Guggenheim Museum- Bilbao

Planning and Design Location

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast.

Architectural design
The museum was designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry. He is iconoclastic, using new technologies such as computer software and titanium, to create structures that are physically beyond what had been made in the past. His work does not adhere to existing theories or movements, making him one of the great revolutionaries of the art world. Technologically speaking, Gehrys ability to create such a spontaneous, organic design is due to a new computer advancement, CATIA (Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application). Simply put, this software, developed in the 1980s, allows architects to manipulate three-dimensional solid models, permitting the freedom to create curved forms where architects of the past dealt primarily in angles. The software also facilitates the engineering aspect of architecture, processing data and integrating contemporary materials to calculate the mathematics of construction.

Structural design
Construction started in October 1993 with the demolition of several industrial ruins located on the site. The Foundations Paquete was next. IDOM designed and produced foundation documents based on calculations made by consultants Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), who also served as the structural engineers. One interesting feature of the foundation design was necessitated by the proximity of the Nervin River to the museum site. Floods were a real possibility, so water anchors of different sizes were built to counteract buoyancy in the event of a flood. These cable anchors were created by driving piles into the bedrock, then boring out their centers. A cable was then fed through the hole and anchored into the bedrock, after which the bores were filled with concrete. As a last step, the cables were tightened from the top. By the end of October 1993, 664 concrete piles had been built in situ 14 meters below the surface. 18,000m3 of low permeability, reinforced concrete structural walls formed the basement and mechanical areas. As an additional precaution, all art displayed at the museum is mounted about the 500 year flood level.
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One challenge in the structural development lay in the large, discrete geometric volumes of the Museum. Frank Gehry called these integrated forms, and named each one. The complex polygonal building blocks were called River, Neo, T1000, Potemkin, Cobra, Fox, Flower, Tower S17, Fish, Boot and Canopy. FOG/A used CATIA software by Dassault Systmes to create a computer model the complicated geometry of the project. CATIA allows numerical control of complex shapes and definition of surfaces by mathematical formulae. The software, which was first developed in 1980, ran on IBM RISC System 6000 workstations. CATIA is more commonly used in mechanical engineering industries including aerospace, automotive, and shipbuilding. FOG/A input the forms of their wood and plastic models into CATIA using 3D scanning devices that recorded points on the model into a virtual three-dimensional coordinate system. Once each of the prototypical pieces of the building was completed in CATIA, the computer model containing its face and surface geometry was sent to a machine shop where a scale model was milled out of foam by numerically controlled machinery. Next, the files were sent to IDOM on DAT tapes. The files, each typically larger than 30 megabytes, were too large to send efficiently via e-mail using the currently available connections. The files were the equivalent a three-dimensional sketch of the buildings skin. These computer models were used in place of the more conventional sets of two-dimensional drawings. IDOM had no previous experience using CATIA, so they collaborated with ABGAM, the CAD/CAM specialized subsidiary of GAMESA, a Spanish aerospace and industrial engineering firm.

Important dates in planning and construction

1991 Formalities for materializing the idea of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao were launched in February 1991, when representatives of the Basque Administrations contacted the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to propose that it participate in part of its plan to revamp Bilbao and the Basque Country as a whole. 1992-1993 After selecting a site and the architect, who would design an iconic building, in July 1992 the Basque Government and the Provincial Council of Biscay constituted the Consorcio del Proyecto Guggenheim Bilbao. Its primary objective was to supervise all aspects related to the construction of the Museum. Jua Ignacio Vidrate was appointed Managing Director of the Consorcio. In February 1993, the first schematic model of the Museum designed by Frank O. Gehry was presented, and the break ground ceremony took place on October 22. 1994 In October, work began on the structure of what was to become the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Management Agreement between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Basque authorities establishing the terms of collaboration between the parties with regard to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was signed before the year was out. 1996 In November, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation presented the Basque Administrations with a draft Strategic Management Plan 1997-2000 for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. The presentation of this proposal marked the beginning of a process of analysis and debate culminating in approval by the Executive Committee of the Guggenheim
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Museum Bilbao Foundation of the Operating Plan defining the working guidelines governing the Museums first four years in operation. 1997 Once the building had been complated, equipment was installed, and staff was appointed, on October 3 a fortnight of inaugural activities began, ending on October 19 with the opening of the Museum to the publc. Less than a year later, more than 1.300.000 people had already visited the Museum.

Installations
The architect and lighting designer of the internationally acclaimed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, selected Lutron's GRAFIK 6000 preset lighting control system to precisely and reliably enhance the beauty of the museum's inner structure as well as the artwork displayed there. Design a lighting control system for the 23,225 m2 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao that would both showcase the beautiful artwork in the "best" light as well as protect these valuable treasures from potentially harmful ultraviolet rays. Architect Gehry enlisted Lam Partners, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based lighting design rm which had worked on many previous Gehry projects, to devise a lighting plan that would enhance the beauty of the inner structure as well as the artwork displayed there and protect that artwork as well.

Construction Characteristics
The museum is entered below grade directly into the 50-meter (164) tall central atrium space. From there, galleries of various shapes and sizes radiate out in practically all directions. Some so-called classical galleries are rectilinear in geometry and are typically clad in stone. Others are three-dimensionally curved and are generally clad in titanium metal. The largest boat gallery, some 140-meters (459) long, 25-meters (82) wide without interior columns, extends below the adjacent Puente de la Salve bridge. The galleries all include generous open volumes on the order of 15-meters (49) to 20-meters (66) tall without internal floors or vertical supports.

Materials: The three cladding materials are titanium (25.221 m ), stone (34.343
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m2)and glass (6.136 m2).

Costs
The iconic buildings budget was $119.6 million, whereas the total GMB project before opening totaled $228.3 million. This includes $12.1 million for architect Frank Gehry,
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$6.4 million for executive architect Idom, $100.8 million to construct the building and surroundings, $24.7 million to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York, $9.9 million for the land, $44.5 million to establish the collection and $30.3 million for other operative costs before opening.

Reference
- Frank O. Gehry Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, 1997 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation,NY. - AN EVALUATION OF THE CLADDING MATERIALS By Katie Cacace, Marita Nikaki and Anna Stefanidou - The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Guggenheim Museum Publications, New York, 1994. -The Bilbao efect, Plaza, Beatriz Faculty of Economics. University of the Basque Country. http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12681/ - HARVARD DESIGN SCHOOL Center for Design Informatics http://research.gsd.harvard.edu/ - http://www.lutron.com/CaseStudyPDF/Guggenheim_English.pdf - http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=guggenheim%20museum%20bilbao%20plan#x0y0 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao - http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao - http://www.e-architect.co.uk/bilbao/guggenheim_museum_bilbao.htm - http://buildipedia.com/in-studio/featured-architecture/frank-o-gehry-s-guggenheim-museumin-bilbao-spain - http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/bilbao/gehryguggenheim/guggenheimindex.html - http://architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.ro/2012/08/f-gehry-guggenheim-museum-bilbao.html