Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The museum was designed by the North American architect Frank o. Gehry, and it is located in a 32,500 m2 plot alongside the Nervion River, that is to say that it is located 16 meters under the elevation of the city of Bilbao, and that it is crossed in one of its sides by the colossal bridge of La Salve, one of the main entrances to the city.

The building is composed by a series of interconnected volumes; some of them are limestone- coated orthogonal shapes while others are curved and twisted shapes in a metallic titanium skin. These volumes are linked by glass curtain walls for remarkable transparency throughout.

Due to their mathematical complexity, the sinuous stone, glass and titanium curves were designed with the aid of computers. The glass walls have been specially used in order to protect the works of art from sunlight, whereas the titanium panels that cover large parts of the building like “fish scales” are half-a- millimetre thick. This material presents great maintenance and protection characteristics.

As a whole, Gehry´ s design creates a spectacular and enormously visible structure acting as a sculptural backdrop for the city environment.