A grand ceremony marking the reopening of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has taken place.
Now, a dramatic new addition named the Agravitas hovers like a bridge, spanning 55 metres over the original buildings, leaving them untouched except for restoration.
It creates a new enclosed plaza, the social heart of the museum and a vital part of the freely accessible, ground-level public spaces.
For the first time in many decades, the original 1940s entrance fronting the city square is reopened. The uppermost level houses a vast new column-free gallery.
Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, 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.”
“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. 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.”
The international competition jury unanimously chose the design and summarised the strengths of the project as follows: “Technological in its image, humanistic in its approach and ecological in its sustainability, the latest extension to the proposal combines architectural quality, urban sensitivity and social responsibility to raise a luminous and light landmark in the historic heart of Bilbao.”
The design reinstates the museum’s original main entrance and enhances connectivity across the site, bringing together the 1945 building, the 1970s extension, and a second intervention from the early 2000s. By increasing permeability at street level, the project celebrates the role of culture in the civic life of Bilbao, bringing together the past, present, and future into one unified architectural expression that embraces the city.
Rationalising the circulation between the new and old buildings has reinstated Plaza Arriaga as a pure volume, thus creating a clear public focus for art and events. Its design is centred on Francisco Durrio’s sculptural fountain, dedicated to the celebrated Bilbao-born composer Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga. The new daylight-filled atrium features sculptures by Richard Serra, Pablo Palazuelo, and Eduardo Chillida.
Agravitas increases the area of the original buildings by 60 percent and introduces 2,300 square metres of flexible exhibition area on two levels to accommodate a wide range of exhibits alongside facilities for educational programmes, workshops, and office spaces. Designed in collaboration with the late Spanish engineer Julio Martinez Calzón, it functions as a bridge spanning 55 metres between two sets of deep V-shaped columns, cantilevering over the other museum buildings to strengthen the relationship with Doña Casilda de Iturrizar park. The new building is an expression of the city’s industrial heritage featuring steel that has been produced locally. Its innovative structural system has created extra space, beyond the competition brief, for offices and exhibition spaces, as well as new public sculpture terraces with dramatic views of the city, Plaza Euskadi, and the park. At the upper level, it creates a vast new column-free gallery of 1,300 square metres, with natural light filtering through skylights that can be tuned for the widest range of exhibitions – from full daylight to complete black out. The terraces provide dramatic views across the city and align with the urban grid to enhance the museum’s relationship with its surroundings.
The reopening of the museum has also been heralded by gifts from three generous donors – the Arango family and Patricia Phelps de Cisneros have both made significant contributions to the museum, lending important works from their collections for display and donating key pieces to its permanent holdings, while Norman and Elena Foster have presented Book Stack (2007) by Anselm Kiefer, and two sculptures by Anthony Caro – Toronto Flats (1974) and Low Line Flats (1974) – to the museum on permanent loan.
The new extension’s self-shading façade contributes towards a strong sustainability strategy that includes the use of green low carbon steel and a roof with over 500 square metres of photovoltaic panels. The photovoltaic panels generate enough energy to cover 50 percent of the museum’s thermal demand. The existing buildings have been upgraded to meet modern standards, significantly increasing their lifespans and combining the best of old and new into one unified sequence of museum spaces.
The project showcases the practice’s belief in teamwork and its integrated approach to design that seamlessly blends architecture, engineering, and urbanism. The team comprises structural engineers, MC2; environmental engineers, Valladares Ingenieria; façade consultants, Enar; contractors are a joint venture of four Basque companies – Urbelan, Altuna y Uria, Campezo and Teusa; and façade contractor, Martifer. The result is a renewed civic landmark for Bilbao, that is not only of the place but has been almost entirely fabricated as a local product.
