This Norwegian bridge is also an art museum

A striking bridge meets an intriguing modern art museum meets the splendor of the Norwegian natural landscape in the Twist — the latest project from BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, located about an hour’s drive from Oslo.

The Twist — a new addition to the Kistefos Sculpture Park — connects the two sides of the Randselva River via a multipurpose walkway.

The museum’s name comes from the rolled roof, an intriguing stylistic choice.

“The Twist is a hybrid spanning several traditional categories: It’s a museum, it’s a bridge, it’s an inhabitable sculpture,” says Bjarke Ingels, Founding Partner & Creative Director, BIG.

Visitors to Kistefos can cross the Twist to complete their circuit of the park, while also admiring the bridge as an attraction in its own right.

The museum is made up of three distinct galleries with sweeping views over the river and sculpture park.

The double-curve of the museum’s exterior is created via straight aluminum panels arranged, as BIG describes it, “like a stack of books” — each panel is shifted ever so slightly forward.

This oxymoron is at the heart of the Twist’s aesthetic appeal: straight panels creating a curved effect.

Photographs of the building have an eerie, otherworldly feel — this manmade bridge-museum-hybrid seemingly rising inconspicuously out of its natural surroundings.

Inside, the vibe is just as notable, a space-age aesthetic heeding inspiration from the natural landscape.

“The Twist has been an extremely complex building to construct, yet the result is simple and striking,” says David Zahle, Parner at BIG. “From an array of straight elements, the museum was constructed in an industrial manner as both a piece of infrastructure and as a building reflecting its natural surroundings.

Kistefos Sculpture Park is located at the site of a former wood pulp mill. It’s been a staple of the Norwegian cultural scene for the past two decades, spotlighting work by prolific Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and Icelandic environmentalist Olafur Eliasson, to name just two.

Officially opened as of September 2019, the Twist is a compelling new edition to this Scandinavian art hub.