I've been in Bilbao once. The city for sure got my attention because of the museum. But I would never have traveled there just for the museum. The beautiful landscape of the river valley, the metro to the rugged coast of the bay, the great Basque food, the incredibly pleasant evening strolls along the cleaned river and the city streets, full with chatting people and many dogs, and last but not least a visit to the fantastic football stadium were all at least as memorable for me as the afternoon I spent in the Guggenheim. Conclusion: the Guggenheim works as a great advertisement only because it advertises a great city.
Thank you Werner! That conclusión is the perfect synthesis to my previous comment. There was no t magic in the museum, the magic was already here in different forms of energies.
My grandparents bought a flat in the building across the river (at 0:01 ) about 40 years ago. He was really into the whole industrial/shipping vibe of the area. I grew up watching the museum get built from their living room, for 10 years straight Bilbao was continously under construction. This video brings back a lot of memories. :)
@Debed They probably bought it at the end of the 70s/early 80s for less than a 1M pts (6.000EUR), now it is probably 100 times that price. But if you account for inflation probably it is like 10 times the value or something like that.
I love how clean the city looks and even though the building and trains are over 20 years old, it looks like they have been very well maintained. I think the oversight of the funding and care necessary to maintain a building and city are key to its lasting success and quality.
I lived in Pamplona, Navarre 25 years ago, just next to Basque Country (worldwide known by Festival of San Fermín). They are culturally the same as basque, in fact, many consider themselves as Basque. It's exactcly the same: everything is beautiful, with a unique architecture (perfectly balancing the old with the modern), everything works fine, everything is extremely clean, one of the most developed parts of Europe (should they be a country, it would be the richest in the world). Man you could breathe History there. And the landscapes are indescribably beautiful.
I watched today history video how american bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Spain soil because of faulty airplane, it was just one from dozen accidents but are Spanish population was informed? They say mushroom don't happen, but like a whole farm field become radioactive, some soil removed somewhere...
I'm an architecture student from Bilbao that has been following this channel for some time for the quality and the richness of its content, this video is just another part of that great work and I thank you for taking the time for and the care of making it. I just wanted to point out some things that are normally not mentioned when it comes to the effect the Guggenheim had on Bilbao and the precedent it set for how new urban planning is being developed in the city to this day. Our industrial past, the very fiber that made Bilbao the city it is today, is being destroyed, supplanted and forgotten. Instead of appreciating the literal buildings, technologies and and cityscape left over from the industrial era, they have been torn down or left to collapse. At best a crane or a ship has been preserved as a quirky reminder of what once was. We see the examples from this very same year: the total destruction of the Naval shipyard with its towering cranes, the Molinos Vascos building with its silos and roof in perilous conditions, the whole of Zorrozaurre island with its factories now condemned to be substituted by a bastardized version of the plan that Zaha Hadid made, even the North Station in Saint Sebastian torn down mere weeks ago. We are destroying our identity and our treasures, instead of doing a tactful de-industralization, taking advantage of the richness of our past for contemporary activities, we tear down and erect for the most part indiffirent buildings and promenades. This following article was written by a Bilbao historian in the wake of the Guggenheim's building, it's in Basque and Spanish, but it's titled "What we lost with the Guggenheim", referring to the amazing industrial works that were torn down to make space for the museum: www.patrimonioindustrialvasco.com/actividades/lo-que-perdimos-con-el-guggenheim/
Maybe this is a wrong observation, but it seems in Europe you’re less attached to your historic buildings because everything around you is old . In the USA, any building older than 100 years is considered “historic” and the citizens get upset when news of a tear down comes out. I live near Baltimore which has a similar industrial, shipping past like Bilbao. Even though the powers that be grumble about it, a number of older buildings with an industrial past have been saved and repurposed . It keeps a lot of the character of the city intact
everything old is built on top of something older. it's not a big deal that old things are torn down and replaced. not everything old should be held sacred.
This was the most interesting video from you I’ve seen (they’ve all been interesting, though!). This is the story of how urbanism can be a success if the whole of a city, its people, its cultures, its history, and architecture are all taken into the equation. That’s not easily done, and helps explain why the examples you noted of other cities that tried to put up an spectacular building, failed to replicate Bilbao’s success.
An example of how other cities tried to take the Bilbao approach but missed the many details is Valencia and the City of Arts and Sciences. It's on an even larger scale and an impressive architectural achievement, but has had many problems. Aside from the major cost overruns and issues with materials that didn't age well and building designs that aren't a good fit for what they're being used for, the city wasn't able to connect it to the metro system until last year. While it's still an impressive project on its own, the many smaller issues add up.
@@echeblog Some cities have had success to some extent though. Sydney, Australia. Just mentioning the name we think immediately of the same building. (I like to focus on the positive).
To Mr. Hicks, thanks for this video. Everyone who posts content on Nebula plugs the website. There are so many documentaries here already on youtube it seems useless to have to pay for such a service. And for people so good at making videos, it seems odd that no one, including yourself, has done like a short commercial on youtube to plug the documentaries. Or does youtube prohibit this? That would seem odd. (Or should do let Netflix did here in Japan, we got 1 month free. After 3 weeks Netflix sent an email reminding us that our service would be cancelled in one week. Same 2 days, 1 day, and the day of cancellation. I was really impressed with this instead of the old strategy hoping people simply forget to cancel. Disney did that to us. I've heard that Netflix in the US has a lot more content than Japan. I usually watch it every night, youtube in the afternoon). Love your videos here.
@@rabbit251 Sure, my example was just from the same time period, same country, but didn't have the confluence of factors that made Bilbao's experience so impressive.
The Basque Country + Cantabria, Rioja, Navarre (+Asturias, Galicia)(well the north in general) are some of the most underrated parts of Spain. I find a lot of unexpected things in "this region". It's indeed a world apart, a bit unknown, in the middle of a lot that is known
youre 100% correct, i was just there last week and travelled around those regions and its incredibly beatuiful, you wont find that kind of nature anywhere else in Europe.
Please, we have a lot of turism yet. We dont need much more. San Sebastián is full of people same Santander and Asturias in summertime. ¿Galicia underrated? Really? Santiago is still after 1000 years a destiny for thousans of europeans. The weather here keep us apart for that "underrated turism". Great.
Grear video Stewart. Bilbao has long been a vacation destination for us, maybe we’ll finally go. A few years I saw the video biography on Gehry. He made an interesting comment, he said he was basically a modernist, but because of the computer wasn’t constrained to rectangles and squares as I assume Mies was.
I think also, this building became famous because it was so unique, while the others you featured seem like they're trying to jump on a trend. The one in Mongolia at least has a slightly original flair, but not to the extent of the Bilbao Guggenheim. Honestly, the story of those failures sounds so intriguing, I'd be down for a whole episode just for that. But for now, I'mma hop over to Nebula and watch your extended video. Thanks for this.
Hobart is about the same size as Bilbao and it was boosted by MONA, a museum and gallery funded by a local billionaire, built in the outer suburbs. The design is quite different, but still very modern and provides a strong contrast with the sandstone Georgian buildings common in the inner city.
I'm from Biscay and i don't really know if i agree. Tourism is still a minuscule part of our economic output and industry is still by far the biggest part of our economy. Of course the industry evolved from steel and iron to more advanced forms of industry, but is still the biggest of the sectors. Saying that a tourist atraction saved Bilbao is an spectacular reach.
Its incredibly cool that you're focusing on some different cities. I love all the insights on Chicago architecture, but this is amazing too (and really cool to see a video of a building I've been to!)
Bilbao was on my bucket list since the Guggenheim Museum opened. After such a long time I was in Bilbao a little more than three weeks ago. The museum is as exciting to see in person and to be in as I had always imagined. The city has a great deal to offer other than the Guggenheim. The is the Museum of Fine Art which is not to be missed. Spent two days in Bilbao but another two days would have been better. Thanks for the video. Very informative.
I remember studying the Bilbao Guggenheim while I was at college when they were building it. Some of the details like how they deliberately designed the steps to not allow regular pacing. The level of attention to detail blew my mind. It's wonderful to see what a success it's been
As a former Chicagoan and current Bilbao resident who follows your channel, this video has been such a nice surprise. Great video and hope you had a nice stay at Bilbao!
I call this the Gaudi effect. Gaudi's art has no economical impact directly, but millions flock to Barcelona to see it, bringing in millions for the city. Frivolity has way more value than most people would admit.
At least they look better than the boxes. Cities are not just the buildings. They are like living things with many aspects to consider. It wasn't just the building that save the city, but the system in place that built it and the surrounding has part of.
Yet another very thoughtful video Stewart with a really insightful and important macro view. I think any city leaders pushing the idea of "we'll be the new Billbao", or similarly "we'll be the new Switzerland" or "we'll be the new Silicon Valley" or more granularly "we'll become an artist town/colony" should spend just the few minutes it takes to watch this video for a conversation starter. One grand building (or even worse, sports arena) in isolation risks precious $$$ thrown away. That said, look what a grand building in conjunction with a true larger vision (in planning yes, but also time, hard work and resources) can achieve. Beware the ad-hoc and simple focus mega project politicians love that sucks all hopes into one single entity, like some sort of physical building miracle messiah.
I was born in the middle of this revolution. The idea to build the museum was sealed the year I was born, 1991, so I don't remember much of that crucial transformation, even tho the most far-reaching changes occurred later than the museum, well into the 2000s. But a person who knew Bilbao 30 years ago would simply not recognize it today. It is a new city. The important thing for me is that Bilbao has adapted to changing times but has managed to maintain a large part of its cultural and historical heritage. I want to remind you that the Basque Country, despite being within Spain and France, is a cultural nation with its own idiosyncrasy, language, music and mythology. Bilbao, despite having been a focus of immigration and having been transformed in the face of modernity, maintains those Basque cultural hallmarks that remind us of who we Basques are and where we come from. You are welcome here.
Slightly Off Topic: For you cinephiles, you might want to watch the 2002 Spanish move: Mondays in the Sun (Los lunes al sol), the most well known actor is Javier Bardem. It takes place in another shipbuilding town in northern Spain, during the economic downturn this video speaks about. The town is Vigo, Galicia near the Portuguese border.
I've been to a concert at the Casa de Musica in Porto, which was great - but I also did study abroad in Bilbao for a semester. I loved the inside of the Museum of Fine Arts and the outside of the Guggenheim. I'm really glad Stewart mentioned the subway, though: it's clean, convenient, and gorgeous
Yup. Traveled specifically from France to see the Guggenheim- no need to go inside. And there is Puppy and Spider and the Clothespin Bridge. Great metro. Oh, and pintxos, the Basque tapas.
The description of Bilbao as a rusting industrial city on the one way ticket to decline is too narrow. Elements of this are true but what is often overlooked by architects, urban planners and government official is that Bilbao unlike many cities that can be collected into this silo of post-industrial decline, is a city with multiple commercial roles the most important of these in a post-modern era is banking. So unlike say Sunderland in the UK or Pittsburg in the US this was and is not an solely industrial city. The Guggenheim of course is important but it played a role in a complex regeneration strategy that repurposed Bilbao towards a cultural and service orientated city. Huge investment was made in a Norman Foster designed metro, a Santiango Calatrava bridge, a new airport and the cleaning up of the river and old docks. This is was possible because Bilbao was still a rich city with an important cultural life and residents who not only wanted change but had the power and influence to make the change. The Guggenheim in the abstract looks like the transformative object but in reality it was a baroque flourish on an already significant and well planned city regeneration scheme. Other places have tried the museum route to regeneration but without the other elements it fails. See Walsall in the West Midland, UK.
Great explanation. You are absolutly rigth. The museum was posible because the city can afford it. At first 1995, sounds like a risky business, but finally it wasnt. We were lucky. The problem was the miracle created was copied in a lot of towns of Spain, with some dramatical results.
I almost forgot your channel and it took a while to find you out, despite been subscribed, reason you don’t introduce consistently on the start of each video. It does resonate and makes easier to recall Stewart.
Ive read that the Bilbao Guggenheim is based on the design language of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Many people think it's the other way around since the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened several years after the museum in Bilbao. The main reason the Walt Disney Concert Hall was finished later was due to a delay in the financing for it, but the overall design was already done. Had that not been the case the Disney Concert Hall would have opened first
Excellent look at how so many factors (beyond just an iconic building) must come together to revitalize a city. Heading to Nebula to check out your expanded outlook.
A lot of architects and planners love to rag on Gehry, as if he's to blame for his imitators. But I think that the guy is a true genius. If you doubt it, just go and look over the fence at his old home in Santa Monica. I went to Bilbao a couple of years after this opened and I still remember it as one of the most moving architectural experiences of my life. Only the greatest Baroque buildings in Rome can compare. He made me a lifetime fan that day.
Watching the construction of this building as a kid is one of the thing that made me become an architect! Hope you enjoyed your stay here! Eskerrik asko! 😉
This segment is so packed I will have to return several times. Gehry can be annoying, but only a fool would ignore him. I love his gutsiness and inventiveness.
I just returned from a trip to Bilbao. Amazing city! A lot of culture, a mix of beautiful old buildings and new modern areas, fantastic landscape, amazing food, clean, nice people. I will most certainly return
Let’s not forget that the end of terrorism also was a major factor that contributed to the improvement and touristic development not only in Bilbao but in the whole Basque Country
10:00 That is not correct, the tram system was built AFTER the construction of the museum and to be fair it adds very little as it could have been a bus line and it overlaps with the subway. In contrast, the subway was built around the same time as the museum and has proven to be fundamental to the development of the city/region.
Yes, you are rigth. For me, tram system is useful if it's a round circle line that conects all radial Lines, bus metro, or distant suburbs with the center. Here,none of them.
We seem to be caught in a vise grip between two architectural extremes; buildings which are entirely utilitarian without any concern to pleasing the soul - the Walmart style, and the entirely ridiculous which pay no concern to utility, both present and future.
My hometown of Edmonton got it's very own Post-Balbao Art Gallery. Designed by Randall Stout, it had increased legitimacy in the vein of all the Gehry-hype. It remains a striking downtown landmark and the radically folding exterior was supposed to evoke the Aurora Borealis. Still, I think the failed projects profiled briefly here prove that copying is never a sure fire route to success.
Funnily enough I just came back from my first visit to Bilbao and had many a conversation with the locals on the massive changes the city went through and the fact that the Guggenheim is seen as the crown jewel of it. It is a wonderful city with a lot of culture and the food is fantastic!
I'd live for you to cover the Arcitech and architecture Douglas Cardinal, the guy behind the Canadian museum of History and the American Indian museum in DC. Not enough has been talked about this architecture
He designed a bunch of stuff near where I live too! He's still pretty involved in the scene, and does have a distinct and different ideal about architecture than a lot of other starchitects. And works with a lot of First Nations to make architecture that fits their needs, values and beliefs. Interesting guy.
We stayed in a Casa Rural overlooking the City. Lots to offer apart from the museum. The industrial heritage has almost, but not entirely, been wiped away. Like all Spanish cities there is great food and drink. Day trips San Sebastian and Santander (both gorgeous ) makes this a great holiday base.
Very good presentation..have just come across ur Channel..have subscribed for further content.. Highlights the complexity of the changing circumstances of the city of Bilbao..ie the de - industrialization of the city & its transformation/development into a new era..the relevant points are well made.. Another example, although a generation earlier , is the Sydney Opera House... Thanks from Sydney Australia
I love the R.Serra gallery, especially from the corridor above… I also have a nice picture with my husband underneath the giant spider of Louise Bourgeois. And the promenade in the mist…
Also in the 1990s modern architecture was emerging and people love to see innovative buildings with futuristic shapes. But now if you want to achieve the same effect, a classical building is more effective as people become more nostalgic.
Designed by the guy, built on a computer, cut by a computer, and installed by rock climbers. I freakin' love this! 😂Thanks for sharing! It's beautiful. :)
I understand this is an architecture channel but I think there is point that has been missed: the key of the success of the Guggenheim museum, beyond the incredible building, is that it actually has something inside to offer to the visitor: world class curated art exhibitions, that are renewed regularly, something most other cities that have built incredible museums have been unable to secure.
Stewart, I really appreciate your videos as they are enlightening , even as a practicing Architect. I wish I was at my alma mater (Cal Poly) now , you actually make Architecture interesting
BTW, where do you side in the one-family vs communal buildings? The first allows nations to not die out as the birth rate gets killed when people move to the flats/apartments in the cities. But the latter case is way more sustainable for the whole humanity economically and is way more ecological.
I made a short visit there in the 90's, but what I think is worth mentioning from a tourist point of view is that Bilbao isn't all that far away from San Sebastian, that is an extremely beautiful costal city with a pretty large old town etc.
That and the food culture of both cities makes a big difference, the Basque coast in between is also lovely if you have plenty of time and don’t go on the motorway.
Wow, the metro/subway system looks so much like the Jubilee Line extension in London. Looking it up, Norman Foster designed it's 2 most iconic stations, North Greenwich and Canary Wharf
And I think he added to Wembley the arch based on the arch that existed in the old San Mames, preserved in the football academy of Athletic Club. The conexion between Bilbao and your island goes back centuries, a win-win relationship
In 2011 i was in barcelona for a couple of days. had a “free” day. Decided to take a plane. Went to bilbao in the morning, had lunch across the museum. Visited it’s surroundings. Spent all afternoon in the museum. And returned to barcelona for dinner. It was a blast. I was living in france, studying architecture, one of the best experiences from that time. It’s definitely a place I wanna return, and properly visit this charming city.
I have Basque heritage and keep telling my kids we need to visit Bilbao to see this. Thanks for all the great background information Stewart. It’s quite fascinating and very beautiful. The urban planning aspect worked (for once) which is significant.
Did you ever hear about the unintended consequences of two of Ghery's other designs? The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles had such high polished surfaces, it reflected and focused the sun so well across the street - it could melt plastic garbage cans. And The Experience Music Project in Seattle was so slippery that I personally watched the climbers continually slip and fall as they tried to construct it. Smooth metal is like ice when it gets wet. But when it comes to the Bilbao museum, I find the puckering of the titanium panels a little off-putting. Even if that's how they're accommodating the necessary thermal expansion.
what a hideous calamity. I really loathe how chaotic & tasteless arcitecture has become in the modern era. its as if a war on beauty has been mobilized on every part of society, because it requires less craftsmanship to be strange then it does to create something beautiful.
Great info. I visited Bilbao 2 weeks ago. Somehow during my visit it was clear this museum was build for this reason, even though I didn't actually know. The depth of it however was very interesting to watch! 👍🏻👍🏻
It seems that the nineties were the decade of strange museum buildings. The Netherlands had one in Groningen in 1994, and one in Maastricht in 1995. Both designs were not conventional.
The real succes story of the Netherlands is the one of "Boksende Bep", a cigar smoking wiskhy drinking woman who started the Infamous Glorious Allpowerfull Lesbian Family street gang which grew to become the world's most fear crime syndicate in the world
We had a reverse Bilbao effect here in Massachusetts. The Clark Art Institute, a small museum in Williamstown (in the far northwest corner of the state) hired Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando to design two new buildings to add gallery space and other amenities to the existing one. Ando built a severely modernist/minimalist structure. When I first saw the design in 2005 in the form of computer graphics, I wrote a letter to the local newspaper urging the museum not to construct the Ando design, but I was laughed at. Unfortunately the new buildings were very costly with lots of wasted space. Today most visitors agree with me while the intellectual classes still hang with Ando.
I actually wrote my Bachelor Thesis about Gehry's GugMuz. The whole story from start to now is just facinating and reads like an Anime Manga with power up arcs and stuff like that 🤣🤣🤣
It wasn't just the museum that happened. Bilbao also experienced a real-estate boom, they cleaned up the river, the buildings, and the ports, built a public transportation system that crossed under the river for the first time, built more bridges to connect historically separated sides, then they expanded the port and opened it to cruise ships and ferries.
It’s kind of an oversimplification that when you build a museum, it will definitely attract people to the museum. I think the majority of people , went to the Museum to see the artwork that’s getting exhibited , that’s why when the museum doesn’t have enough funding to purchase enough interesting artefacts, it will just face its doom
I like Bilbao. And I always thought I'd love the Guggenheim, since I'm a fan of Gehry's work. But I was underwhelmed by the building itself. The whole curvy form language didn't yield the type of added value I thought it would. It could equally have been done with any other type of form language - if we disregard the city promotion aspect.
Well, and Spain has lovely weather Bilbao is near the coast, so a little push of something can really drive tourist visits. Building a nice building isn't going to get anyone to Ulaan Bator
Bilbao ir very rainy, atlantic climate. If there a 700 mm of rain per year in average in London in Bilbao it's like 1000 mm and less sun hours than in London also, so... don' expect a sunny mediterranean location if you come here
Bilbao Effect is aesthetically really pleasant... But that Iberdrola Tower shows the real change... Iberdrola is the real economic muscle that brings money to Bilbao next to Banking Services by BBVA. If anything, Bilbao is success story from an industrial to a service economy city.
I visited Bilbao in 1989. Everyone had given up. The steel industry was gone and all that was left was pollution and rusted factories. ETA was still acting as terrorists and as a mafia. I liked the setting: the Ria surrounded by green hills. This guy arrived and said, more or less, "We are a beauty queen but we need a nosejob". Great mayor.
Yeah, they built a metro, a tram line, improved the buses, beautified the river, added enough bike infrastructure for it to be useful and then built the museum.
@@yazanmowed - It takes real vision to improve things in that way, because most decisions are based in the short term. Great to see the vision paying off!
I've been in Bilbao once. The city for sure got my attention because of the museum. But I would never have traveled there just for the museum. The beautiful landscape of the river valley, the metro to the rugged coast of the bay, the great Basque food, the incredibly pleasant evening strolls along the cleaned river and the city streets, full with chatting people and many dogs, and last but not least a visit to the fantastic football stadium were all at least as memorable for me as the afternoon I spent in the Guggenheim. Conclusion: the Guggenheim works as a great advertisement only because it advertises a great city.
Thank you Werner! That conclusión is the perfect synthesis to my previous comment. There was no t magic in the museum, the magic was already here in different forms of energies.
Same architect of this museum, Frank Gehry, also designed the Walt Disney Arts center opera house in Los Angeles and is very similar.
This was almost exactly my experience. The river, circle parks at intersections, and attractive people with dogs. I recommend a visit.
Don’t forget the old town square , with its traditional bars and world class pintxos
Rocky Balboa also saves his city
My grandparents bought a flat in the building across the river (at 0:01 ) about 40 years ago. He was really into the whole industrial/shipping vibe of the area. I grew up watching the museum get built from their living room, for 10 years straight Bilbao was continously under construction. This video brings back a lot of memories. :)
@Debed They probably bought it at the end of the 70s/early 80s for less than a 1M pts (6.000EUR), now it is probably 100 times that price. But if you account for inflation probably it is like 10 times the value or something like that.
I love how clean the city looks and even though the building and trains are over 20 years old, it looks like they have been very well maintained. I think the oversight of the funding and care necessary to maintain a building and city are key to its lasting success and quality.
How something build 25 years ago is "old".
Bruuh i feel attacked😂
@seth davis Great point!
Here is a constrasting situation: th-cam.com/video/IGGTE6I8wEE/w-d-xo.htmlm22s
It’s a Basque thing. Cleanliness, hard work, planning, sucking it up. A contrast to inner-city “Gimme free stuff” bullshit.
@@busterbiloxi3833 I do not think you know the meaning of "inner city", explicit and implied, if you are using it for Spain.
I lived in Pamplona, Navarre 25 years ago, just next to Basque Country (worldwide known by Festival of San Fermín). They are culturally the same as basque, in fact, many consider themselves as Basque. It's exactcly the same: everything is beautiful, with a unique architecture (perfectly balancing the old with the modern), everything works fine, everything is extremely clean, one of the most developed parts of Europe (should they be a country, it would be the richest in the world). Man you could breathe History there. And the landscapes are indescribably beautiful.
As a basque that suscribed to your channel mostly for your excellent videos on american architecture, this video is such a nice surprise!
You do not have tapas, you have pinchos! The architecture of the Basque County is truly amazing, and I also greatly appreciated this video ^.^
Bilbao is freaking amazing . I LOVED it. Stunning. The French tried the same trick at Arles , it failed
I love Spain
I watched today history video how american bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on Spain soil because of faulty airplane, it was just one from dozen accidents but are Spanish population was informed? They say mushroom don't happen, but like a whole farm field become radioactive, some soil removed somewhere...
@@fontenbleau yes they were informed. Watch Manuel Fraga swimming in Palomares´ beach to demonstrate the public that the water was not radioactive.
I'm an architecture student from Bilbao that has been following this channel for some time for the quality and the richness of its content, this video is just another part of that great work and I thank you for taking the time for and the care of making it.
I just wanted to point out some things that are normally not mentioned when it comes to the effect the Guggenheim had on Bilbao and the precedent it set for how new urban planning is being developed in the city to this day. Our industrial past, the very fiber that made Bilbao the city it is today, is being destroyed, supplanted and forgotten. Instead of appreciating the literal buildings, technologies and and cityscape left over from the industrial era, they have been torn down or left to collapse. At best a crane or a ship has been preserved as a quirky reminder of what once was. We see the examples from this very same year: the total destruction of the Naval shipyard with its towering cranes, the Molinos Vascos building with its silos and roof in perilous conditions, the whole of Zorrozaurre island with its factories now condemned to be substituted by a bastardized version of the plan that Zaha Hadid made, even the North Station in Saint Sebastian torn down mere weeks ago. We are destroying our identity and our treasures, instead of doing a tactful de-industralization, taking advantage of the richness of our past for contemporary activities, we tear down and erect for the most part indiffirent buildings and promenades.
This following article was written by a Bilbao historian in the wake of the Guggenheim's building, it's in Basque and Spanish, but it's titled "What we lost with the Guggenheim", referring to the amazing industrial works that were torn down to make space for the museum:
www.patrimonioindustrialvasco.com/actividades/lo-que-perdimos-con-el-guggenheim/
I’d love to watch your own take on this, perhaps you should film the areas changing would be cool to see more in depth
Maybe this is a wrong observation, but it seems in Europe you’re less attached to your historic buildings because everything around you is old . In the USA, any building older than 100 years is considered “historic” and the citizens get upset when news of a tear down comes out. I live near Baltimore which has a similar industrial, shipping past like Bilbao. Even though the powers that be grumble about it, a number of older buildings with an industrial past have been saved and repurposed . It keeps a lot of the character of the city intact
everything old is built on top of something older. it's not a big deal that old things are torn down and replaced. not everything old should be held sacred.
Thank you for this contemporary account of the bruises and losses the city has endured because of a single trophy asset.
Por dios quieres seguir con los viejos abandonados edificios en vez de progresar a una ciudad moderna?
This was the most interesting video from you I’ve seen (they’ve all been interesting, though!). This is the story of how urbanism can be a success if the whole of a city, its people, its cultures, its history, and architecture are all taken into the equation. That’s not easily done, and helps explain why the examples you noted of other cities that tried to put up an spectacular building, failed to replicate Bilbao’s success.
An example of how other cities tried to take the Bilbao approach but missed the many details is Valencia and the City of Arts and Sciences. It's on an even larger scale and an impressive architectural achievement, but has had many problems. Aside from the major cost overruns and issues with materials that didn't age well and building designs that aren't a good fit for what they're being used for, the city wasn't able to connect it to the metro system until last year. While it's still an impressive project on its own, the many smaller issues add up.
@@echeblog Some cities have had success to some extent though. Sydney, Australia. Just mentioning the name we think immediately of the same building. (I like to focus on the positive).
To Mr. Hicks, thanks for this video. Everyone who posts content on Nebula plugs the website. There are so many documentaries here already on youtube it seems useless to have to pay for such a service. And for people so good at making videos, it seems odd that no one, including yourself, has done like a short commercial on youtube to plug the documentaries. Or does youtube prohibit this? That would seem odd.
(Or should do let Netflix did here in Japan, we got 1 month free. After 3 weeks Netflix sent an email reminding us that our service would be cancelled in one week. Same 2 days, 1 day, and the day of cancellation. I was really impressed with this instead of the old strategy hoping people simply forget to cancel. Disney did that to us. I've heard that Netflix in the US has a lot more content than Japan. I usually watch it every night, youtube in the afternoon).
Love your videos here.
@@rabbit251 i LiKe tO fOcuS oN The pOsiTiVe 🤡
@@rabbit251 Sure, my example was just from the same time period, same country, but didn't have the confluence of factors that made Bilbao's experience so impressive.
The Basque Country + Cantabria, Rioja, Navarre (+Asturias, Galicia)(well the north in general) are some of the most underrated parts of Spain. I find a lot of unexpected things in "this region". It's indeed a world apart, a bit unknown, in the middle of a lot that is known
youre 100% correct, i was just there last week and travelled around those regions and its incredibly beatuiful, you wont find that kind of nature anywhere else in Europe.
Please, we have a lot of turism yet. We dont need much more. San Sebastián is full of people same Santander and Asturias in summertime. ¿Galicia underrated? Really? Santiago is still after 1000 years a destiny for thousans of europeans. The weather here keep us apart for that "underrated turism". Great.
Spain, or we should call it "Little Europe"
Lets keep it like that please
What about ñunoa???
Grear video Stewart. Bilbao has long been a vacation destination for us, maybe we’ll finally go. A few years I saw the video biography on Gehry. He made an interesting comment, he said he was basically a modernist, but because of the computer wasn’t constrained to rectangles and squares as I assume Mies was.
Bilbao is a lovely destination vacation, with or without the Guggenheim.
love basque spain - hope you got to see more of it. Gernika, Getaria, San Sebastian, and more.
*Basque country
I think also, this building became famous because it was so unique, while the others you featured seem like they're trying to jump on a trend. The one in Mongolia at least has a slightly original flair, but not to the extent of the Bilbao Guggenheim. Honestly, the story of those failures sounds so intriguing, I'd be down for a whole episode just for that. But for now, I'mma hop over to Nebula and watch your extended video. Thanks for this.
Hobart is about the same size as Bilbao and it was boosted by MONA, a museum and gallery funded by a local billionaire, built in the outer suburbs. The design is quite different, but still very modern and provides a strong contrast with the sandstone Georgian buildings common in the inner city.
I'm from Biscay and i don't really know if i agree. Tourism is still a minuscule part of our economic output and industry is still by far the biggest part of our economy. Of course the industry evolved from steel and iron to more advanced forms of industry, but is still the biggest of the sectors. Saying that a tourist atraction saved Bilbao is an spectacular reach.
Its incredibly cool that you're focusing on some different cities. I love all the insights on Chicago architecture, but this is amazing too (and really cool to see a video of a building I've been to!)
The mans gotta teach during the school year.
Bilbao was on my bucket list since the Guggenheim Museum opened. After such a long time I was in Bilbao a little more than three weeks ago. The museum is as exciting to see in person and to be in as I had always imagined. The city has a great deal to offer other than the Guggenheim. The is the Museum of Fine Art which is not to be missed. Spent two days in Bilbao but another two days would have been better. Thanks for the video. Very informative.
The Bilbao Guggenheim is so famous, I didn’t know that there was a crappier original Guggenheim in New York
I remember studying the Bilbao Guggenheim while I was at college when they were building it. Some of the details like how they deliberately designed the steps to not allow regular pacing. The level of attention to detail blew my mind. It's wonderful to see what a success it's been
Those steps are really disliked by everyone that tries them :D (or at least by all the locals)
As a former Chicagoan and current Bilbao resident who follows your channel, this video has been such a nice surprise. Great video and hope you had a nice stay at Bilbao!
I call this the Gaudi effect. Gaudi's art has no economical impact directly, but millions flock to Barcelona to see it, bringing in millions for the city. Frivolity has way more value than most people would admit.
i went to barcelona to tour his work. Im happy that i did! life changing!
I lived in Bilbao from 2019-2022. It's a lovely city, and easily one of my favorites.
At least they look better than the boxes. Cities are not just the buildings. They are like living things with many aspects to consider. It wasn't just the building that save the city, but the system in place that built it and the surrounding has part of.
Yet another very thoughtful video Stewart with a really insightful and important macro view. I think any city leaders pushing the idea of "we'll be the new Billbao", or similarly "we'll be the new Switzerland" or "we'll be the new Silicon Valley" or more granularly "we'll become an artist town/colony" should spend just the few minutes it takes to watch this video for a conversation starter. One grand building (or even worse, sports arena) in isolation risks precious $$$ thrown away. That said, look what a grand building in conjunction with a true larger vision (in planning yes, but also time, hard work and resources) can achieve. Beware the ad-hoc and simple focus mega project politicians love that sucks all hopes into one single entity, like some sort of physical building miracle messiah.
Yes, it is actually all the other stuff that is more important. The museum was much more of a calculated risk.
I was born in the middle of this revolution. The idea to build the museum was sealed the year I was born, 1991, so I don't remember much of that crucial transformation, even tho the most far-reaching changes occurred later than the museum, well into the 2000s. But a person who knew Bilbao 30 years ago would simply not recognize it today. It is a new city. The important thing for me is that Bilbao has adapted to changing times but has managed to maintain a large part of its cultural and historical heritage. I want to remind you that the Basque Country, despite being within Spain and France, is a cultural nation with its own idiosyncrasy, language, music and mythology. Bilbao, despite having been a focus of immigration and having been transformed in the face of modernity, maintains those Basque cultural hallmarks that remind us of who we Basques are and where we come from. You are welcome here.
Slightly Off Topic:
For you cinephiles, you might want to watch the 2002 Spanish move: Mondays in the Sun (Los lunes al sol), the most well known actor is Javier Bardem. It takes place in another shipbuilding town in northern Spain, during the economic downturn this video speaks about. The town is Vigo, Galicia near the Portuguese border.
I've been to a concert at the Casa de Musica in Porto, which was great - but I also did study abroad in Bilbao for a semester. I loved the inside of the Museum of Fine Arts and the outside of the Guggenheim. I'm really glad Stewart mentioned the subway, though: it's clean, convenient, and gorgeous
Frank Gehry moved with his family to USA at a very young age. While he was born in Canada, he really is not a "Canadian architect".
Yup. Traveled specifically from France to see the Guggenheim- no need to go inside. And there is Puppy and Spider and the Clothespin Bridge. Great metro. Oh, and pintxos, the Basque tapas.
The description of Bilbao as a rusting industrial city on the one way ticket to decline is too narrow. Elements of this are true but what is often overlooked by architects, urban planners and government official is that Bilbao unlike many cities that can be collected into this silo of post-industrial decline, is a city with multiple commercial roles the most important of these in a post-modern era is banking. So unlike say Sunderland in the UK or Pittsburg in the US this was and is not an solely industrial city.
The Guggenheim of course is important but it played a role in a complex regeneration strategy that repurposed Bilbao towards a cultural and service orientated city. Huge investment was made in a Norman Foster designed metro, a Santiango Calatrava bridge, a new airport and the cleaning up of the river and old docks. This is was possible because Bilbao was still a rich city with an important cultural life and residents who not only wanted change but had the power and influence to make the change.
The Guggenheim in the abstract looks like the transformative object but in reality it was a baroque flourish on an already significant and well planned city regeneration scheme. Other places have tried the museum route to regeneration but without the other elements it fails. See Walsall in the West Midland, UK.
Great explanation. You are absolutly rigth. The museum was posible because the city can afford it. At first 1995, sounds like a risky business, but finally it wasnt. We were lucky. The problem was the miracle created was copied in a lot of towns of Spain, with some dramatical results.
You've done the best comment on the character of our city I've read in the last years. Your knowledge of the city is so big. Have you ever lived here?
I almost forgot your channel and it took a while to find you out, despite been subscribed, reason you don’t introduce consistently on the start of each video. It does resonate and makes easier to recall Stewart.
Ive read that the Bilbao Guggenheim is based on the design language of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Many people think it's the other way around since the Walt Disney Concert Hall opened several years after the museum in Bilbao.
The main reason the Walt Disney Concert Hall was finished later was due to a delay in the financing for it, but the overall design was already done. Had that not been the case the Disney Concert Hall would have opened first
Thanks!
Thank you!!!
Another Great Video. This building has always intrigued me. Thanks for the information
I visited the Basque region last year - beautiful places, people and food! Bilbao and the museum are amazing. Loved the automobile exhibit.
Excellent look at how so many factors (beyond just an iconic building) must come together to revitalize a city. Heading to Nebula to check out your expanded outlook.
i'd say dr. seuss and ayn rand must have been the major design influencers.
Caught up to all your videos so far Stewart, and to see this latest video is great! There is never a bad video on your channel :)
A lot of architects and planners love to rag on Gehry, as if he's to blame for his imitators. But I think that the guy is a true genius. If you doubt it, just go and look over the fence at his old home in Santa Monica. I went to Bilbao a couple of years after this opened and I still remember it as one of the most moving architectural experiences of my life. Only the greatest Baroque buildings in Rome can compare. He made me a lifetime fan that day.
It's a horrendously ugly building and making it so ugly made it ten times more expensive than it had to be.
Its also of note that the original project proposal was remarkably a few million under budget
Watching the construction of this building as a kid is one of the thing that made me become an architect! Hope you enjoyed your stay here! Eskerrik asko! 😉
I was invited to do a talk there and it was a fantastic 4 days. The old city is an adventure to explore.
This segment is so packed I will have to return several times. Gehry can be annoying, but only a fool would ignore him. I love his gutsiness and inventiveness.
I just returned from a trip to Bilbao. Amazing city! A lot of culture, a mix of beautiful old buildings and new modern areas, fantastic landscape, amazing food, clean, nice people. I will most certainly return
Let’s not forget that the end of terrorism also was a major factor that contributed to the improvement and touristic development not only in Bilbao but in the whole Basque Country
A REAL voice, REAL people talking!! THANK YOU!!
10:00 That is not correct, the tram system was built AFTER the construction of the museum and to be fair it adds very little as it could have been a bus line and it overlaps with the subway. In contrast, the subway was built around the same time as the museum and has proven to be fundamental to the development of the city/region.
Yes, you are rigth. For me, tram system is useful if it's a round circle line that conects all radial Lines, bus metro, or distant suburbs with the center. Here,none of them.
We seem to be caught in a vise grip between two architectural extremes; buildings which are entirely utilitarian without any concern to pleasing the soul - the Walmart style, and the entirely ridiculous which pay no concern to utility, both present and future.
Yeah, that’s really well put.
Great video Stewart, That building is different for sure.
My hometown of Edmonton got it's very own Post-Balbao Art Gallery. Designed by Randall Stout, it had increased legitimacy in the vein of all the Gehry-hype. It remains a striking downtown landmark and the radically folding exterior was supposed to evoke the Aurora Borealis. Still, I think the failed projects profiled briefly here prove that copying is never a sure fire route to success.
I remember Frank Geary talking about the Russian titanium and how he got a deal on it!!
Funnily enough I just came back from my first visit to Bilbao and had many a conversation with the locals on the massive changes the city went through and the fact that the Guggenheim is seen as the crown jewel of it.
It is a wonderful city with a lot of culture and the food is fantastic!
I loved Bilbao. Had some amazing food there. Would love to return for another visit.😊
I'd live for you to cover the Arcitech and architecture Douglas Cardinal, the guy behind the Canadian museum of History and the American Indian museum in DC. Not enough has been talked about this architecture
He designed a bunch of stuff near where I live too! He's still pretty involved in the scene, and does have a distinct and different ideal about architecture than a lot of other starchitects. And works with a lot of First Nations to make architecture that fits their needs, values and beliefs. Interesting guy.
We stayed in a Casa Rural overlooking the City. Lots to offer apart from the museum. The industrial heritage has almost, but not entirely, been wiped away. Like all Spanish cities there is great food and drink. Day trips San Sebastian and Santander (both gorgeous ) makes this a great holiday base.
Very good presentation..have just come across ur Channel..have subscribed for further content..
Highlights the complexity of the changing circumstances of the city of Bilbao..ie the de - industrialization of the city & its transformation/development into a new era..the relevant points are well made..
Another example, although a generation earlier , is the Sydney Opera House...
Thanks from Sydney Australia
Would love to see you comment on Calatrava’s work!
Great story telling
I love the R.Serra gallery, especially from the corridor above…
I also have a nice picture with my husband underneath the giant spider of Louise Bourgeois. And the promenade in the mist…
Also in the 1990s modern architecture was emerging and people love to see innovative buildings with futuristic shapes. But now if you want to achieve the same effect, a classical building is more effective as people become more nostalgic.
Designed by the guy, built on a computer, cut by a computer, and installed by rock climbers. I freakin' love this! 😂Thanks for sharing! It's beautiful. :)
It is absolutely stunning! I wish I could go back and just spend the whole day gazing on the architecture. ❤🤩
Well researched video! Not surprised to hear that some of these key monuments have been flops, not everything can be iconic
I understand this is an architecture channel but I think there is point that has been missed: the key of the success of the Guggenheim museum, beyond the incredible building, is that it actually has something inside to offer to the visitor: world class curated art exhibitions, that are renewed regularly, something most other cities that have built incredible museums have been unable to secure.
Stewart, I really appreciate your videos as they are enlightening , even as a practicing Architect. I wish I was at my alma mater (Cal Poly) now , you actually make Architecture interesting
BTW, where do you side in the one-family vs communal buildings? The first allows nations to not die out as the birth rate gets killed when people move to the flats/apartments in the cities. But the latter case is way more sustainable for the whole humanity economically and is way more ecological.
I made a short visit there in the 90's, but what I think is worth mentioning from a tourist point of view is that Bilbao isn't all that far away from San Sebastian, that is an extremely beautiful costal city with a pretty large old town etc.
That and the food culture of both cities makes a big difference, the Basque coast in between is also lovely if you have plenty of time and don’t go on the motorway.
The fact that the design accounts for local expertise is very based. It's also in unison with the overall goal of the entire project.
Wow, the metro/subway system looks so much like the Jubilee Line extension in London. Looking it up, Norman Foster designed it's 2 most iconic stations, North Greenwich and Canary Wharf
And I think he added to Wembley the arch based on the arch that existed in the old San Mames, preserved in the football academy of Athletic Club. The conexion between Bilbao and your island goes back centuries, a win-win relationship
Love the Basque nation and architecture, so I'm very hapyy with this video, this building was everywhere in the late 90s/early 2000s
Amazing mini doc
In 2011 i was in barcelona for a couple of days. had a “free” day. Decided to take a plane. Went to bilbao in the morning, had lunch across the museum. Visited it’s surroundings. Spent all afternoon in the museum. And returned to barcelona for dinner. It was a blast. I was living in france, studying architecture, one of the best experiences from that time. It’s definitely a place I wanna return, and properly visit this charming city.
Your voice is amazing to listen to
I have Basque heritage and keep telling my kids we need to visit Bilbao to see this. Thanks for all the great background information Stewart. It’s quite fascinating and very beautiful. The urban planning aspect worked (for once) which is significant.
I fell asleep when I visited. No windows? Whakindda building is that?
Not a fan of modern architecture, but for this I might make an exception.
Excellent video. One of my favourites of yours.
Did you ever hear about the unintended consequences of two of Ghery's other designs? The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles had such high polished surfaces, it reflected and focused the sun so well across the street - it could melt plastic garbage cans. And The Experience Music Project in Seattle was so slippery that I personally watched the climbers continually slip and fall as they tried to construct it. Smooth metal is like ice when it gets wet. But when it comes to the Bilbao museum, I find the puckering of the titanium panels a little off-putting. Even if that's how they're accommodating the necessary thermal expansion.
what a hideous calamity.
I really loathe how chaotic & tasteless arcitecture has become in the modern era. its as if a war on beauty has been mobilized on every part of society, because it requires less craftsmanship to be strange then it does to create something beautiful.
Great info. I visited Bilbao 2 weeks ago.
Somehow during my visit it was clear this museum was build for this reason, even though I didn't actually know.
The depth of it however was very interesting to watch! 👍🏻👍🏻
8:11 NOT JUST ARCHITECTURE
Every visionary civil leader should watch this.
Great video! I love your channel so much, and learn so much every time. Keep up the good work !
It seems that the nineties were the decade of strange museum buildings. The Netherlands had one in Groningen in 1994, and one in Maastricht in 1995. Both designs were not conventional.
The real succes story of the Netherlands is the one of "Boksende Bep", a cigar smoking wiskhy drinking woman who started the Infamous Glorious Allpowerfull Lesbian Family street gang which grew to become the world's most fear crime syndicate in the world
We had a reverse Bilbao effect here in Massachusetts. The Clark Art Institute, a small museum in Williamstown (in the far northwest corner of the state) hired Pritzker Prize-winning architect Tadao Ando to design two new buildings to add gallery space and other amenities to the existing one. Ando built a severely modernist/minimalist structure. When I first saw the design in 2005 in the form of computer graphics, I wrote a letter to the local newspaper urging the museum not to construct the Ando design, but I was laughed at. Unfortunately the new buildings were very costly with lots of wasted space. Today most visitors agree with me while the intellectual classes still hang with Ando.
Great presentation! The Superdome in New Orleans saved its downtown.
I actually wrote my Bachelor Thesis about Gehry's GugMuz. The whole story from start to now is just facinating and reads like an Anime Manga with power up arcs and stuff like that 🤣🤣🤣
With architecture like this we dont need weird AI image generators.
It wasn't just the museum that happened. Bilbao also experienced a real-estate boom, they cleaned up the river, the buildings, and the ports, built a public transportation system that crossed under the river for the first time, built more bridges to connect historically separated sides, then they expanded the port and opened it to cruise ships and ferries.
It’s kind of an oversimplification that when you build a museum, it will definitely attract people to the museum. I think the majority of people , went to the Museum to see the artwork that’s getting exhibited , that’s why when the museum doesn’t have enough funding to purchase enough interesting artefacts, it will just face its doom
I like Bilbao. And I always thought I'd love the Guggenheim, since I'm a fan of Gehry's work. But I was underwhelmed by the building itself. The whole curvy form language didn't yield the type of added value I thought it would. It could equally have been done with any other type of form language - if we disregard the city promotion aspect.
May have to see this. I live near Dali. Understated compared to this. Thx man
The first time I saw this building, it was almost a religious experience.
Enjoyed Bilbao. The museum is like living inside a piece of sculpture. Great video!
Well, and Spain has lovely weather Bilbao is near the coast, so a little push of something can really drive tourist visits. Building a nice building isn't going to get anyone to Ulaan Bator
Bilbao ir very rainy, atlantic climate. If there a 700 mm of rain per year in average in London in Bilbao it's like 1000 mm and less sun hours than in London also, so... don' expect a sunny mediterranean location if you come here
Bilbao Effect is aesthetically really pleasant... But that Iberdrola Tower shows the real change... Iberdrola is the real economic muscle that brings money to Bilbao next to Banking Services by BBVA. If anything, Bilbao is success story from an industrial to a service economy city.
Wow, that's crazy... had no idea that this building goes back to 1997! Definitely on my bucket list.
Great video to contextualize what it takes to have real architectural success.
imagine showing this 1:40 to someone who asked for a building with a presence, like these people were living breathing meme.
Great video...interesting story!
5:35 Love that. They are a proud people!
Can't wait to visit!
I visited Bilbao in 1989. Everyone had given up. The steel industry was gone and all that was left was pollution and rusted factories. ETA was still acting as terrorists and as a mafia. I liked the setting: the Ria surrounded by green hills. This guy arrived and said, more or less, "We are a beauty queen but we need a nosejob". Great mayor.
But which design war did it ignite? Love the video, been to Bilbao 5 times.
Looks great. Important takeaway for me is to not just dump a cutting edge building in a run down area and think you’ll get the same effect.
Yeah, they built a metro, a tram line, improved the buses, beautified the river, added enough bike infrastructure for it to be useful and then built the museum.
@@yazanmowed - It takes real vision to improve things in that way, because most decisions are based in the short term. Great to see the vision paying off!