This Norwegian Modern Art Museum Is Also a Bridge
An ingeniously twisted design blends art with infrastructure
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The Guggenheim. The Broad. The Denver Art Museum. Modern art museums are often as eye-catching and noteworthy as the art that's within them. And soon, Jevnaker, Norway will have its own showstopper: a museum built inside a bridge.
Danish architecture firm BIG will build a twisted bridge to house the Kistefos Museum, which hosts national and international art. Located in a sculpture garden an hour from Oslo, the Kistefos sits next to the Randselva river.
That's where the bridge idea comes in: Since the sculpture garden is split by the river, BIG architects decided to connect the two halves through the museum itself. The proposed structure is no ordinary bridge, though. Its twisted design means it can rest comfortably on riverbanks of different heights. Packed with installations and exhibitions, the Kistefos will be part work of art, part marvel of infrastructure.
In a release on BIG's website, architect Bjarke Ingels says the design could reimagine the museum experience itself. "The museum visit itself will be a bridge, not a goal," Ingels says. "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."
The only bad news? The redesigned Kistefos isn't scheduled to open until 2019, so art and architecture fans will have to wait a few mores years to see the results.
(h/t ArtNet)
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