Foster + Partners Transforms Rijksmuseum Gardens with Sculpture Pavilion Renovation

Plans have been unveiled for a sculpture garden beside the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which will see three brick pavilions renovated by British architecture studio Foster + Partners.

The garden, named the Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum, will merge two existing gardens into a single riverside plot facing the museum's eastern wing.

Three brick pavilions built in the Amsterdam School style currently occupy the site and will be updated and transformed into exhibition spaces by Foster + Partners.

Alongside this, the garden will be designed by Belgian landscape architect Piet Blanckaert and will include sculptures by renowned artists Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, and Henry Moore.

"The sculpture garden will be situated just a stone's throw from the Rijksmuseum," the museum said. "Three existing pavilions and their adjoining gardens will be merged to form a single sculpture garden."

"The pavilions, built in the Amsterdam School style, will be open to the public for the first time," it added.

Renders of the Don Quixote Pavilion and Garden at the Rijksmuseum depict a lush garden carved with winding walkways and populated with sculptures. According to the museum, 22 trees will be added to the site.

The pavilions will be situated at the garden's southern end and each retain their pitched volumes of varying scales. Glazed openings at their fronts will overlook the surrounding garden.

The project is being funded by a €60 million donation by the Don Quixote Foundation and is expected to open in Autumn 2026.

Once complete, the garden will provide a publicly-accessible space and be used to host temporary sculpture exhibitions.

Elsewhere, Snøhetta is set to transform a former railway site into a riverside park in Norway and BIG has designed an interfaith complex to weave through an Albanian hillside near Tirana.

The renders are by Foster + Partners.