a larger museum landscape for Riehen
At Riehen near Basle, where the Beyeler Foundation it sits between a park, village streets and its open edge Swiss landscape, Peter ZumthorThe long-awaited extension of the house is about to enter public view. Starting this fall, the museum will gradually open its expanded complex, with a full grand opening planned for January 2027.
The project marks a significant change for the institution, expanding the museum beyond that Renzo Piano‘s building of 1997 and in a wider cultural landscape. A former private landmark park will open to visitors, nearly doubling the size of the grounds and bringing century-old trees, ponds and open meadows to the museum experience. The expansion also adds new exhibition spaces, event spaces, renovated historic structures and new spaces for public programming.
The extension project of Fondation Beyeler with Atelier Peter Zumthor New museum (left) and pavilion (right), view from Berower Park. visualization courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor
Peter Zumthor adds new buildings next to the renzo piano museum
Architect Peter Zumthor’s contribution presents a group of new buildings adjacent to the existing Beyeler Museum. The Wyss Museum will provide new collection and exhibition spaces, giving the institution more space to showcase its holdings along with loans and recent acquisitions. Nearby, the Ammann Pavilion will host cultural events, while a separate logistics building supports the museum’s expanded operations.
The new ensemble also collaborates with structures already in place. Preserved historic buildings are restored and given new uses, with training studios, a music lounge, a greenhouse and a mini-project space that expands the foundation’s public programs beyond the gallery. In this setting, the expansion is read through a series of encounters in buildings and garden paths, rather than a single museum volume added alongside the original.
Peter Zumthor’s new buildings extend the Fondation Beyeler into the surrounding park. image © Mark Niedermann
a year of exhibitions and public events
The Fondation Beyeler will celebrate the opening over the course of a year, with exhibitions and events moving through the existing and newly expanded spaces. The museum’s collection will be presented with new acquisitions and loans from private collections, with exhibitions changing seasonally throughout.
The temporary program begins with a Ruth Asawa retrospective opening in October, followed by major solo exhibitions dedicated to Frida Kahlo, Louise Bourgeois and Elizabeth Peyton. Alongside the exhibitions, the institution will host concerts, performances, artist and architect talks, film screenings, botanical programmes, music listening sessions and workshops, using the extension as a network of art and gathering spaces.
the expanded set will be gradually opened from autumn 2026. image © Mark Niedermann
an extension shaped by a park
First presented in 2017, Zumthor’s design grew out of the acquisition of the neighboring Iselin-Weber Park and the opportunity to connect it to the existing spaces. Earlier plans described an extension of several smaller buildings positioned across the site, a response to the scale of Riehen’s village and museum garden.
With its gradual opening now approaching, the enlarged Fondation Beyeler brings architecture, landscape and exhibition-making into closer contact. The project adds square footage, but its biggest gesture lies in the way the museum spreads outward, allowing visitors to move between art, historic buildings, new architecture and a park that has long been a bit out of the public eye.
Renzo Piano’s existing museum is joined by new exhibition and cultural spaces. image © Katalin Deér
the extension project of Fondation Beyeler with Atelier Peter Zumthor New museum building, view from Iselin-Weber Park. visualization courtesy of Atelier Peter Zumthor
