The ARK - National Museum at Vestbanen

While the roof of the Ark curves to meet the sky its underside also rises to create a new overlapping territory where the boundary between the space of the City and the space of the Museum is blurred. Large-scale installations are displayed in expansive urban public space that extends into the Museum transforming the conventional ground level foyer into a new public exhibition, event and a meeting space for both residents of Oslo and visitors alike.

The Museum galleries are designed as versatile spaces offering curators the opportunity to reconfigure the museum exhibition spaces in a wide variety of ways. The placement of vault and workshop spaces alongside public areas transcends conventional notions of exhibition practices by offering the curators the opportunity to open up these typically inaccessible areas for public engagement and new types of museum experience. A unique feature of these galleries is the introduction of large light wells as architectural features. These illuminated shafts are positioned to take advantage of specific sun angles and to draw light and views deep into the interior spaces.

While the presence of these large columns of lights both complement and provide relief from the extensive collections on exhibit, more importantly they also speak of the profound connection between the rarefied realm of the museum and that of the world beyond.