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The Museum in the Expanded Field, Frank Gehry in Bilbao

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The Museum in the Expanded Field, Frank Gehry in Bilbao Palazzo Venier dei Leoni 701 Dorsoduro 30123 Venezia, Italy Telephone 041 2405 411 Telefax 041 5206885 Press release FRANK GAHRY IN BILBAO: THE MUSEUM IN THE EXPANDED FIELD June 7 – October 15, 1995 Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the Venice Biennale, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is presenting a special exhibition entitled Frank Gehry in Bilbao: The Museum in the Expanded Field, consisting of Frank Gehry’s architectural designs for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. This new museum, wich is located in Bilbao, Spain, is currently under construction and scheduled to open in the summer of 1997. the exhibition is installed in five new galleries in the Collection’s recently acquired and renovated annex building and will be on view from June 7 through October 15, 1995. Frank Gehry in Bilbao: The Museum in the Expanded Field emphasizes the process by which Gehry reached his final design for the Bilbao project. The unique characteristic of the architect’s design method is revealed in the exhibition through five full architectural models, hundreds of model parts, forty original sketches, working drawings and rooms that evoke Gehry’s studio in Santa Monica. Gehry’s innovative use of the computer design program, ‘Catia’, is also demonstrated through a computer-generated loop that has been tranferred to four video screens. Gehry’s design for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was selected by a jury in an international competition in 1991. his distinctive design consists of a series of interconnected building shapes, clad in limestone, that have as their central focus an atrium of unprecedent scale. Sculptural, titanium roof and wall forms incorporate an array of curving, twisting shapes and unify the projects into a single architectural composition. In developing his architectural forms for the museum, Gehry first worked with paper and wood models at different scale. Sculptural, titanium roof and wall forms incorporate an array of curving, twisting shapes and unify the projects into a single architectural composition. In developing his architectural forms for the museum, Gehry first worked with paper and wood models at different scales, manipulating and refining the shapes that make up the building. He then utilized the ‘Catia’ computer program to map each point in the model’s curved surface. The resulting computer data was used to control a milling machine, which carved an exact scale model of the building forms. After confirming the computer data with the milled model, this data became the primary source of information for the dimensional control for the fabrication of specific building system such as the structural steel and the automated cutting if other building materials such as stone. ‘Catia’ is a highly-advanced, three-dimensional modeler originally developed for the aerospace industry to map curved surfaces with finite numerical control. The program provides the ability to engage in sculpural explorations while maintaining control of the relationship of the geometry to the constructibility of the shape in a manner not possible with conventional two-dimensional architectural drawings. Gehry’s 256,000 square-foot (24.000 m2) building creates a dramatic and higly visible landmark for Bilbao. The museum is one of the major focal points of the comprehensive redevelopment program and architectural renaissance currently underway in the city, and is located in the centre of a cultural THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION district formed by the Museo de Bellas Artes, the Universidad de Deusto, and the Opera House. It is set on a triangular site on the banks of the Nerviòn River, a waterway that for more than 500 years has served as the center for the city’s shipbuilding, commercial, and manufacturing industries. The location stretches underneath one of Bilbao’s busiest traffic bridges, the Puente de la Salve, and incorporates it into its design. With its towering roof, wich is reminiscent of a “Metallic Flower”, the museum will reanimate the riverfront and serve as a spectacular gateway to the city. “Art museum are, literally and figuratively, points of intersection in all of the great cities around the world,” said Gehry. “The site of this project – right at the bend of the Nerviòn – gives us an opportunity to create that kind of intersection in Bilbao. It is a privilege for any architect to have such an opportunity, to be part of energizing and renewing some of the urban fabric.” The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao adds another architectural monument to the Guggenheim’s international group of museums. The Guggenheim Foundation currently oversees three major museums: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and restored and expanded in 1992 by Gwathmey Siegel & Associates; the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, designed by Arata Isozaki and opened to the public in 1992; and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, located in Venice, Italy, and renovated and expanded in 1995. Frank Gehry founded Frank O. Gehry and Associates, Inc. in 1962 and has since established a reputation as one of the most important and influential architects of his time. Gehry is Known internationally for his distintive architecture, which incorporates new forms and new materials (such as copper, stainless steel, zinc, titanium, and indigenous stones), and which is especially sensitive to the cultural and visual context of its surroundings. Gehry, whose work includes residences, museums, libraries, schools, chops, concert halls office buildings, restaurants, and public buildings, has completed a wide range of projects in Europe, Japan, and the United States. Among his most notable cultural projects are: the American Center in Paris (1994), the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis (1993), the Vitra International Furniture and Manufacturing Facility and Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany (1990), and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art’s “Temporary Contemporary” exhibition space (1983). Gehry has received the most prestigious awards given an architect or artist, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989, the Japanese Præmium Imperial Award in 1992, and the inaugural Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 1994. His work has previously been the subject of a major retrospective organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, which travelled to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York in 1986. Frank Gehry in Bilbao has been organize and designed by guest curator Joseph Giovannini, a New York-based critic and architect. The exhibition has been sponsored by Hugo Boss. Significant support has been generously provided by Permasteelisa ‘Technology in Architecture.’ Additional assistance has also been provided through the generosity of Lufthansa German Airlines. THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION .
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