Guggenheim Museum

Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain is one of the world’s most admired and groundbreaking works of architecture.

The innovatively designed 24,000 sqm building provides 9,000 sqm of exhibition space for contemporary and modern art, contained within a sculpture-like structure. The building’s three levels are organised around an atrium, and are connected by curved walkways, staircases and glass and titanium lifts.

Brand: Permasteelisa

Lead architect: Gehry Partners

Co-architects: César Caicoya Gómez-Morán, José Antonio Amann Murga, César Aitor Azcárate Gómez

Contractor: Balzola

The project

The concept

The 3D, free-form building envelope is designed to achieve the architect’s goal of building curves that look truly random. The skin is made of titanium, chosen for its strength, elasticity, and capability to achieve the aesthetic of a dynamic wrinkling of the envelope, giving the impression that the building is buckling under the wind.

What did we do?

We created and installed 36,000 sqm of pure titanium cladding, in approximately 33,000 extremely thin titanium sheets. We designed the titanium sheets using the 3D computer modelling programme Catia created for the aerospace industry, enabling us to define the high number of different panels, and control the horizontal panel alignment in response to the constantly changing wall curvature.