THE TWIST

ICONIC ARCHITECTURE | C.M.

A white sculptural vortex connects two riverbanks, and inside it you can come across works by international artists such as Anish Kapoor, Olafur Eliasson, Lynda Benglis Yayoi Kusama, Jeppe Hein and Fernando Boter. The Twist is a museum extension of the park where it was designed to be inside, the first project by BIG in Norway, in the Kistefos Sculpture Park. Built around a historic wood pulp factory, The Twist is designed as a beam warped 90 degrees in the middle. A simple variation in the building’s volume allows the bridge to rise from the forested lower riverbank in the south to the hilly area in the north. From the south entrance, visitors cross a 16-meter aluminum-clad steel bridge to reach a space with double height and a clear view of the north end, similarly connected with a 9-meter pedestrian bridge. The double-curved geometry of the museum is composed of aluminum panels in a fan-like motion.

The same principle is used inside with fir slats, painted white, which cover the floor, wall, and ceiling as a uniform background for exhibitions. The curved shape of the glass windows offers a variety of light creating three distinctive galleries: the first is lit naturally with a panoramic view overlooking the north side, then there is a tall, dark gallery with artificial lighting on the south side, and in the middle there is a sculptural space with a twisted sliver of light from the roof. The ability to divide or join the spaces in the gallery creates flexibility for the artistic programming of Kistefos. A glass staircase leads to the museum’s lower level on the northern bank of the river, while another full-width glass wall tilts over the river below, creating an overall immersive experience in the idyllic woods outside Oslo.

 

Web: big.dk