Moving Atmospheres: Snøhetta’s Jenny B. Osuldsen on Sharing Ideas, Teamwork, and an Architecture for Everybody

By Julia Gamolina

Jenny B. Osuldsen, graduated with MLarch from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Ås in 1991 and studied landscape architecture and art at Cal Poly University Pomona in Los Angeles, USA. She is a partner in Snøhetta and has been working there since 1995. Jenny is also a Professor, teaching landscape architecture in Ås, in addition to being an AxJohnson Guest Professor at SUDes Master’s Program in Sustainable Urban Design at the Lund University in Sweden. In 2017 she was appointed Honorary Doctor at LTU Luleå Technical University in Sweden. In her conversation with Julia Gamolina, Jenny talks about where her team-based approach comes from and growing with Snøhetta, advising those just starting their careers to think about what they’d like to give and what they’d like to change.

JG: Tell me about how you grew up and how your interests for what you’re doing now developed.

JO: I grew up in a small town very close to the Swedish border - I have to note that Sweden did feel like a different country even though it was so close to me [laughs]. I grew up with a pretty big garden, so the notion of a house in a garden was something that I was curious about very early. I also grew up with three older brothers, and all of us had responsibilities for tending this garden, and I mowed the lawn. I thought it was so fun because I could make all kinds of patterns! I always liked to draw and sketch, and I also liked to make things, as well as the natural sciences. That combination of things was really the seed for pursuing landscape architecture.

You studied both in Norway and in the United States. Tell me what you learned in both places.

I studied at what was used to be called the Agriculture University in Norway, which had a very long tradition in landscape architecture, the program actually started in 1919! My program was five years, then I worked for two years, and then I went to California to study further.

From Norway to California, talk about different [laughs]!

[Laughs] Yes, we’ll get to that in a second. But in Norway, the university was a fantastic place with a beautiful campus in the countryside. So, all the students did everything together. I did so many different things there - I was singing in the choir, I was doing theatre...and I had really fantastic study mates. I met so many others that had great energy, and I also love to laugh [laughs], so I had a really great time.

Because I grew up in a family with three older brothers, I was always part of a team. I also played handball - I was conditioned to be a team player. That carried through in university. You need to be able to pursue your own path, but you must always work with your team. To push it further and have more fun together. And this is what I love about Snøhetta - it’s always about being a team. Sports, choir, architecture. It’s all about that.

So how did you eventually get to California?

When I was in my third year of university in Norway, I got to know the worldwide international federation for landscape architects, IFLA, and for the first time ever the annual conference was held in Norway- in 1990. I went, and that’s when I first thought, “Huh! I’d like to study abroad!” Then, after I graduated, I went to Colombia - to Cartagena and Bogotá – at the next IFLA conference. A lot of my peers there were talking about getting their Masters, and saying that if you wanted your Masters in Landscape, that you should go to the US. At that time, I had still never been to the US, but I got some scholarships from Fulbright and the Rotary ambassadorial scholarships, so I went to California because that was the furthest place from Norway [laughs]. Like you said.

I also wanted to learn more about theory, because I didn’t think we had enough of in the study program, and also to focus more on the arts aspect of design. I got to CalPoly, and they had this fantastic center for regenerative studies that had just opened that year. I had really inspiring professors and the students came from totally different backgrounds. We were all focused on different disciplines, and for me, this wasn’t a shock working together, since I came from so much teamwork. At the time, CalPoly was also really good at looking at sustainability, and regenerativity, and worked together with all different disciplines to work towards that and the Brundtland commissions “Our common future” was very well known at the university – this was back in 1993.

“Because I grew up in a family with three older brothers...I was conditioned to be a team player. You need to be able to pursue your own path, but you must always work with your team. To push it further and have more fun together. And this is what I love about Snøhetta - it’s always about being a team.”

— Jenny B. Osuldsen

How did you get to Snøhetta?

After my sabbatical, I got back to Norway to my job about two hours north of Oslo, met a man, blah blah blah [laughs]. But I wanted to go to Oslo, so I started looking into which firms were there. Two of my former study mates were at Snøhetta already at that time, so I called and one was about to go on maternity leave really soon, and they actually needed someone quickly. I got to the interview, and they asked me to come on board.

Tell me about your start there, because I imagine the firm was still relatively young when you joined?

I started in 1995, and before I started, I had already been working for four years. And even before that, I always worked as a student, so I had already been part of different offices. What I really knew, having worked at purely landscape offices, is that I really wanted to collaborate with architects. I didn’t know much about Snøhetta at the time at all, but I did know that they were cross-disciplinary and I knew that was right for me.

So in 1995, half of the Snøhetta office was in Egypt, finishing up the Alexandria Library. Even I worked on a couple of technical drawings for the library [laughs], that’s how long I’ve been with Snøhetta. When I started, I was twenty-eight, and I’d say that that was the average age of people at the firm! A few were younger, a few were a little bit older, but it was a very young office. It started with both landscape architects and architects, and has added on with interior architects, graphic designer and product designers. Again, teamwork is the focus. If there was a competition, or any sort of project, there was always a team from the start - no one did anything alone. As a young person there, I was given so much responsibility. You had to be generous this way! You had to give, to talk, to start sketching, to engage. I loved that.

How did you manage and work with Snøhetta’s growth?

We were all just thrown into new roles, and you just had to go! I was working there for two years when I became a part of the leadership group - one architect, one landscape architect, one interior architect, and a managing director. I got into it and eventually moved into the Managing Director role for a period of time. But, Snøhetta is not traditionally hierarchical, more horizontally structured and we are not named after a person. It’s not someone’s last name first.

Why is the name Snøhetta? I don’t think I’ve ever heard this story!

[Laughs] So the first office of Snøhetta, before my time, was in downtown Oslo. The office was on the attic floor. On the first floor, some floors below our office, was a very very brown bar. Very worn down….also the visitors….The bar was called Dovrehallen, the hall of Dovre - after Dovrefjell, a mountain area in Norway. So the name of the bar meant Dovrefjell’s hole. The peak of that mountain range, there is a mountain called Snøhetta, which means “snow hood”. So what was on top of hole, in the mountain region, and on our street? Snøhetta.

Snøhetta is not the tallest mountain in Norway at all, but it does have mythological significance, and our world famous playwriter and dramatist Henrik Ibsen 5 act play “Peer Gynt” is a about the man Peer who also is visiting the trolls in Dovre…. So, we are the trolls [laughs].

That’s hilarious. A dive bar and trolls are two things that I would not ever associate with Snøhetta...but now we all know [laughs]. Where are you in your career today? What is this moment for you?

For the last seven years, I’ve also been teaching. I am back at the very university where I studied. I’ve always liked to teach, and I’ve always thought it’s nice to give something back. Earlier today for example, I was on a online review for eight hours [laughs].

Now I know how you can do this interview so well! Just keeping that externally-facing momentum going.

Something like that. But with Snøhetta, when we got our amazing project at Ground Zero, I’m telling you, we had been trying for ten years to get a job in the United States. Ten years! It was hard - we hadn’t built anything in the US, we weren’t “starchitects.” And, when we would go to interview, or for a first meeting, people would ask, “Where and who is Mr. Snøhetta? Who is the person behind this?” Can you imagine?

“Architecture takes a while, but when things are done, especially when you work in the public realm, people start to experience what you create, and care about it, and take ownership, and that’s key. The space is for everyone, and it’s changing something.”

— Jenny B. Osuldsen

Wow. It’s totally opposite now - now if you name a firm after yourself, it’s not a great look.

Right! But that was our challenge. And we were too “Nordic,” too strange. So, when we got Ground Zero, it was a totally crazy challenge, and we had to figure the logistics of this project out. There was too much traveling back and forth, so we decided to set up a New York office. We’ve had project offices before, that were worldwide but temporary, and this was the first foreign office we were planning on setting up, just to have a presence. I was asked to be the managing director for the start of the New York office together with Craig Dykers and Elaine Molinar who already was there and they really took care and grew that office. We did want to make sure we carried over our Nordic thinking, so we first sent seven people from the Oslo office to NYC, and then started to hire people there.

One of my biggest fights in the industry was to bring over some of our Nordic practices. In Norway, we give five weeks of paid vacation. Work-life balance makes a difference to give back to the society. Maternity and paternity leave also needs to be more robust in the United States. Norway has a generous set up when it comes to health care, sick leave and still the universities in Norway don’t have any tuitions. And yes, we do pay taxes that is part of the common welfare…

In terms of my career today, we now also have offices, in addition to Oslo and New York, in Paris, Innsbruck, Adelaide, Hong Kong, and San Francisco. As a project leader, before the pandemic, you can imagine how much I was traveling. Way too much.

How often? Every week?

In Europe, yes, every week. When I was going to Australia, on the other side of the earth, I was on the flights for 24 hours for a 2 hour meeting in Melbourne, that is ridiculous waste of time, money and my CO2 footprint was really hurting…What we’ve learned during the pandemic is that we can absolutely still all get together, but online, and we’ve rethought which meetings are absolutely mandatory to have in person. That’s been a big shift. But we have learned that in starting new offices in new places, you do need to send some of us that have been with Snøhetta for a long time, to continue to infuse our culture and thinking and exchange personnel between the offices.

Other than the travel, what have been some of the biggest challenges?

Snøhetta has been through so many phases and obstacles - projects stop, competitions get put on hold...that’s just the reality of being in a service-oriented business. That can be super tough, and being in leadership and having to lay people off when these things happen, is really challenging. In Nordic countries, thankfully employees are also more protected, but it’s still very hard. And then, trying to build up again after tough moments, is also challenging. And you’ll never know when it’ll hit, and when you’ll get the new big commission. You never know! So you just have to continue, keep on sharing ideas, and not give up.

Gårdsrom Fredens hage, courtesy of Snøhetta

Working in business development and strategy by day, I certainly feel all of this. The key really is to keep going, maintain the rhythm, and things eventually happen.

Also, architects work for free so much! I think of all the competitions, and it’s really a lot. We give away a lot of ideas, and we keep going, and that’s another notion in architecture - we love what we do, so we over-deliver. We always want to do more, and to do better, and it’s our own fault in some ways, because then clients expect more and more. It is a challenge when you love what you do, and you always want to learn more, explore and push the world with architecture.

Right, the system of all of this is so much bigger than just architecture.

We’re one piece of the ecosystem.

What would you say your mission is, with your work? What’s the impact you’d like to have on the world?

To have more people touched by architecture. Architecture takes a while, but when things are done, especially when you work in the public realm, people start to experience what you create, and care about it, and take ownership, and that’s key. The space is for everyone, and it’s changing something.

Take the Oslo Opera House for example. So many people wondered why they should spend so much time on an opera house. At the time, Norway has earned a lot of money in oil, and there was a lot of that “Nouveau Riche.” Not so many people cared about culture. People looked at opera as a dying art. So we said, “Ok, if you don’t want to go in to the opera, you can go on top of the opera, and see what’s inside! And maybe if you’re intrigued by that threshold, you’ll eventually go in.” So many people were against our design, but when it opened, it was fantastic. Everyone loved it and the “Opera roof” became a place and a destination. So making these buildings, places, and atmospheres that move you is really rewarding.

Who are you admiring right now?

I’m admiring the young women that are going all the way. It’s so important for me to share, when I teach or when I lecture, to encourage these girls to go. It’s still a man’s world, so it’s very important when someone can say to you, “Yes! It’s possible!” Those young women that are daring to go are amazing. That is their power.

What is your advice to those just starting in the industry?

Be yourself! Think about what you want to give back of your knowledge, and what you want to change and share it! And then, once you know, and also as you’re figuring it out, you just have to work really hard and not give up. If you can continue to push things further, you will get feedback, and you will manage. And, most importantly - don’t go alone. Have fun and be part of a team.