Kunstmuseum Bad Ragaz
Visualisation Kunstmuseum Bad Ragaz. © Carla Juaçaba 2026.
Martin Creed, 'Work No. 3485, EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT', 2020. Photo: © Mathieu Bonnevie. Artwork: © Martin Creed. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2026.
Thomas J Price, 'All in', 2021. Photo: © Mathieu Bonnevie. Artwork: © Thomas J Price.
Ferdinand Hodler, 'Lake Geneva with Mont-Bland in the Afternoon (March)', 1918. Photo: © Felix Jungo Photography.
Simone Leigh, 'Brick House', 2019. Photo: © Mathieu Bonnevie. Artwork: © Simone Leigh, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.
With the vision of making their private collection permanently and freely accessible to the public, the Thomas Schmidheiny family is planning the construction of an art museum in the Spa Park of the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz. Conceived as a site of contemplation, it will offer visitors the opportunity to engage with art in an architecturally resonant setting.
About the project
The museum, a structure of approximately 3,000 square metres seamlessly woven into the Kurpark and the alpine landscape of Bad Ragaz, will operate on a two-part exhibition concept: a permanent presentation of defining works from the Thomas Schmidheiny art collection, alongside a programme of changing temporary exhibitions.
The museum is intended as a freely accessible space, welcoming to local residents and to visitors from Switzerland as well as abroad — a space that not only makes art directly and viscerally present and enriches Bad Ragaz with a cultural attraction of supra-regional significance, but also fosters a spirit of dialogue and collective enjoyment.
Architecture
Commissioned by the Stiftung Kunstsammlung Thomas Schmidheiny and conducted under the professional supervision of R+K Raumplanung, a single-stage architectural competition was held in September 2025. In February 2026, the jury selected the proposal by Carla Juaçaba and her team as the winning entry. The Brazilian architect presented an elongated structure running along Maienfelderstrasse, giving the Bad Ragaz Kurpark a clear spatial definition: formally autonomous, with a strong and distinctive architectural language that remains deeply sensitive to its surrounding context.
The minimalist paravent structure of concrete and steel elements is subtly integrated into the landscape; light plays across the façade in soft, shifting reflections, endowing the building with an almost weightless presence. A pond wraps around the northern corner of the museum, forging a quiet, harmonious connection between building and park. The careful positioning of the structure maximises open space and preserves the existing mature trees, shaping a setting in which architecture, nature and art merge into a coherent atmospheric whole — humble in appearance, yet radical in impact.
It is only through the interpretation of the public that the work is completed. Nothing is entirely predetermined.
— Carla Juaçaba