The newly constructed Astrup Fearnley Museet, designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Narud-Stokke-Wiig, has opened on a stunning waterfront site in the Tjuvholmen neighborhood of Oslo. The €90 million, 7000 square meter structure provides space for the museum’s collection, temporary exhibitions, a gift shop and cafe. Slender steel columns support the sail-form, glass roof that provides shelter to the weathered timber cladding, while illuminating the interior’s extensive collection of contemporary art with a soft, natural light.
The museum has launched with To Be With Art Is All We Ask, an exhibition of selected works from the Astrup Fearnley Collection by some of the world’s most innovative contemporary artists. Continue after the break to learn more.
Architectural Statement by Renzo Piano Building Workshop:
The project is set in a wonderful position at the outermost point where the city stretches into the Fjord; it is a big shelter for art over three buildings integrated in the landscape, the natural destination of the promenade from the City Hall along the harbour quay.
The Museum starts outside: the park is an organic game of canals, bridges and lawns where sculptures of the Selvaag collection are displayed in the nature and in the Piazza.
Once inside, the visitors experience the temporary exhibition of the Astrup Fearnley Museet in a big double-height space, where natural light is filtered from a glass roof.
Level by level, a sequence of smaller art spaces are linked by a bridge, leading the view towards the park and the Piazza, and connecting the inside with the outside. On the opposite side of the canal there are two more spaces for art on two levels, showing the Museum’s permanent collection.
This is like a little city where the visitor can be in contact with nature, take a swim, enjoy urban life, while contemplating art.
The design of the glass roof strongly identifies the project. Its curved shape crosses the canal between the buildings. Slender steel columns, reinforced with cable rigging, repeat the sequence of the sailboat masts in the harbour.
The timber cladding, with its soft silver-grey color prepared for exposure to the weather, highlights the dynamic shape of the glass roof and contributes to the friendly welcoming of the Museum.
This is meant to be a place for silence and meditation, but also somewhere to meet people or just enjoy a cup of coffee, while looking at boats sailing in the Fjord.
Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop in collaboration with Narud-Stokke-Wiig (Oslo) Location: Tjuvholmen neighborhood of Oslo, Norway Building cost: 700 mill NOK (90 million Euros) Building area: 7000m2 Building time: 2009-2012
Client: Selvaag Gruppen / Aspelin-Ramm Gruppen Design team: E.Baglietto (partner in charge), O.de Nooyer with M.Aloisini, E.Filippetti, T. Førre, D.Hart, N. Herland, A.Hoogeboom, S.Ishida (partner), A.K.Karlsen, A.McClure, E.Moore, M.Neri, M.Orlandi, A.Scarpa, C.Sovani, and A.Gonzalez, M.Busk-Petersen, A.Leite Flores, E.Santiago, Y. Waterhouse; F.Cappellini, F.Terranova (models)
Structure: AAS-Jacobsen, Seim & Hultgren Mechanical engineering & fire prevention: Norconsult Electrical engineering: PeR Rasmusseen AS Landscape: Gullik Gulliksen, Bjørbekk & Lindheim Lighting & façade engineering: Arup Consulting architects for Schematic Design: Eliassen og Lambertz-Nilssen Arkitekter AS Design assist contractor for roof system: Skandinaviska Glassystem
