Foster + Partners has completed the expansion and remodelling of Spain’s Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, in collaboration with Bilbao architect Luis María Uriarte.
The new Agravitas extension forms a 55-metre bridge above the museum’s existing buildings, increasing its area by 60 per cent while leaving the 1945 and 1970s buildings visible below.
A ceremony marking the reopening was held on Monday, 5 October, with the museum reopening to the public on 6 October.
Agravitas adds new exhibition space to Bilbao Fine Arts Museum while preserving its 1945 and 1970s buildingsFoster + Partners
Norman Foster, founder and executive chairman of Foster + Partners, said: "In the great tradition of Bilbao, a city with a rich industrial history and an outstanding ability to reinvent itself, this project is about bridging the past, present, and the future.
"The flexible new building looks ahead to the future and responds to the ever-changing form of contemporary art, while remaining respectful of the site’s storied history."
He added: "Working in collaboration with local architect Luis María Uriarte and the museum teams, the design reinforces the museum’s role as one of the city’s major civic attractions, with enhanced permeability, expanded gallery spaces, and a new social heart for the museum."
Bilbao Fine Arts Museum’s new Agravitas extension adds exhibition space, galleries and public areas above the historic buildingsFoster + Partners
Agravitas has added 2,300 square metres of new exhibition space across two levels, with BBK Museoa, a 1,300-square-metre column-free gallery for temporary exhibitions, occupying the upper level.
The extension also includes facilities for education programmes and workshops, offices and public sculpture terraces overlooking the city, Plaza Euskadi and Doña Casilda de Iturrizar park.
The project, designed in collaboration with the late Spanish engineer Julio Martinez Calzón, also restores the museum’s original main entrance and improves connections between the 1945 building, the 1970s extension and the early 2000s addition.
Foster + Partners completes Bilbao Fine Arts Museum expansion, adding galleries above the museum’s existing architectureFoster + Partners
Foster said: "This has been a completely unified and progressive collaboration between the city, the regional government, and those generously supporting the project.
"I would like to pay tribute to the total dedication and commitment of the museum director, Miguel Zugaza, and the consultant team led by Taba Rasti and Pablo Urango Lillo from our Madrid studio."
