Kunstsilo Art Gallery in Kristiansand

Mestres Wåge Arquitectes  Mendoza Partida  Bax studio 


The Kunstsilo Art Gallery has opened in what was a grain silo raised in the 1930s, in the Norwegian city of Kristiansand. The transformation of the huge agricultural facility built with reinforced concrete to harbor a collection of over 5,500 Nordic works of modern art was carried out by the Barcelona firms Mestres Wåge, Mendoza Partida, and BAX Studio. Some of the thirty cylindrical deposits of the old cereal storehouse were cut out, carving a sculptural atrium 21 meters high.

The exhibition galleries surround it, most of them taking up two adjoining extensions, one of which is a replica of an original volume, reconstructed because it was so deteriorated. The white exterior was restored and matched with the facades of the replaced volume. The addition on the east side of the Kunstsilo is clad in aluminum with a corrugated finish. The rooftop terraces are protected by glass cylinders aligned with the undulating exterior of the silos underneath, in continuity with them.