We wanted to use all
natural materials.

But because this building
is where it is underwater,

you get really, really
high restrictions.

So we were not allowed to use natural
materials because they can burn.

Except for wood, if the
wood is thick enough.

There is more and more
textile surfaces in and down.

And that's because
of the acoustics.

You want it to be really cozy, to feel
hugged or soft or gentle in a way.

I think the most significant
thing that we're dealing with is

architecture as a way of
opening up people's minds.

Everything is about transitions.

Going from one condition
to another condition.

Everything is about
breaking borderlines.

This is to make you
aware of where we are.

And this is always
a strange feeling.

- Yeah.
- We're not used to... 'm floating in air.

Does this window continue?

- Yes. Down there.
- Correct.

Wow.

And it's quite obvious the difference
in the colors when you're looking up.

- How the light changes the colors when you're looking down.
- Yes.

You're leaving the
daylight situation behind

and moving from the
orangey-brown colors.

And then it moves down to more greener
and to the deeper, deeper colors.

And these are actually the colors
of what you find under the sea.

So again, it's about telling you
the story while you're moving.

- It is.
- I'm also noticing that, you know,

- we don't have a flat ceiling.
- Nope. - No.

- What is this shape?
- This is a cylindrical shape.

This is almost kind
of like an arch.

- Yeah, it is.
- It is an arch.

It is an arch.

Everything this building is about
is the view outside this big window.

- The water surface, again, is almost like a chandelier.
- Yeah.

Emotionally, um... first of all, it's
a level of calmness, I would say.

But I think the emotion is
more an emotion of being free.

- Can see the bottom a little bit.
- Yeah, you can.

- It's mysterious.
- It is mysterious.

Yeah, today it's
absolutely full of algae.

- A little fishy.
- Yeah, you can see a little fish.

Yeah, a tiny one.

This is not an aquarium.

This is the real sea outside.

So actually, if anyone's
in an aquarium, it's us.

Yeah, yeah, right.

If design is about
evoking emotion

and inspiring those
who experience it,

Snøhetta has succeeded.

They've crafted something
unmistakably original

that truly challenges
what's possible.

Kjetil and I talk
about this idea of

how maybe creativity comes
from our subconscious, so...

he felt like a lot of creativity
comes from experience.

Yeah, it takes me back
because I remember,

I think it was in your office...

and you had a drawing of
a house that you lived in.

And I think it was when we were
talking about the name of the company.

And the arch and the idea of,

ultimately, what is the
backbone of the KRGT-1...

and the curve of it.

And it was kind of drawn
to your attention that

the influence comes
from that house.

I started to notice as I thought
about it, arches everywhere.

And even in a home that
I lived in when I was,

you know, in my sort of formative
years from the age like 8 to 12,

and it's actually this home,
which was a John Lautner home.

I'm learning more about
where creativity comes from.

For me, it comes
from experience.

It's something that inspired
me, like the arch of the house.

It was a bit of a wonderland
of a house for a kid

- because it wasn't a normal house, right?
- Yeah.

So we did really stupid things like
hang off the front of the house...

over this railing that's 60 feet down
and kick our feet and yell, help, help,

to see if neighbors
would respond to it.

Of course.

- So, I mean...
- We're not going to go into

the psychological
question of like,

why would a child cry for help hanging to
see if anybody would come and help them?

We won't go there.

We'll just think about it as
seeking experience, right?

Youth seeks experience.

Which feeds creativity.

Which feeds creativity.

Help, help!

It's definitely an engine
of creativity, you know.

Snøhetta has nine
offices on four continents.

Despite the growth,

there's a culture that Kjetil believes
is essential to their creative voice.

Everything we do needs to
have a collective backdrop.

And we organize that by
having the communal lunches.

We're sitting like
150 people in a room.

You can sit beside an assistant or with
the director of Snøhetta worldwide.

The mix where everyone
meets is what I want.

So, there's a birthday!

We gather, eat, talk,
and experience each other.

From the beginning, we started
Snøhetta as a collective,

because we were a group of friends
gathering in this one space in Oslo.

It was above a beer place
called the Hall of Dovre.

And Dovre is a mountain area
in the middle of Norway.

And the highest mountain
peak is Snøhetta.

And since we
established our practice

on top of this beer place
called the Hall of Dovre,

we took the name Snøhetta.

That particular point in time, it was
almost like a local contextual joke.

Every second year, we
try to go to Dovre,

where Snøhetta is the top
peak of that mountain area.

And we gather there
from all over the world.

And we take this walk and talk
to feel connected to each other.

Although we are living in
different parts of the world.

It's really nice.

So, Snøhetta is a place where nobody
comes from, but where everyone can go.

It's a place where we have
so many different people,

from different nationalities
and different walks of life,

under one roof.

I think it makes sense
sometimes to pull back and...

sort of get all the stress down.

Okay.

Some salt.

Garlic. Mm-hmm.

From the very beginning,
we did have a 30-year plan.

10 years of trying to
establish the company,

10 years to try to consolidate
it, and 10 years of...

bringing it forward into the world,
you know, and creating things.

I wasn't foresighted enough to
think further than the 30 years.

I wish I would have, because
now I'm getting older.

So now it's even more important

that we should be thinking
about the future together.

If we rely on the
masters only, we'll fail.

We're at a point where
the collective efforts

are getting more and
more important to solve

the pressing issues we
have in front of us.

That's the future.

That's the future of design.

That's the future of
how we should operate.

Skål!

So we met up in LA and did the
competition for the Alexander Library.

Was there a reason for that,
or it just worked out that...

Just wanted to get out.

Okay.

Sometimes that's the
best reason, huh?

Yeah.

So this is the main
street, and this is where,

you know, in your youth,
this is where you hang out.

Yeah, sure.

Very cool.

So, you know, my connection
to the word arch.

Yeah.

I mean, they
are everywhere, right?

And there's one there.

There's one right there.

Higher, higher.

And you see how beautifully it
spreads from here to here, right?

Yeah, we're going to
get run over, I think.

I don't think so, no.

The arch, it's such a
significant thing in architecture.

It is, yeah.

I wonder what you...

- What I think of arches?
- Yeah.

I mean, isn't arch the primary
thing of connecting everything?

I totally agree.

There is the
construction of the arch.

With the foundation stones
to the left and to the right.

And then the sort of keystone
in the middle of the Roman arch,

holding everything together,
representing our culture, human culture.

If you remove the keystone,
the arch collapses, right?

The keystone of the Roman arch
is the culture of our societies.

Arch is an archetypical thing, but
it could also be an arch bishop.

Yes, sure, an arch concept.

Or arch concept.

An arch rival.

Exactly.

You look at a lot of
their projects, they're...

they're pretty simple
if you break them down,

but they have a lot
of impact, you know?

So I think this idea of

the effort it takes to make something
that looks simple in the end...

and the least number of things doing
the most number of things, right?

So that was interesting.

I mean, you have that in your
design philosophy, I imagine,

where, I mean, I
guess it's obvious,

but this idea of like,
how does it fit together?

You know, we're very much into,
you know, relationships and...

you know, how do
things work together?

What does a part do?

And then how does it
shape to add to something?

Did Kjetil talk about
beauty and symmetry?

Or how do they talk about
beauty and what's beautiful?

He's very affected by nature
and where he came from

and sort of the physicality
of how nature affected him

growing up in this
part of Norway, right?

Like I noticed in the Oslo Opera House
that there's a lot of very linear things.

He really likes
this idea of like,

you know, going from land
to the water, you know?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I saw that.

But then inside there were a lot of
very sort of organic shapes and curves

and, you know, almost
nature-looking things,

like you're in a forest of
trees or something, you know?

And wind, he talks about
how wind affects him,

how he doesn't feel comfortable
when there's no wind.

And this idea of walking...

Oh, we can relate to that.

- Wind in my hair.
- Yes, exactly.