BIG's new twisted bridged-museum in a Norwegian sculpture park is set to open its doors on September 18, 2019. Named the Twist, the 1,800-square-metre project forms part of Kistefos, an industrial museum and sculpture park at Jevnaker. 

As the opening date approaches, even the exoskeleton of the building is almost complete and shimmering aluminum panels have started to appear on the facade of the sculptural gallery, spanning 60 meters above the Randselva river north of Oslo and forming a connection between the north and south side of the park. 

Image © Einar Aslaksen

When completed, BIG's new art galley and museum will provide a shining showroom space with varied light sources and river views. The Twist will also host changing exhibitions of a high international level. The opening exhibition Hodgkin & Creed - Inside Out can be experienced from 18 September to 17 November, 2019.

BIG revealed its first concept images in 2015. Also named as Kistefos Museum, the new museum will feature a sculptural bridge-like building in which half part of it can be perceived from the lush forest. 

Kistefos is an industrial site established in the late 1990s on the site of a former paper mill, and it hosts many contemporary works by artists including Anish Kapoor and Olafur Eliasson.

The Kistefos property has three landscapes that overlap and intertwine. There is a natural landscape of rivers, waterfalls, islands, canyons and forests; an industrial landscape of mills, factories, warehouses, power plants, dams and bridges; and finally a sculptural landscape of abstract objects in the dramatic topography of rocks, flora and water. 

BIG approached the design for a new museum as an opportunity to create a masterplan for these three landscapes, organizing the entire 270,000 square meters sculpture park as an outdoor museum.

Rather than building on the proposed site close to the old mill, BIG moved the location for the new museum down the river in order to preserve the mill’s historical setting. 

On this site BIG proposed a raw and simple form that would respond to the challenges of the landscape: a building, sculpture, and bridge – all in one. 

The bridge connects the property to create a series of landscape galleries. The continuous path that is formed will enable access to each of the different outdoor galleries and provide new and otherwise unattainable vistas of the riverbank and the historic mill.

BIG closely worked with consultants AKT II, Max Fordham, Davis Langdon and GCAM on the project. Construction started in 2016 and now is expected to open in September. 

The Kistefos Museum and Sculpture Park was founded in 1996 upon the initative of Mr. Christen Sveaas. It occupies the site of the old wood-pulp mill which was founded by Consul Anders Sveaas in 1889 and run by the family until it was closed in 1995. 

The old factory now houses an industrial museum which hosts annual, shifting exhibitions in addition to the sculpture park which focus is sight specific and international contemporary works of art.

Project facts

Partners in charge: Bjarke Ingels, David Zahle
Project leader: Brian Yang
Collaborators: AKT II, Max Fordham, Davis Langdon, GCAM, MIR
Team members: Alina Tamosiunaite, Christian Dahl, Ryohei Koike, Balaj Alin Iulian, Marcelina Kolasinska, David Tao, Jan Magasanik, Tiina Juuti, Kamilla Heskje, Eva Seo Andersen, Finn Nørkjær, Andreas Klok Pedersen
Client: Kistefos Museum

All images courtesy of BIG unless otherwise stated

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