Week 8-Industrialisation, Modernism and architecture

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1997) Frank Gehry

Eiffel Tower (1889) Gustave Eiffel

Guggenheim Museum 

the importance of the design and construction

The designer of the Guggenheim Museum is Frank Gehry. The design of the structure is very unique and with over ten million visitors. It changed the way people think about museums and giving us a new way of art and design.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. Gehry combined cathedral with art and in my research it said "a soaring sculpture functioning both as exhibition space and symbol of civic pride for a provincial city reaching for greatness." Gehry's design wouldn't have formed without the use of a computer as a critic named Paul Goldberger noted that "changes in architecture have already moved ahead of Gehry; while Gehry designs in his head and implements with the computer, a new generation has adopted the computer itself as the generator of design. Still, Gehry's work could not be implemented without the use of computers." Looking at the building, we can see that the curving areas have a complex steel frame around it and the architecture style is deconstructionism. The offices of the museum are made of marble rather than titanium and before choosing titanium, 29 different materials including stainless steel, copper and aluminum were considered. Each of the titanium pieces of which the museum is comprised is unique, and all of them were designed using a computer. The titanium wasn't a very good material, some of the parts lost their brightness due to the pollution and weathering.

significance of the materials

The museum 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. As in my research it said "Daylight floods in through the glass walls and the skylight set high up in the dome. Leading off from this central space, a system of curved walkways, glass lifts and stairways connect 19 galleries that combine classical, rectangular spaces with others of unusual proportions and forms. The wealth and variety of spaces makes the museum exceptionally versatile."The space culminates in a tower which integrates the bridge itself into the intersection of volumes that configure the building.

 

Significance of the designer

Frank Gehry is an international figure of significant importance in architecture. In the mid 80s, Frank's work attracted international attention. The museum was his most spectacular design ever and it was completed in 1997. His imagination made his designs successful and you would not be able to take your eyes of buildings that were insanely curved yet so beautiful to look at.

 

function for which each was built

It is very obvious that the function for the museum was for the artists to display their art works for their audiences to look at.The museum has a total of 24,000 square meters of which 200 are occupied by a library, 600 by an auditorium, 1,100 by a shop and the restaurant and cafeteria occupy another 1,100 square meters. The atrium in front of the building is 300 square meters and has a height of 50 meters.Eleven thousand square meters of exhibition space are distributed in 19 galleries. Ten of these galleries have an almost classical orthogonal look and can be identified from outside by their stone finishes. Nine other irregularly-shaped galleries present a remarkable contrast and can be identified from outside by their unusual architecture and the covering of titanium.

 

function now-has it changed?

No, it has not changed. The museum is still full with tourists and visitors from all over the world and it is still a very stunning building. 

The Eiffel Tower   

the importance of the design and construction 

 

The Eiffel tower is a very famous tourist spot in France. It is like their local logo or representation of France. It is 1,063 ft high, including its antenna measuring 79 ft. From the time it was constructed until 1930, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest tower in the whole world. Its extraordinary design which was for wind resistance purposes. The structure was originally built in honor of the French Revolution. There were a number of people opposing to the construction of the tower since they believed that it would be a contradiction to the French tradition and that it would just be a form of intrusion in Europe. In fact, there were talks on its demolition in the early 1900′s but fortunately, this did not push through as they discovered its more important use. The Eiffel tower has been a known structure in the field of science.The tower is built of wrought iron , a material that will kind of last forever if it is painted regularly. Since it was built , the tower has been painted once every seven years. Maintenance on the tower includes applying 50 metric tons of three graded tones of paint every 7 years to protect the 200,000 square meters of iron lattice work from rust. The darkest paint is used at the bottom and the lightest shade at the top. Each repainting, by 25 painters working for 15 months, requires 1500 brushes, 5000 sanding disks and 1500 sets of work clothes. On occasion, the color of the paint is changed. The tower is currently painted to a shade of brown. 

 

significance of the materials

The Eiffel tower was a metal structured work. The tower is composed of puddling iron, not steel as many of today's buildings. Total 7,000 metric tons of puddling iron, which were the precursor to construction steel, was used. Like most materials, the tower undergoes thermal expansion. Thermal expansion is when a material changes dimensions while it undergoes temperature changes. The tower expands and contracts 15 cm from the hottest to the coldest day.

 

significance of the designer

The designer's name was Gustave Eiffel, born in Dijon, France.He is a great French engineer and entrepreneur responsible for the construction of bridges the world over, but most notably the Eiffel tower and the inner support structure of the Statue of Liberty. Eiffel's reputation suffered a severe setback when he was implicated in financial scandals round Ferdinand de Lesseps and the entrepreneurs backing the failed French Panama Canal project. Eiffel himself had no connection with the finances, and his guilty judgment was later reversed.

 

function for which each was built

As to what I have said above, the function of the tower was a city landmark which undergoes thermal expansion and can expand or contract depends on how the weather is that day.

function now-has it changed?

I don't think it has changed. The tower is still very fine and well looked after. It is still the famous land mark in France and still is one of the tallest structures in the world. 

Compare the two architectural structures, by noting their similarities and differences.

The similarities are that they are both a tourist attraction for the country that they are set in and both are unique in its own way. The differences are the shape of the structures, one is curvy and one the straight and pointy and one is wide and the other is tall and skinny. Both are very unique in their own way and I think its the greatest work that the designers have ever done.

Guggenheim

http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao - Frank O. Gehry
http://www.culturevulture.net/ArtandArch/Bilbao.htm

emporis
http://www.emporis.com/application/?nav=building&lng=3&id=112096

GUGGENHEIM BILBAO MUSEUM
http://www.bm30.es/proyectos/guggy_uk.html

Frank Gehry 

http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/07/frank_gehrys_childhood_home_faces_demolition/

Academy of Achievement
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/geh0bio-1

Eiffel Tower Maintenance
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Landmarks/Eiffel.htm

Eiffel Tower
https://engineering.purdue.edu/MSE/AboutUs/GotMaterials/Buildings/patel.html

Gustave Eiffel

http://www.nndb.com/people/425/000031332/

Gustave Alexandre Eiffel

http://en.structurae.de/persons/data/index.cfm?id=d000009