Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1997) Frank Gehry
Eiffel Tower (1889) Gustave Eiffel
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is easily one of the most admired works in contemporary architecture; designed by Frank Gehry and opened to the public in 1997, it is one of several museums that belongs to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The building features sculpted, organic contours and brilliant titanium panels that pay homage to the building’s location alongside the Nervión river. The museum was opened as part of a revitalization effort for the city of Bilbao and the Basque Country as a whole, and houses avant-garde, abstract and non-abstract art
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, built by Ferrovial and located in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. It is built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Atlantic Coast. The Guggenheim is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The museum features permanent and visiting exhibits of works by Spanish and international artists(Guggenheim Museum Bilbao,n.d.).
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 museum was the building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World Architecture Survey among architecture experts(para.2).
This masterpiece is a kind of urban sculpture that gives people the impression of being a ship in the Nervión River, or even a metallic flower, from an aerial view. It is set between two levels: the river level and the city level, 16 meters higher. The plot is crossed by the Puente de la Salve bridge, embraced by a sculptural tower that makes it part of the compound. It has wide stairs that connect again the two different levels at the other side of the bridge.
This sculptural building is composed by different volumes with different uses apart from the exhibition rooms: an auditorium, a library, offices, a café and a restaurant.
Gehry uses blocks of limestone, half-millimeter-thick titanium panels, glass curtains and a water surface at the rear. Limestone represents the tradition (Deusto University, on the other side of the river, is made of sandstone) and titanium panels give the building a futurist image. On the inside, exhibition rooms are large enough to show Modern Art, that includes great scale works, like Rosenquist and Warhol’s pictures(Guggenheim Museum ,Bilbao,Spain,n.d.)
The Eiffel tower is one of the most fantastic structures ever constructed. Even today it is visited by people from around the world. As a matter of fact, approximately 200 million people have come to see the Eiffel Tower. It is the most famous building in all of Paris.Acorrding to The Eiffel tower (n.d.) :
The Eiffel tower was created 1887-1889 by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The month of the completion of the Eiffel tower is March 28, 89. It took 2 years 2 months and 5 days to complete it.It was created to celebrate the anniversary of the French revolution.After the celebration it was saved from being demolished by being turned into a radio transmitter. As it has gotten older pavilions, an elevator, and other structures on the first and second floor. They have also added covers to protect people from rain.It is made of 9441 tons of steel. A total of 984 ft. ( 324 m) tall and has 18038 individual pieces. The iron used to make the Eiffel tower was made at the factories of Mr. Dupont and Mr. Fould.It is made of 4 base legs that are 80 meters apart from each other and are each 50 meters above the ground.The Eiffel tower has been painted 6 different colors in its history. All of the different colors were shades of brown. It takes 50 tons of paint to paint the Eiffel tower. A total of 50 engineers made 5300 blueprints. 121 workers worked at the construction site to build it.
Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, France in December 15, 1832. He was the creator of the Eiffel tower. Alexandre went to school at Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures.Together Gustave, Maurice Koechlin, Emile Nouguier and Stephen Sauvestre worked on the Eiffel Tower. Maurice and Emile were the main engineers, Stephen was the major decorator and of course Mr. Eiffel was the main architect.Also in 1885 he did work on the internal body of the Statue of Liberty. him, Auguste Bartholdi and Richard M. Hunt were the main engineers. Gustave even did some work on the famous Notre Dame.After the tower was built Gustave was given the Legion of Honneur. A great award for constructing the monstrous tower.
Guggenheim Museum and The Eiffel tower are world-renowned modern unique architecture buildings,and technology is great.I think the difference is different times, different starting point.
References: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.(n.d.).Retrieved May 7, 2011 ,from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guggenheim_Museum_Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum ,Bilbao,Spain.(n.d.).Retrieved ,from http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/guggenheimbilbao/index.html
The Eiffel tower .(n.d.).Retrieved March,2002,from http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0213201/Eiffel%20tower.htm
I believe that both the eiffel tower and the Guggenheim Museum are wonderous and facinating examples of the changes in architecture from back then to the modern society we live in today. In both buildings they both have that wow factor which is shown through the types of material is used, the shape, scale, patterns and curves and lines. Every small detail within a building such as the eiffel tower and the Guggenheim Museum is what helps create characteristics such as the curved walls on the Guggenheim Museum and the fish scale like pattern and shape of the eiffel tower.
回复删除Your description on the eiffel tower interest me as I did not know that the eiffle tower was built as a celebration of the anniversary of the french revolution. It is also interesting to find out how long it took to build the eiffle tower as today many buildings can be built less than a year. Perhaps the importance of the eiffle tower could also be seen through the process and contruction of the tower, and not always being the end result.
The way how you describe Guggenheim Museum, have gave me more information on how the Guggenheim Museum was build, and you said that the museum was built along the Nervion river , interested me because I thought that the river could be a part of the museum. “This masterpiece is a kind of urban sculpture that gives people the impression of being a ship in the Nervión River”. To me I think what you said was very thoughtful on this design, and I also have one similarities to you on this design is that, I think the river stands out the feeling of the designer. Why does he want to design beside the river why not the middle of the land?
回复删除River might be the feeling of his design. When we see the design of the museum, we see a lot of curly shape, and the river could be influence.