T rose, a whale, a ship, and a modern-day Marilyn Monroe— these comparisons and others have been drawn to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (see Figure 1), a building whose unconventional synthesis of architecture, sculpture, and iconography seems to defy conventional description. At its apex, smooth, sinuous forms of titanium and limestone flow towards a center point—tilting, twist- ing, and spiraling upward in an explosion of glass and metal. At ground level, it appears even more futuristic; its staggered, free- formed volumes seem to generate their own shadows and brilliant reflections while its iridescent titanium panels almost blur the boundaries between liquid and solid. Set against the post-industrial backdrop of Bilbao, a city marked by a rigid rectangular geometry and drab colors, the museum could seem almost out-of-place, even anachronistic. Yet it appears
perfectly at home, convey- ing feelings of ease and fa- miliarity. Not without con- troversy, the museum has been an object of cultural debate since its conception. However, under the appar- ent competing chaos caused by its juxtaposition of frag- mented volumes and curved forms lies a compas- sion for the rich Basque culture and a consciousness that reflects the building’s