The new Art Museum and Cultural Quarter in Kristiansand is a place that invites the community and the visitors to participate and experience art, architecture and nature at once.
Situated in Odderoya peninsula between the park, the heritage Silos and the seafront, the museum creates an outdoor gathering space for people along the waterfront and visually re-establish the relationship between the land and the water. This is achieved by reducing the grain silo to its 1935 original design, therefore creating a seamless connection between the waterfront and the hill.
The museum is a gentle landscape intervention designed to respect both the surrounding area and the existing silo, which remains a remnant of the past and acts as a visible landmark in the new development and surrounding area. The museum’s subtle form and controlled height embraces the silos enhancing its iconic heritage value.
The nature of the design negates the concept of a building with a traditional front and back, but rather celebrates openness and invites the community to enjoy it all around, inside&out.
The generous and flexible exhibition galleries, with frequent double height spaces, are designed to accommodate both moderate and larger forms of modern art-work. The museum volume which originates from the existing silo turns to slope toward the sea, naturally creating two volumes which contain the two different collections, respectively the Sorlandets Kunstmuseum and adjacent to the heritage silo the Tangen Collection.
International Design Competition