Kengo Kuma, SO–IL, and BIG on eight-team shortlist for Kistefos Museum expansion in Norway

Norway’s Kistefos Museum has revealed the shortlist for a competition to design a new site-specific standalone gallery for its campus an hour north of Oslo. 

The new building is set to open by 2031 with new permanent space for the growing collection of businessman Christen Sveaas, who founded the museum on the grounds of his grandfather’s old industrial paper-making facility in 1996. The competition is said to value sustainable building practices and is being managed by the London-based Malcolm Reading Consultants (MRC). The winner announcement is expected in early autumn.

The eight shortlisted firms are:

• Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)
• Christ & Gantenbein 
• Ensamble Studio
• Jensen & Skodvin / Hølmebakk Øymo
• Kengo Kuma and Associates
• Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture 
• Snøhetta
• SO – IL

In a statement, director Kari Roll-Matthiesen, said: "This group of exceptional architects will now compete to create a museum that both preserves and enhances Kistefos Museum’s identity.  We have extensive experience in commissioning site-specific artworks for the sculpture park, and in the same way, this new museum building will need to relate to the landscape and history of the site. The building will not only serve as a gallery but will be a work of art in itself."

The winner will have the chance to follow in the footsteps of BIG, who designed The Twist, an aluminum 10,764-square-foot bridge/gallery space for the museum in 2019.