Exhibition of one of the boats with which Thor Heyerdah carried out his famous expeditions through the Pacific.
All Norwegian children remember the first time they visited the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo. Thor Heyerdahl's adventures have always seemed too amazing to be true. “It was something magical and terrifying. The whale that loomed menacingly under the float, the skulls of real heads, the fishing tools made of human bones. Even now as an adult, it still impresses me enter the darkness of the cave that 30 meters that the men of Easter Island made”, recalls Astrid Renata Van Veen, project manager at Snøhetta's architecture studio and responsible for the feasibility plan that they have just presented to the Norwegian Ministry of Culture for the expansion and revitalization of the museum. If the necessary financing is granted to carry it out, something that is expected to happen next October, the new Kon-Tiki Museum will be ready by 2025.
View of the gardens designed by Snøhetta for the expansion of the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo.
Built in 1957 to display the legendary Kon-Tiki log boat with which Thor Heyerdahl and his team crossed the Pacific and expanded in 1978 with the RA II expedition, the museum, one of the most visited in the country, has long is crying out for comprehensive reform. "From a technical point of view, it does need a renovation, especially the oldest wing that has uninsulated exposed concrete structures and is almost 75 years old," the architect explains. “The museum's board and management want to achieve better flows and functionality in the exhibition halls. Today, the museum has a substantial amount of wasted space and with this project we can optimize its use, an exercise that would also reduce the overall CO2 footprint of the building. On the other hand, the museum needs to add functions and facilities that place it in the stage it deserves”.
The Kon-Tiki Museum is no longer satisfied with being "magical and terrifying" and ** wants to be a worthy heir to the pioneering thought of Thor Heyerdahl, ** spread his unconditional love for nature and encourage curiosity and the desire to explore. architecture can encourage curiosity and critical thinking creating spaces and flows that free up enough mental space so that each visitor, young and old, enjoys his own reflections as he traverses it”, Van Veen tells us.
This is the interior of the auditorium for various uses that the Kon-Tiki Museum will have after its expansion
Thus, the renewal proposed by Snøhetta aims to reduce total CO2 emissions of the building by using energy efficient materials, reusing everything reusable and a v holistic view of the building life cycle.
As important novelties in its structure, the museum designed by Snøhetta will have a lush publicly accessible garden, to explore and celebrate events, and an impressive multifunctional auditorium dedicated to raising visitor awareness about the health of the oceans and the need to lead a more sustainable and harmonious lifestyle with our environment.
One of the main goals of the Kon-Tiki Museum is to reduce its carbon footprint
In addition, the new museum also wants to share with visitors the discoveries that emerge from the different investigations on maritime experimental archeology and intercultural history that the Thor Heyerdahl Research Foundation regularly finances.
Astrid is convinced that Thor Heyerdahl would be proud of the project Presented by Snøhetta. “Our goal is to avoid excessive consumption and reuse everything we can”, she sums it up with satisfaction.