Thursday, April 10, 2008

The Bilbao Syndrome

Ever since the Guggenheim Museum put the Basque town of Bilbao on the map, everyone wants one.
In Australia, both Geelong & Perth once put in a bid.
The Guggenheim's long-time, entrepeneurial head Thomas Krens has just departed into the Arabian desert to oversee The Latest and Biggest One yet in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, another star architect Zaha Hadid is set to design the new Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius.
As one opens for business, another closes; as the Art Newspaper reveals, the Guggenheim space in Las Vegas will be transformed into a mega-luxury, Louis Vuitton handbag and accessories store.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Only in Las vegas surely...!

Meanwhile, what do you think of the new Recital hall going up across the road from the Melbourne ABC office?

A smack of Las Vegas-ness to me.

Julie C said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Julie C said...

Absolutely! very much in the `Look At Me' style of Melbourne's star architects.
But the Recital Centre's acoustics will be better than Las Vegas - if not the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, by MEGA-star architect Frank Gehry (of Bilbao Guggenheim fame).
for architecture as spectacle, check it out:
http://www.disneyconcerthall.com/
Julie C