Located in Longyearbyen, with a long history as a gathering place for the mining community and limited access to fresh ingredients, Huset is a truly unique fine dining restaurant.

Snøhetta drew on the deep traditions embedded in the building, as well as the constant shifts in light and landscape, when transforming the interior to match its culinary ambitions.

Although originally constructed as a community hub for the mining town, completed in 1951 – Huset has remained a cornerstone of Longyearbyen’s social life even after the mining industry was phased out, hosting a range of functions over the years. The restaurant at Huset has featured several culinary concepts, and since the 1980s, fine dining and one of Scandinavia’s largest wine cellars have come to define the place.

Yet it’s not only the history or the location at 78 degrees north that makes the restaurant unique. A harsh climate and reliance on sea and air transport across the Barents Sea to sustain life in the Arctic town, have forced the kitchen to be inventive with local resources, developing its own identity rooted in various methods of preservation and refinement.

Huset svalbard snohetta 3
Photos: Mariell Lind Hansen

Design of contrasts

The natural environment of Svalbard is both spectacular and unforgiving, shaped by extremes: polar night and midnight sun, stillness and storm, vast openness and sudden revelations. Together with local traditions, this forms the basis for the restaurant’s new concept – an earthy, atmospheric expression defined by contrasts.

The material palette builds on the building’s existing character, where whatever materials were available have often been used – resulting in a somewhat eclectic mix that has nonetheless become an integral part of Huset’s identity.

Huset svalbard snohetta 5 Huset svalbard snohetta 8

Stained oak in two tones forms the continuous base of fixed elements and bespoke furniture, inspired by the many different wood species that make up the coffered ceiling in what was once the building’s cinema hall.
Öland stone, used on flooring in parts of the building, is carried through into counters and a large dining table.
Red linoleum flooring adds warmth and durability, echoing the tones of the surrounding landscape.
Stainless steel introduces a contrasting layer – precise, reflective, and with clear references to Svalbard’s industrial history.

Textiles, light, and spatiality

Textiles are used extensively as an architectural layer. A continuous installation of panels clad in three layers of transparent fabric creates a natural moiré effect that shifts throughout the day depending on light and viewing angle. In addition to improving acoustics and fostering a more intimate atmosphere, they effectively conceal technical installations.

The same textile is used in flexible, transparent panels set within timber frames, which can be moved along the window walls. This allows them to modulate and filter daylight while maintaining views of the surrounding landscape.

Huset svalbard snohetta 6

In collaboration with the lighting designers at Anker & Co, a lighting concept has been developed that combines ambient, integrated, and accent lighting, designed to operate in dialogue with extreme conditions – from the midnight sun with continuous daylight to months of polar night. The pendant light Cone is designed by Claesson Koivisto Rune for the manufacturer Wästberg.

One of the most important takeaways from this project is that transformation is not a limitation, but a tremendous opportunity.

Marlene Fenger Vedal Project Leader and Team Lead Interior, Snøhetta

– Creting a warm and intimate atmosphere in a place as full of contrasts as Svalbard is both demanding and incredibly exciting. In a setting where it’s either always light or always dark, it calls for a very particular approach to lighting and surfaces. When you add challenging working conditions and a transport ship that had to undergo repairs for eight weeks, you have a real challenge. Fortunately, the entire team we’ve worked with is used to adapting to demanding conditions, and through their flexibility and expertise, they’ve brought the project to completion in an outstanding way, says project manager and Team Lead Interior at Snøhetta, Marlene Fenger Vedal.

– One of the most important takeaways from this project is that transformation is not a limitation, but a tremendous opportunity. By working with what already exists, it’s possible to develop more sustainable and meaningful solutions in line with a place’s history and identity – where history is not only preserved, but activated as a resource in shaping the future.

Huset svalbard snohetta 1

Custom-designed furniture series

For the warm base of oak, stone, and reddish tones, dining furniture in pine has been selected, with occasional elements in Öland stone. Snøhetta has designed two of the table types – a round version with a cone-shaped base, and an elliptical long table with a stone top.

A combination of chairs with and without armrests, both designed by Simmer and made from solid Swedish pine, surround the round tables in various sizes. The chairs and round tables are all supplied by Verk.

In an adjacent chambre séparée, which can be enclosed with fabric-clad screen doors, private gatherings can be arranged around a three-metre custom-designed oak table. In the doorway leading into the room hangs a lantern by Santa & Cole.

Svalbard and the history of Huset

Svalbard was discovered in 1596 by the Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz, and for a long time remained a no-man’s-land without permanent settlement. In the 17th century, temporary populations of whalers, trappers, and hunters increased, while the mining town of Longyearbyen was established in 1906 following the discovery of extensive coal resources. The Svalbard Treaty of 1920 granted Norway sovereignty over the archipelago, and throughout the 20th century, several mining settlements were established.

Huset was completed in 1951, and has at various times served as a church, hospital, sports hall, school, post office, concert venue, and cinema. To this day, it continues to function as a social hub, where traditions such as the Saturday steak dinner still draw people to the bistro next door to the restaurant.

The restaurant itself has existed since 1977 and, like the building, has gone through many phases with different concepts. Today, it combines Nordic fine dining with the world’s northernmost wine cellar, while relying on locally sourced ingredients from a sparse landscape shaped by permafrost and low-growing tundra vegetation.

Head Chef Alberto Lozano Photo Timo Virmavirta
Photo: Timo Virmavirta

Framing the experience

The ambitious kitchen requires close collaboration with local trappers, fishers, and foragers, along with a disciplined approach in which all available resources are utilized through Nordic culinary techniques and methods of preservation.

– Everything starts with what we can find here. The fjords, the tundra, the seasons – and we build from there, says Head Chef Alberto Lozano.

Huset svalbard snohetta 2

Ingeborg Flønes, CEO of Hurtigruten Svalbard, says it was important for the company that the restaurant’s new expression matches the exceptional dining experiences it offers.

– We wanted the design to reflect the contrasts of Svalbard’s natural environment, while ensuring that Huset remained recognizable as a whole. It also needed to work equally well in both the midnight sun and the polar night, says Flønes.

– We are very pleased with the final result and the collaboration with Snøhetta. The design and interior of the restaurant now provide a beautiful setting for the dining experience. The colours and material choices resonate with Svalbard’s landscape and the history of Huset.

Ida Halvorsen Kemp
Marketing Communication Manager
Oslo
ida@snohetta.com