A TRIP TO GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

When we arrive at the Guggenheim our first act is to walk around the exterior with the aim of getting an overview and clearer understanding of the building. To begin with the museum does not seem different enough to justify its dramatic reputation; from street level it does not impose on us and is only a little higher than the buildings surrounding it. However, as we walk down the steps on the side around to the front of the building, the sheer scale of the architecture emerges. It ripples and shimmers under the sun, the angles of its titanium and glass walls catching the light and responding to the weather as it changes. The pool at the front of the building continues this trend, throwing more reflections onto the side walls, and the nearby architecture of the Salve Bridge casts similarly interesting reflections onto the river itself, contributing to the whole effect. It’s immediately clear that the building has aged well, and the titanium tiles are not dull or rough around the edges, reflecting the light in the same way we can only assume they used to when it was first built.

Stepping into the central interior space is amazing. The museum is built around a central full-height open space that is easy to navigate, and the buzz inside from the other visitors is tangible. The atrium above allows light to float all the way through the building and, combined with the way the architecture is built of lines that are not straight, we get the slightly unsettling feeling of everything inside being disconnected from each other, prompting us to ask how it manages to stay up at all. Looking down into the same space from the higher floors gives us a similar impression of weightlessness, as from that angle the walls seem to hover above the floor. Surprisingly the building is only three storeys high, although this is necessary to create the great internal gallery space, despite how big it looks from the outside.

This dramatic influence on the fortune of Bilbao gave wake to what is known in the architectural world as ‘The Bilbao Effect’, where a significant piece of architecture leads directly to a city’s transformation.

Not forgetting that the Guggenheim is a museum, the spaces for the art are vast, to the absolute benefit of the art within. Each piece is given room to breathe and has space enough around it to be seen in the best possible view. When we visited, the work of Niki de Saint Phalle was being exhibited, and her art felt comfortably at home in the space, especially her large scale Nanas.