In 1966, when the inimitable Captain Kirk opened each episode of the original Star Trek series with, ?Space: the final frontier?to boldly go where no man has gone before,? no one could have imagined the unbelievable planetarium project that the Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta would later dream up.

Nonetheless, Snøhetta knew it was about to rock the world when it issued this press release in May 2018 announcing its plans: ?Fulfilling the (Tycho Brahe) Institute?s mission to enlighten the public about the wonders of the universe, the new Snøhetta-designed astronomical facility is designed to inspire a sense of wonder and curiosity as if the architecture itself was asking the question: Where does the universe come from"?
The Basics
The inspiration for the 16,000-square-foot planetarium came from a similar design created in 250 BC by Archimedes, a Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer commonly hailed as one of the greatest minds of all time. It?s tucked into a lush forest 28 miles north of Oslo, Norway, and situated next to the Solobservatoriet Solar Observatory, which itself was built in 1954 and is still regarded as one of Northern Europe?s foremost astronomical research facilities. The planetarium was commissioned by and will be managed by the Tycho Brahe Institute, named for the 16th-century Danish scientist who formed the basis for modern observational astronomy.

The structure will be crowned with a green roof comprised of thriv...