Kjetil Trædal Thorsen is a Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

. In 1987, he co-founded the Snøhetta i.s. company, and has been active in many aspects of the company’s projects.

History

Kjetil Trædal Thorsen was born 14 June 1958 on the Norwegian coastal island of Karmøy

Karmøy

Karmøy is a municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. It is located southwest of the city of Haugesund in the traditional district of Haugaland....

. After several years abroad in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 and England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, he studied architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 in Graz, Austria

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

. He had practiced at the office of Espen Tharaldsen (Arbeidsgruppen Hus) in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

 (1982–1983), Ralph Erskine

Ralph Erskine (architect)

Ralph Erskine, CBRE, RFS, ARIBA was an architect and planner who lived and worked in Sweden for most of his life.-Upbringing and influences :...

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

 (1983–1984) and David Sandved

David Sandved

-Life and work:He was born in Sandnes and received his architectural education at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1937. He established his own practice in Haugesund. His architecture developed from classical modernism to a form of critical regionalism, using local building motifs and...

 in Haugesund

Haugesund

is a town and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.-Location:Haugesund was separated from Torvastad as a town and municipality of its own in 1855. The rural municipality of Skåre was merged with Haugesund on January 1, 1958. Haugesund is a small municipality, only 73 km²...

 (1985).

Designs

Thorsen has been involved in design

Design

Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...

 and led several award winning design competitions for public buildings in Europe and around the world including the new art museum built for the Winter Olympics

Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...

 in Lillehammer, Norway

Lillehammer

is a town and municipality in Oppland county, Norway, globally known for hosting the 1994 Winter Olympics. It is part of the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. As of May 2011, the population of the town of Lillehammer was...

 , the 2007 Serpentine Gallery

Serpentine Gallery

The Serpentine Gallery is an art gallery in Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, central London. It focuses on modern and contemporary art. The exhibitions, architecture, education and public programmes attract approximately 750,000 visitors a year...

 temporary Pavilion in London designed with Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is a Danish-Icelandic artist known for sculptures and large-scale installation art employing elemental materials such as light, water, and air temperature to enhance the viewer’s experience. In 1995 he established Studio Olafur Eliasson in Berlin, a laboratory for spatial research...

, the new Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

The Bibliotheca Alexandrina or Maktabat al-Iskandarīyah is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria...

 library in Alexandria, Egypt

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 , and the new Oslo Opera House

Oslo Opera House

The Oslo Opera House is the home of The Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, and the national opera theatre in Norway. The building is situated in the Bjørvika neighborhood of central Oslo, at the head of the Oslofjord. It is operated by Statsbygg, the government agency which manages property for...

 in Oslo, Norway

Oslo

Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...

. He was a founder of Norway’s foremost architecture gallery, Galleri Rom

Galleri Rom

Galleri Rom is an architectural gallery in Oslo, Norway. The "room" for art and architecture is an independent center operated by private owners with support from the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Culture, and is located at Maridalsveien 3.:...

 in 1986.

Associations

Thorsen is a member of the Norwegian Architectural Association (NAL) and has served on their Design Competition Committee. He has served as Juror on various design competitions in Europe and has been involved in several architecture and design symposia worldwide.

Since 2004, Kjetil Trædal Thorsen has been a professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 at the Institute for Experimental Studies in Architecture at the University of Innsbruck.