The Twist, an inhabitable bridge torqued at its center that winds over the Randselva river in Norway, both acts as a piece of infrastructure to connect two riverbanks in northern Europe’s largest sculpture park and doubles the Kistefos Museum’s indoor exhibition space.
The structure is conceived as a beam warped 90 degrees near the middle to create a sculptural form as it spans the Randselva. The twist in the building’s volume allows the bridge to lift from the lower, forested river bank in the south up to the hillside area in the north. Visitors roaming the park’s site-specific works cross the bridge to complete the art tour through the sculpture park.
From the south entry visitors cross a 16 meter aluminum-clad steel bridge to reach the double-height space. The double-curve geometry of the museum is composed of straight 40 centimeter wide aluminum panels arranged like a stack of books, slightly shifted into a fanning motion.
See Also: Bjarke Ingels Group creates 66 homes for low-income citizens in Copenhagen
The curved form of the glass windows allows for a variety of light to enter the museum, creating three distinctive galleries: a wide, naturally lit gallery on the north side with views of the nearby historic pulp mill and river via a full-height glass wall; a tall, dark gallery with artificial lighting on the south side; and a sculptural space with a twisted sliver of roof light that connects the other two spaces.
A glass staircase leads down to the lower level on the north river embankment where the building’s aluminum underside becomes the ceiling. Restrooms and a full-width glass wall are located on this level.
The project is BIG’s first in Norway.
Related Stories
| Dec 28, 2014
AIA course: Enhancing interior comfort while improving overall building efficacy
Providing more comfortable conditions to building occupants has become a top priority in today’s interior designs. This course is worth 1.0 AIA LU/HSW.
| Dec 22, 2014
Skanska to build Miami’s Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science
Designed by Grimshaw Architects, the 250,000-sf museum will serve as an economic engine and cultural anchor for Miami’s fast-growing urban core.
| Dec 15, 2014
Studio Gang tapped for American Museum of Natural History expansion
Chicago-based Studio Gang Architects has been commissioned to design the $325 million Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
| Dec 9, 2014
Steven Holl wins Mumbai City Museum competition with 'solar water' scheme
Steven Holl's design for the new wing features a reflective pool that will generate energy.
| Dec 2, 2014
Main attractions: New list tallies up the Top 10 museums completed this year
The list includes both additions to existing structures and entirely new buildings, from Frank Gehry's Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris to Shigeru Ban's Aspen (Colo.) Art Museum.
| Nov 14, 2014
Bjarke Ingels unveils master plan for Smithsonian's south mall campus
The centerpiece of the proposed plan is the revitalization of the iconic Smithsonian castle.
| Nov 12, 2014
Chesapeake Bay Foundation completes uber-green Brock Environmental Center, targets Living Building certification
More than a decade after opening its groundbreaking Philip Merrill Environmental Center, the group is back at it with a structure designed to be net-zero water, net-zero energy, and net-zero waste.
| Nov 7, 2014
NORD Architects releases renderings for Marine Education Center in Sweden
The education center will be set in a landscape that includes small ponds and plantings intended to mimic an assortment of marine ecologies and create “an engaging learning landscape” for visitors to experience nature hands-on.
| Nov 5, 2014
The architects behind George Lucas' planned Chicago museum unveil 'futuristic pyramid'
Preliminary designs for the $300 million George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art have been unveiled, and it looks like a futuristic, curvy pyramid.
