On July 7, 2023, workers in Snøhetta’s two American offices voted 35–29 against unionization (the small San Francisco studio, which closed at the end of 2024, tilted 6–1 against, while in New York the tally was neck and neck at 29–28). If union supporters had been successful, Snøhetta would have become the second U.S. design firm to unionize, following the 22-person studio Bernehimer Architecture in Brooklyn, which unionized in 2022 and went on to ratify the first-ever collective bargaining agreement at a private-sector firm in 2024. SHoP Architects, also based in New York, withdrew its union-election filings in 2022.

According to the complaint, just a few weeks after the failed vote, Snøhetta’s leadership announced eminent layoffs, citing the studio’s worsening financial situation. When the layoffs were announced the following week, all eight of the terminated employees had seemingly been union supporters.

Snøhetta has denied the allegations of retributions. Partner and managing director Elaine Molinar claimed to the Times that the firm is largely unaware of the stances held by individual employees and insists that the terminations were due solely to fiscal pressures. But the complaint cites an email exchange on June 13, 2023, in which managers categorized employees into union supporters, opponents, or undecideds. Seven of the laid-off employees appear on that list of supporters with the eighth listed as undecided at that time.

This is not the first such complaint, but it appears to have more evidence of malfeasance behind it. In August 2023, Architectural Workers United, a division of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), who helped organize Snøhetta employees, filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge citing the same layoffs. On this new NLRB filing, IAM’s lead organizer David DiMaria told RECORD, “The big take away here is that firms need to take notice. Violating a worker’s right to organize has consequences.”

Despite claims of financial downturn, the New York office of Snøhetta has recently completed many high-profile projects, including Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum (2024), Far Rockaway Library in Queens (2024), the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College (2025), and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (2025). The firm’s much-anticipated Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in North Dakota is expected to be completed later this year.

In response to news of the complaint, Snøhetta provided the following statement to RECORD:

"Snøhetta is committed to open, transparent communication with its employees and takes its responsibilities to them seriously. We have been clear about and very sensitive to employees’ rights to explore unionization, have always sought to respect their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and will continue to work constructively with its legal counsel and the NLRB as the matter moves through the appropriate process. Any workforce reductions that have occurred since 2023 were driven by business considerations and implemented only after efforts were made to avoid layoffs. Within this broader context, employees ultimately voted against unionization, and while there is a well-established process to raise or challenge concerns related to an election, at the time neither the union nor any employees pursued those channels or sought to overturn the results. We remain committed to fairness, dialogue, and supporting its teams."