Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain) : Aerial context view, looking northeast, showing integration with landscape (bridge)

Creator:

Gehry, Frank Owen, 1929-

Published/Created:

Bilbao, Basque Provinces, Spain
1997

Physical Description:

24,000 m2 (area)

Date Depicted:

2008
1950 AD - 2010 AD

Materials:

limestone; glass; titanium

Notes:

Since the late 1980s Gehry has experiemented with the sensuous possibilities of metallic surfaces. The deconstructed masses of Gehry's designs are best expressed in the exploded organic shape of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao, Spain 1997). Gehry situated the museum within the living and working space of the city, allowing the Puente de La Salve (one of the main thoroughfares of the city) to pierce one side of the museum. The Calle Parraguirre, another main street bisecting the city, leads directly to the main entrance of the museum. Visitors both climb and descend stairs as they enter the museum, an unusual feature in an institutional building, and are led through rotating exhibition spaces to the atrium which is lit by a graceful abstracted flower skylight. Like the New York Guggenheim, the gallery spaces are organized on multiple levels surrounding the central atrium. Connected by a series of curving walkways that are suspended from the roof, the interior spaces have been described as a ‘metaphoric city’ (Chollet, p. 97) in which the architectural elements are simultaneously the infra-structure and the inhabitants. Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA) and visualizations were used heavily in the structure's design especially with shaping the titanium panels.

Topics:

Architecture -- Spain -- 20th century -- (YVRC)

Period/Style:

Twentieth century

Culture:

Spanish

Accession Number:

1A1-GF-GMB-A5

Genre:

architecture (AAT)
exhibition buildings: art museums (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

aerial views; bridges (built works) architecture; contemporary (1960 to present); engineering and industrial design; manufacturing; Art museums Deconstructivist; Twentieth century buildings; exhibition buildings; museums; art museums

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Addition Module Five

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
2008

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4090

OID:

10052183

PID:

digcoll:1867730