Guggenheim Bilbao

• Part of Scala’s Art Spaces series
• Sumptuous photographs of the Guggenheim’s interior and exterior help illustrate this internationally acclaimed building

El Guggen, as the residents of Bilbao call it, opened its doors in the autumn of 1997 to huge international acclaim and extensive media coverage. This little book cleverly conveys the glories of the building via sumptuous interior and exterior photography. With its titanium skin, the European home for the Guggenheim collections is the superb technical achievement of American architect Frank Gehry. Built right in the heart of the city, it derived much of its strength from the way in which it plays with the constraints of the environment – such as straddling railway tracks or blending with the crossing of a motorway bridge. This highly complex project was made possible by the model-making software used by aeronautical engineers, enabling a rare degree of precision. Built to house all forms of modern art, ‘El Guggen’ is above all a work of art in itself.