Guggenehiem Bilbao

[MIKBEW]

Hi guys & gals

Not so many buildings posted so as I seem to build a fair few I've posted some pics of the Gehry Bilbao Museum, which I finished a couple of months ago. The model is generally available. It's a good quality model, although in my case my postman left it on the step and it rained and there was a hole in the package. Thank goodness for scanners and Adobe.

The model was complex in that as far as the building is concerned there aren't any straight lines. That made the folding and curving critical and on my model a number of sub-units were built and rebuilt until I could match the complexity of the shapes and, most importantly, get them to line up and link up. I reckon I acheived around 80% so there is quite a bit of 'filling'. And if you look closely you'll note the 'damage' around the edges from the rebuilds and repositioning.

On another thread I talked about the importance of reference material, something we all recognise. In this case, and if anyone fancies the challenge, you really must get references. I really recommend the Gehry Bilbao 3-d model posted through Google Sketch up. Have a look. The ability to move the model on all the axis, and zoom in and out, was absolutely critical to establish exactly what went where and how. I also came across a superb set of photographs through the www.blufton.edu site, but there are many references out there.

In fact through the references I added the support tower carrying the road. A bit too large in scale but it made the model seem 'right'.

If anyone is interested have a look at Gehry's Nationale-Nederland Building in Prague, known as the 'Fred and Ginger' building. Now such a model would be a challenge.

[B-Manic]

Very nice build of an unusual subject. Thanks.

[papermodelfan]

Thanks for posting these notes on the Guggenheim. My father and I have been slowly building a miniaturized version of this - shrunk to about 10 x 15 cms. We put the metallic parts onto Silver paper from Red River, and have been having an adventure. It is the most challenging building we have ever attempted (and that includes Hagia Sophia, the Micromodel of St Peters, and St Stephensdom of Vienna). No single structure is obvious or predictable. Glad to have the websites. We have to consult google images to make progress. Cheers,

[willygoat]

The museum looks great! I can see where building it would be difficult.

Originally Posted by papermodelfan

TIt is the most challenging building we have ever attempted (and that includes Hagia Sophia, the Micromodel of St Peters, and St Stephensdom of Vienna).

Papermodel fan- I would love to see pics of St. Peters and St. Stephensdom if you have them. I've had the opportunity to sing in both, and they are amazing places. The thought of them in Micro-model scale is frightening.