The Twist is a new museum in Norway designed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and it’s getting ready to open its doors to the public on September 18, 2019 with an international program of contemporary art exhibitions. The project forms part of Kistefos, an industrial museum and sculpture park at Jevnaker.
With 1,400 square meters, this structure’s design twists across Randselva river that winds through the centre of the Kistefos Sculpture Park near Oslo and is described by Ingels as an “inhabitable bridge”. The Kistefos Museum will respond to the museum and sculpture park’s natural environment and has been designed to enhance kistefos’ overall visitor experience.
The architect describes it the studio’s “first experiment with social infrastructure”. Not only will this building provide indoor gallery space, but also a second river crossing, which aims to improve circulation across the site.
Access to the museum is provided by both its ends. From the south, visitors enter through a dramatic double-height space with clear sightlines through the entire building to the north entrance. Conversely, guests arriving from the north enter into a panoramic space with views of the site’s pulp mill and the surrounding landscape.
“The museum visit itself will be a bridge, not a goal – and the exhibits inside an interior extension of the promenade through the Sculpture Park. With the inhabited bridge, we stumbled upon our first experiment with social infrastructure – a building that serves as a bridge – or a cultural institution that serves as a piece of infrastructure,” said Ingels. “A simple twist in the building’s volume allows the bridge to lift from the lower forested area towards the south, up to the hillside area in the north,” added the architect.
The rotation will cause one end of the building to be taller than the other, providing two different types of gallery space. On the south side, galleries will be stacked vertically, while a single broad lobby more suitable for large-scale sculptures or installations will face the north bank.
A band of glazing will run from one end of the building to the other, beginning on one facade at the northern end and transferring onto the roof at the midpoint to create a skylight over the southern galleries.
“After many years of planning and development, we’re delighted to be opening this beautiful new space ‘The Twist’ at Kistefos, which will allow us to expand our work with leading contemporary artists and welcome more visitors than ever before,” explained Christen Sveaas. “Our ambition is to make Kistefos a must-see cultural destination with a world-class temporary exhibition and sculpture park program to complement the rich industrial heritage of the site.”
