Kistefos Museum, one of Europe's premier sculpture parks and an esteemed art and history destination located an hour north of Oslo, has announced that the team led by Christ & Gantenbein has won the international design competition for a new museum building.

The museum, which is scheduled to open in 2031, will serve as the long-term residence for the substantial art collection of Christen Sveaas, the founder, investor, and collector of Kistefos, through the Christen Sveaas Art Foundation. A mysterious shimmering presence in the landscape, Christ & Gantenbein's winning concept design is a pure form that lingers between the natural and the invisible.

The radial design of the building, a rounded shape created by the local natural forces like a pebble in a riverbed, is meant to be straightforward and unforgettable.

Swiss National Museum by Christ & Gantenbein. Photography © Roman Keller

The winning team met the invited competition’s call: ‘To create a leading zero-energy and zero-emissions building that is an exemplar of sustainable design and practices,’ with a proposal based on elemental principles: a compact, simple form; a logical, generous structure; simplicity of building services; flexibility of secondary walls; use of daylight; and use of wood from the region. As the team’s final presentation stated: ‘The beauty of the whole to be an expression of the responsible use of materials.’

Cerro del Obispo Lookout Point in Mexico by Christ & Gantenbein. Photography © Iwan Baan

The building’s distinctive roof will integrate photovoltaic shingles that reflect the sky and landscape, and a large central eye will bring Nordic daylight into the interior. Regionally sourced wooden columns will reflect the surrounding forest as well as the Sveaas family’s historical connection to wood.

A spacious exhibition floor will be highly flexible, enabling varied spaces with intuitive circulation, rhythm and regularity – these gallery spaces relating to the personality of the collection, which the designers imagined as a cosmos.

The initiative is expected to transform the visitor experience at Kistefos, drawing new and international audiences. The Selection Panel, which took the decision, was comprised of: Christen Sveaas, Kistefos Founder; William Flatmo, Director, Christen Sveaas Art Foundation; Svein Lund, Founding Partner, Chairman, and Architect, Lundhagem; Christian Joys, Engineer and Owner, Klipco AS; Peter Oscar Munthe-Kaas, Architect at Wood Arkitektur and Kistefos Museum Board Member; and Kari Roll-Matthiesen, Director, Kistefos Museum; as well as international luminaries, Max Hollein, Director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; andMark Lee, founder and principal of Los Angeles-based design studio Johnston Marklee and Chair of the Architecture Department at Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Christoph Gantenbein and Emanuel Christ. Photography © Lukas Wassmann

"We are thrilled to be selected. It feels good, but most of all, it feels right. Every so often in design, you experience a moment of fortune when things fall naturally into place," said Emanuel Christ, Co-Founding Partner of Christ & Gantenbein. 

"Our aim was to create a synthesis − bringing together all the impressions of Kistefos − and this led us to the idea of a generous roof that establishes both equilibrium and harmony. The spatial experience offers a sense of intimacy and familiarity, yet at the same time reveals surprising, spectacular, and subtly mysterious moments shaped by the building’s unique form."

"We are grateful and look forward to working with the ambitious and wonderful team at Kistefos," Christ added.

Emanuel Christ, Christen Sveaas, Christoph Gantenbein. Photography © Albrecht Fuchs courtesy of Kistefos

"We wanted a sculptural building that people would travel from far away to see"

"Choosing a winner of the international architectural competition is a major milestone for Kistefos. We wanted a sculptural building that people would travel from far away to see. A building that evokes wonder and excitement when you encounter it, that surprises you when you step inside, and that continues to inspire even after you have left Kistefos," said Christen Sveaas, Kistefos Museum Founder.

"All eight finalists submitted excellent proposals, for which we are very grateful. Now we are very much looking forward to working with Christ & Gantenbein to create a peaceful and spectacular new home for art in the forest at Kistefos," Sveaas added.

The competition’s runners-up included some of the most respected teams working in museum architecture today: BIG (DK), Ensamble Studio (ES); Jensen & Skodvin / Hølmebakk Øymo (NO); Kengo Kuma and Associates (JP); Lina Ghotmeh — Architecture (FR); Snøhetta (NO); and SO–IL (US/NL).

The Twist, designed by BIG. Photography © Laurian Ghinitoiu

Kistefos, which is situated in a riverine and woodland area, has developed a very unique identity after 30 years. Its vast sculpture park, which integrates art, architecture, environment, and people, features 56 top-notch works by notable artists like Pierre Huyghe, Nairy Baghramian, Olafur Eliasson, Yayoi Kusama, and Claes Oldenburg, many of which are site-specific.

The Twist, designed by BIG, a bridge, gallery, and sculpture all in one, is another famous contemporary art gallery located on Kistefos. The only complete wood pulp mill in Scandinavia, constructed by the Sveaas family in 1890, is preserved as an industrial historical museum just a short stroll away. 

The invited competition was managed by international competition specialist, Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC). MRC is currently running the high-profile international design competition for Jesus’ Baptism Museum at Bethany and ran the competitions for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Qatar as well as the Queen Elizabeth II National Memorial, London and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

Christ & Gantenbein will now work with Kistefos Museum to develop the initial concept design.

The top image in the article: Lindt Home of Chocolate by Christ & Gantenbein in in Kilchberg near Lake Zurich. Photography © Walter Mair.

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