| Architect |
Álvaro Líbano and
Ricardo Beascoa Luis Uriarte with Borja Arana, José Ramón Foraster and Borja Pagazaurtundua |
| Date Built |
Opened in
its present form in 2001 |
| Location |
Museo
Plaza, 48009 |
| Description |
|
The Bilbao Fine Arts Museum has
expanded over the years and encompasses
buildings of various generations.
The museum's website explains how it has
changed. "The present Bilbao
Fine Arts Museum ... opened in 1945.
..... This first building, however,
soon proved insufficient, which was
why, at the beginning of the '60's, it
was decided to commission architects
Álvaro Líbano and Ricardo Beascoa with
a new innovative project inspired and
influenced by the Modern Movement,
specifically by the architecture of
Mies van der Rohe. Work concluded in
1970, although ten years later, new
spaces and services were included in
the basement of the building under the
direction of Jorge de Barandiarán.
.... In 1996, Director Miguel
Zugaza invited tenders for a Plan to
reform and expand the museum with the
aim of bringing the museum's
installations and services up-to-date.
A jury comprising architects Rafael
Moneo, Norman Foster and Álvara
Lïbano, amongst others, was drawn up
that same year in order to evaluate
the nineteen projects that had been
submitted for consideration. After
examining the submitted projects, the
team of architects lead by Luis
Uriarte and made up of Borja Arana,
José Ramón Foraster and Borja
Pagazaurtundua was charged with
building the winning project." "The idea
of the new Plan was to improve
both the horizontal and vertical
communication between the two
buildings comprising the museum
by incorporating a new
communication nexus and
exhibition gallery into the old
building. It also intended to
make use of a series of
previously unused areas in order
to group together and optimise
those services the museum
offered to visitors (reception
area, cafeteria, restaurant,
gift and book shop, library,
teaching department and
auditorium), as well as
enlarging exhibition spaces.
Likewise, it was pondered
whether to relocate the main
entrance to the museum and place
the new entrance in the main
thoroughfare linking the city
centre with Abandoibarra.
Lastly, the new Distribution
Plan recommended the renovation
and relocation of the museum's
offices in addition to
air-conditioning the old
building. The sum of all these
improvements resulted in the
museum gaining an additional
6,450 m2 in surface area while
work was carried out on another
14,250 m2. The total investment
amounted to some 15 million
Euros which was financed by
those institutions that make up
part of the museum, namely the
Basque Government, the County
Council of Biscay and the Bilbao
City Council. After all the
expansion and renovation work
had been completed, the museum
re-opened its doors on the 10th
of November, 2001."
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Bilbao
Fine Arts Museum, Spain
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