Snøhetta launches AI-generated Identity for Collective Oslo

Innovative Collaboration between Snøhetta and Collective Oslo Redefines Design with Generative AI

In an explorative partnership that began in early 2021, Snøhetta joined forces with art platform Collective Oslo to explore the dynamic intersection of human creativity and generative AI. The collaboration delved into the potential of co-creation and design thinking, posing essential questions about the relationship between designers and machines.

The project sought to unravel the mysteries of creativity in the digital age, asking, "What can co-creation with a machine teach us about creativity? In what ways can machines elevate our designs visually, intellectually, and emotionally? How does the role of designers adapt and change when collaborating with machines?”

Unveiling a Constantly Evolving Identity

The tangible outcome of this curiosity-driven endeavor is the newly crafted visual identity and website for Collective Oslo, an interdisciplinary art platform exploring the convergence of art and technology. This project breaks away from traditional design processes, opting for an experimental dialogue between designers and AI.

The design process involved setting up a framework and inviting the machine as a co-designer. Through an iterative and explorative journey, the team at Snøhetta, led by designer and creative technologist Kim Andre Fosslien Ottesen, engaged with five distinct algorithms, ranging from accessible to complex. These algorithms were fed with values, texts, and images, resulting in an ever-changing visual expression reflecting the platform's pursuit of the most vibrant frequencies in arts and culture.

Open-Source Algorithms and Imperfect Beauty

The resulting visual identity, including an ever-changing logo and website, incorporates three open-source algorithms—StyleGAN, Potrace, and GammaCV. StyleGAN was used to generate the adaptable logo and organic patterns, maintaining coherence through Potrace's line-based visual language. GammaCV, another algorithm, creates real-time drawings of the viewer's face, offering a unique perspective into the machine's point of view.

One distinctive feature of the project is the deliberate imperfection in the final output. By stopping the algorithm before achieving flawless results, the design retains visible traces of the creative process, serving as a testament to the human-AI collaboration.

Exploring the Designer's Role

The project challenges conventional notions of design by showcasing that while the expressions are machine-made, they rely heavily on the original input and curation of human designers. The visuality generated by the algorithms becomes a reflection on the role of designers, emphasizing their ability to guide and intervene in the creative process.

Collective Oslo's Website

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Contacts

Josefine Valle

PR and Communication Advisor, Snøhetta

About Snøhetta

For almost 40 years, Snøhetta has designed some of the world’s most notable public and cultural projects. Snøhetta kick-started its career in 1989 with the competition-winning entry for the new library of Alexandria, Egypt. This was later followed by the commission for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the World Trade Center in New York City, among many others.

Since its inception, the practice has maintained its original transdisciplinary approach, and often integrates a combination of architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, product design and art across its projects. The collaborative nature between Snøhetta's different disciplines is an essential driving force of the practice.

Today, Snøhetta has a global presence, with studios in seven locations spanning from Oslo to Paris, Innsbruck, New York, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Melbourne.

Snøhetta is currently working on a wide range of international projects, including the Shanghai Grand Opera House, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Dakota, Harbourside redevelopment in Sydney and La Croisette in Cannes, to name a few.

Recently completed works include Vertikal Nydalen in Oslo, Beijing City Library, the renovation of Musée national de la Marine in Paris, Orionis - the planetarium and observatory of Douai, Airside in Hong Kong, Esbjerg Maritime Center in Denmark, 550 Madison Garden and Revitalization in New York, as well as Volum lamps for Lodes.

Some of Snøhetta's previous projects include Ordrupgaard Art Museum expansion in Denmark, the Cornell University Executive Education Center and Hotel in New York City, Le Monde Group Headquarters in Paris, including the wayfinding and signage, Europe’s first underwater restaurant, Under, the redesign of the public space in Times Square, the expansion to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Lascaux IV: The International Centre for Cave Art, Powerhouse Brattørkaia and design for Norway’s new banknotes.

Snøhetta’s working method simultaneously explores traditional handicraft and cutting-edge digital technology. At the heart of all Snøhetta’s work lies a commitment to social and environmental sustainability, shaping the built environment and design in the service of humanism. Every project is designed with strong, meaningful concepts in mind – concepts that can translate the ethos of its users and their context.

Among many recognitions, Snøhetta has been awarded the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award for the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the Aga Kahn Prize for Architecture for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. In 2016, Snøhetta was named Wall Street Journal Magazine's Architecture Innovator of the Year, and the practice has been named one of the world’s most innovative companies by Fast Company two years in a row. In 2020, Snøhetta was awarded the National Design Award for Architecture, bestowed by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. In 2021 and 2022, Snøhetta’s Forite tiles won the Sustainable Design of the Year by Dezeen and Best Domestic Design by Wallpaper* in 2022, and the wayfinding system for Le Monde Group Headquarters was acknowledged with Monocle Design Awards. In 2023, Snøhetta won a number of awards for the Esbjerg Maritime Center and was named Architects of the Year at the Monocle Design Awards, in 2024 included a number of awards to Beijing Library and the BIA 2024 Award to Snøhetta and in 2025, Snøhetta was recognized with the OPAL Special Award for Sustainability, among others.

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