The building is seamlessly integrated into the urban landscape. It was built on a 32.500-square-meter site along the Nervion River in the old industrial center of the city (it is most impressive from the river).
It has an area of 24.000 square meters, of which 11.000 square meters is dedicated to exhibition space, spread over nineteen galleries. The largest of these is 30 meters wide and 130 meters long (in 2005 it housed Richard Serra’s monumental installation The Matter of Time).
It is built of titanium sheet metal, stones, and glass. Its form is dynamic, consisting of twisted elements, undulating lines, and flowing forms. The building consists of a light-filled atrium overlooking the Bilbao estuary and the surrounding hills of the Basque Country. The atrium, which Gehry called the Flower because of its shape, serves as the organizational center of the museum. Three exhibition floors rise around it.
