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Bilbao Fine Arts Museum builds above its past
Foster + Partners and Luis María Uriarte expand Bilbao’s historic museum by building above its existing architecture while keeping the institution in use
Nearly 30 years after the Guggenheim made Bilbao synonymous with regeneration through new cultural architecture, the city is opening another major museum investment based on a different proposition: expanding what is already there.
Natural light filters through rooflights and north lights in the new exhibition space, designed to allow conditions to be adjusted for different displays | Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Extension. Image courtesy of Foster + Partners
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum reopens to the public on 6 October following the completion of Agravitas, designed by Foster + Partners with Bilbao architect Luis María Uriarte. The project adds 6,743m² of new construction while remodelling roughly 8,000m² of the existing complex.
Rather than replacing the museum’s accumulated architecture, the new intervention rises above its 1945 and 1970 buildings. A large elevated volume provides a 1,500m² temporary exhibition gallery and 700m² sculpture terrace, while the former Arriaga square below becomes a covered public atrium of around 1,000m² connecting the different parts of the institution.
Agravitas adds substantial new museum space by building over two generations of existing architecture rather than clearing them away.
Its delivery has been almost as significant as its architectural approach. The museum planned from an early stage to remain partly open through most of the expansion works, reserving galleries for rotating displays and continuing its education and public programme while construction progressed.
That makes Agravitas more than another addition to Bilbao’s architectural tourism story. It demonstrates how a major cultural institution can increase capacity while retaining an established site, adapting existing buildings and maintaining a relationship with its audience during a lengthy construction programme.
Sketch of the original competition scheme, showing the strategy of adding new gallery space above the existing museum and reconnecting it with the surrounding public realm | Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Extension. Image courtesy of Foster + Partners
It also brings together an international practice and an architect with longstanding knowledge of the museum. Uriarte previously led its 2001 refurbishment and expansion, while Foster + Partners and Uriarte won the international Agravitas competition in 2019.
For practices, the opportunity is not only in designing new cultural landmarks, but in extending the life, capacity and relevance of institutions that cities already have.
Bilbao’s latest museum investment therefore offers a useful counterpoint to the standalone cultural icon. As established institutions confront ageing buildings, limited urban sites and pressure to make better use of existing assets, expertise in retrofit, phased occupation and complex additions to functioning cultural buildings is likely to remain valuable well beyond Bilbao.
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