Kirstansand Art Museum, Norway

2nd Prize 'Kunstsilo' Competition, Norway

Ravigniani-Vecchi Architects

This project is a refurbishing proposal for an old silo building in Kristansand, southern Norway, to transform it into the city's art museum. The silo is a historical landmark of the city and an important document of the Norwegian industrial heritage. The proposal takes it back to its original iconic 1935 version, to find a harmonic relationship with the scale of the surroundings and to establish a large attractive urban square, the Kulturtorget, protected from the wind and with year-round sun access in order to make it a qualified environment for activities and lively interactions between interior and exterior spaces, providing a basis for a strong synergy between activities and users. 

The entire masterplan project supports the idea of a very open and public system of buildings with smooth transitions between inside and outside, defining the area’s connection both with the city and the close surroundings.
Daylighting was very carefully studied in order to optimise perfomance with a minimum modfication of the original building.