Snøhetta at Final Draft

Snøhetta is participating in Final Draft, a mini-design festival in Abu Dhabi organized by Slash design studio. Over three days, international guests and local creators will explore design, culture, and creativity through talks and in-depth sessions.

Snøhetta began as a collaborative architectural and landscape collective in the late 80s and has since evolved into a global transdisciplinary practice, rooted in a shared belief that design is a collective act of listening, sensing, and creating.

This talk from partner Martin Gran explores how intuition functions as a form of tacit knowledge—unwritten, often unspoken, yet deeply embedded in how we design, decide, and collaborate. By reflecting on projects across an broad spectrum—from graphic design to master planning, from banknotes to theatre buildings—he will share how process itself becomes a medium of meaning.

On the last day of Final Draft, a team from Snøhetta will share insight into their Concept Methodology–a structured yet open framework for developing ideas that integrates artistic intuition with analytical thinking. It is a shared approach to idea work in order to shape meaningful concepts across disciplines, contexts, and scales in collaboration with external stakeholders. At its core, the methodology is not a rigid formula but a way of thinking—designed to help us ask better questions, uncover deeper insights, and form coherent narratives that guide design processes from the earliest stages.

The session will include both an introduction and practical exercises, offering tips and tools that can be easily integrated into daily work.

The team from Snøhetta includes:

• Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Founding Partner and Architect
• Eli Synnevåg, Architect and Director of Acquisition and Business Development
• Jorunn Sannes, Artist
• Martin Gran, Partner