Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.
The museum features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists. One of the most admired works of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a "single moment in the architectural culture" because it represents "one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something. The curves on the building were to appear random. The architect has been quoted as saying that "the randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light". The museum's design and construction serve as an object lesson in Gehry's style and method. Like many of Gehry's other works, it has a structure that consists of radically sculpted, organic contours. Architect Philip Johnson called it "the greatest building of our time".
2. Significance of the materials
The pig iron structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire structure, including non-metal components, is approximately 10,000 tonnes. As a demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7,300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would fill the 125 metre square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in), assuming the density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic metre. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7.1 in) because of thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is constructed of a complex steel frame with sinuous stone, glass and titanium orthogonal and organic volumes. The titanium cladding used is half a millimeter thick, each piece is unique and has been designed with the aid of a state-of-the-art 3D design computer programme. The volumes are linked by glass curtain walls for light transparency. In some of the more curvacious and irregular exhibition spaces within the museum the floor is constructed of cement with curved and twisted walls. Before Gehry chose to use titanium sheathing, 29 different materials including stainless steel, copper and aluminium were considered for use.
3.significance of the designer
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous structures in the world. It was named after Alexandre Eiffel whose team of engineers designed it. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel's company won the competition and so the the Tower became known as the Eiffel Tower. However, it was Morris Koechlin, an employee of Eiffel that designed the thousand foot structure. His first design for the tower was rejected by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel as it was very plain and lacked 'class' and it was only after adding more graceful, ornate features that Eiffel decided to enter it for the competition. Eiffel also stated that he would finance the project to 80% of the cost of construction. The original idea was for the tower to be dismantled after a twenty year period. However, it was so well built and engineered that it was decided to leave it in position.
Designed by Frank O Gehry, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is one of the most innovative, architectural landmarks of the 20th century. With it's titanium exterior and sinuous curves it provides a fine backdrop to the extensive exhibition of contemporary art, travelling exhibits, sculpture and art installations. The tower, rising in an asymmetrical curve, looks like it might be a raised drawbridge or some sort of crane for handling freight. It turns out to be a purely sculptural element of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, a building of such brilliant innovation and esthetic triumph that it has been called a twentieth century Chartres.
4.function for which each was built
The Eiffel Tower structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the tower has been used for radio transmission. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. They were connected to long-wave transmitters in small bunkers; in 1909, a permanent underground radio center was built near the south pillar and still exists today. Since 1957, the tower has been used for transmission of FM radio and television. Originally, Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years (when ownership of it would revert to the City of Paris, who had originally planned to tear it down; part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily torn down), more than recouping his expenses, but as it later proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened its doors to the public on October 19, 1997, the new museum was making news. In the late 1980s the Basque authorities embarked on an ambitious redevelopment program for the city. By 1991, with new designs for an airport, a subway system, and a footbridge, among other important projects by major international architects such as Norman Foster, Santiago Calatrava, and Arata Isozaki, the city planned to build a first-class cultural facility. In April and May of 1991 at the invitation of the Basque Government and the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, Thomas Krens, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, met repeatedly with officials, signing a preliminary agreement to bring a new Guggenheim Museum to Bilbao. 5. Function now-has it changed? The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is one of the most important ingredients in the plan to redevelop the city of Bilbao. The plan, involving a number of major projects conceived by some of the world's most prestigious architects, includes the work now in progress to increase operational capacity at the city's port, the revamping of the city's airport, a new Conference and Performing Arts Center, the construction of a metropolitan railway and a new footbridge crossing the river at Uribitarte. The unique Museum is built on a 32,500 square meter site in the center of Bilbao. On one side it runs down to the waterside of the Nervión River, 16 meters below the level of the rest of the city of Bilbao. One end is pierced through by the huge Puente de La Salve, one of the main access routes into the city. The building itself is an extraordinary combination of interconnecting shapes. Orthogonal blocks in limestone contrast with curved and bent forms covered in titanium. |
Reference: http://www.guggenheim.org/guggenheim-foundation/architecture/bilbao
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Guggenheim_Bilbao.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
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