Among the outstanding architectural masterpieces of the 20th century, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao opened in 1997, is one of the most famous worldwide. The importance of the museum to the city’s life, to the worldwide exhibition practice, and to the approach to modern construction cannot be stressed enough. Architect Frank Gehry did not deviate from his favorite style, in which the building violates all academic and intuitive architecture rules, noticeably segregated from the even background of other urban buildings, including ultra-modern skyscrapers. Dreher et al. (2020) state that “following the inauguration of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, numerous cities have developed star architecture projects in the hope of triggering positive impacts for tourism and socio-economic development” (p. 439). During the construction of the museum, Frank Gehry first applied the principle of artist’s organization, which resulted in the timely completion of this ambitious project’s construction within the original budget. The Guggenheim Museum has become the pinnacle of Gehry’s career – a jumble of shapes and lines, shining curved surfaces of titanium, sharp protuberances, meandering roofs and walls will forever attract attention.
Gehry divided the exterior and interior of the building into two separate structural forms. Outside, the museum unfolds in different directions, and meanders, forming spirals in the inexhaustible play of organic forms. Tiled surfaces made of titanium gently reflect light and enhance the feeling of life in the billowing and curving edges of the museum’s exterior. Finaeva (2020) states that “The pragmatic function of architecture is almost completely replaced by its ability to actively communicate with the environment” (p. 4). The interior space of the museum is also twofold: it consists of ten classic rectangular halls and nine rooms with unexpectedly shaped walls, floors, and ceilings. Exhibition gallery spaces are located on three floors, around the central atrium – visitors can move between them on spiral staircases leading to the very ceiling of the structure or use glass elevators. The ever-changing volumes and configurations of the surroundings produce amazing sound effects that dynamically change with each step taken.
Another significant structural feature is the museum’s foundation – due to the proximity of the River Nervión it was important to stabilize the building with a total of 664 water anchors, as well as reduce its weight. Gehry worked closely with industrial engineers, geologists and soil scientists to redesign the museum’s structure accordingly. After solving this challenge, the architect was stuck with another – how to create an interior design that would not only complement the building’s exterior but would also highlight the pieces of art present in the gallery? To answer that question, Gehry connected with designers and together, they created a combination of glass, plaster, limestone, drywall and plywood that was perfect for the artworks in the gallery. The lighting system, developed by several engineers and master electricians, was planned to converge both natural and artificial light into a warm, pleasant atmosphere that would outbalance the cold industrial glow of the exterior. A complex management system allows the museum staff to control the lighting in each gallery separately.
There is not a single right angle in the building, all surfaces bend gently, and the interior spaces smoothly flow into one another. Calculating such a complex form was a very difficult engineering challenge. To solve it, Gehry used the most advanced 3D-modelling programs of the 1990s. However, he still encountered other issues, as he proceeded to work on the museum. Firstly, it was not possible to simply cover the building with the tiles of one shape – calculations showed that each tile must have had an individual shape. Secondly, it was necessary to develop a new system to fasten these tiles, allowing them freedom of movement. In order to resolve these issues, Gehry decided to use titanium tiles for the façade, as well as re-calculate the entire building model. He was driven by the deconstructivism logic that “every piece of the building is an essential part of the entity, and it could not be removed without destroying the entity” (Jiang 2019, p. 7). Surprisingly, he won the argument with other architects and the city administration about the implementation of titanium, which was considered too crude and industrial to use.
Gehry’s secret to success was to prepare a detailed and comprehensive construction plan and transfer all control over it to himself and his employees in order to protect the project from the influence of businessmen and politicians. His interior designers worked closely with engineers, electricians and decorators in order to converge the museum’s interior into an artful optical illusion, where classical geometrical shapes of outer walls hide unexpectedly spacious inner halls. Pitkänen (2021) states that “the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao represents a strong bond that holds the whole community” (p. 84). This bond reflects the whole construction process as a collective work of professionals. Most importantly, the design process should be conducted in a close connection between the interior designer and the architect themselves. Any rising conflict could be resolved successfully if there is a constant discussion of possible solutions and new ideas between the people involved in the project.
References
Dreher, J., Alaily-Mattar, N., & Thierstein, A. (2020). Star architecture projects. The assessment of spatial economic effects by means of a spatial incidence analysis. Raumforschung Und Raumordnung | Spatial Research and Planning, 78(5), 439–453.
Finaeva, O. (2020). Factors determining modern museum complexes architecture. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 962, 032080. Web.
Jiang, C. (2019). Museum Design as a Tool for a City. ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. Web.
Pitkänen, M. (2021). Guggenheim Museum. In M. O’Neill, J. Sandahl, & M. Mouliou (Eds.), Revisiting museums of influence: four decades of innovation and public quality in European museums (pp. 84–86). Routledge.