Bilbao Fine Arts Museum

Foster + Partners and LM Uriarte Arkitektura have been selected as the architectural team to undertake the expansion of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum. Established in 1908, the museum moved to its current location in 1945. The modern, new wing was added in 1970 and the last substantial renovations and improvements took place in 2001. It is the second largest and most visited museum in the Basque Country, after the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum and one of the richest Spanish museums outside Madrid. The €18.5 million expansion aims to provide the museum with additional exhibition spaces, improved visitor circulation and expanded conservation and research facilities, as well. Foster + Partners’ proposals include a pavilion-like rooftop extension which will provide 2,000-square-metres of flexible gallery spaces above it. A further challenge to the architects is to better connect the facility to a nearby park and the Guggenheim tourist route through improvements to public realm infrastructure. Work is estimated to commence in spring 2021 with a tentative completion date of 2022. (Updated 26 July 2019)