The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum Extension

The proposal reorients the museum towards the city by restoring the façade of the existing building and making it more permeable, while enhancing the institution’s unique identity. The guiding principle is to make the 1945 building the protagonist by restoring its original entrance and its internal sequence of spaces. A unique structure rests respectfully across the 1945 and 1970 buildings at the rear, equipping the museum with 2,000 square-meters of new galleries on a single open, flexible floor. The revitalisation turns Plaza Arriaga into the new heart along the museum’s spine, with light streaming in from the rooflight. The new addition is characterised by a modelled façade with viewing terraces to enhance its slenderness, with minimal supports placed away from the footprint of the existing buildings.