Guggenheim Museum Bilbaov
1997 When the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened to the public in 1997, it was
immediately hailed as one of the world’s most spectacular buildings in the
style of Deconstructivism (although Gehry does not associate himself with that architectural movement), a masterpiece of the 20th century. Architect Philip Johnson described it as “the greatest building of our time”,while critic Calvin Tomkins, in The New Yorker, characterized it as “a fantastic dream ship of undulating form in a cloak of titanium,” its brilliantly reflective panels also reminiscent of fish scales.Herbert Muschamp praised its “mercurial brilliance” in The New York Times Magazine. The Independent calls the museum “an astonishing architectural feat”. The building inspired other structures of similar design across the globe, such as the Cerritos Millennium Library in Cerritos, California.
Eleven thousand square meters of exhibition space are distributed over nineteen galleries. Ten of these galleries have a classic orthogonal plan and can be identified from the exterior by their stone finishes. Nine other irregularly shaped galleries present a remarkable contrast and can be identified from the outside by their swirling forms and titanium cladding. The largest gallery, measuring 30 meters wide and 130 meters long, was used for temporar y exhibitions for several years. In 2005, it became the site of the largest sculpture commission in histor y, Richard Serra’s monumental installation The Matter of Time.
SP A IN Almost
from
the
moment
it
opened in 1997, Gehry’s Guggen-
heim Museum Bilbao, with its
distinctive titanium curves and soaring glass atrium, was hailed as one of the most important buildings of the 20th century. Gehry’s use of cutting-edge computer-aided
Plans for a new museum in Bilbao date to the late 1980s, when the Basque Administration began formulating a major redevelopment of the region. It was not until 1991, however, that Basque authorities proposed the idea for a Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. In moving forward with the museum a site was selected and three architects, Arata Isozaki from Japan, Coop Himmelb(l)au from Austria, and Frank O. Gehry from the United States, were invited to participate in a competition to produce a conceptual design.
Frank Gerhy took to Blob architecture in 1997 with his design for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and followed it up with EMP|SFM (known as the Experience Music Pro-ject for short) in 2000. Yet although these would to the untrained eye look the epitome of blob architecture, following its narrowest of definitions, they are not. The reason? They were designed using physical models rather than computer manipulations.
design technology enabled
him to translate poetic
forms into reality. The resulting
architecture
is
sculptural and expression-
istic, with spaces unlike
any others for the presen-
tation of art. The museum
is seamlessly integrated
into the urban context, unfolding
its
intercon-
necting shapes of stone,
glass, and titanium on a 32,500-square-meter
site
along the Nervión River in the old industrial heart.
SAGE
GATESHEAD
G
G Sage Gateshead is a centre for musical education, perfor-
mance and conferences, located in Gateshead on the south
bank of the River Tyne, in the North East of England. It opened in 2004. It is tenanted by the North Music Trust, which for the financial year 2010-11 reported a deficit of ÂŁ302,761. The ven-
ue is part of the Gateshead Quays development, which also includes the BALTIC Centre for Contemporar y Art and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge.
G The centre occupies a cur ved glass and stainless steel
building designed by Foster and Partners, Buro Happold (structural engineering), Mott MacDonald (building services) and Arup (acoustics), with views of Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides, the Tyne Bridge, and the Gateshead
Millennium Bridge. Foster and Partners were selected following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions.
THREE PERFORMANCE SPACES
1,700-seater
450-seater
smaller rehearsal and performance hall