For design enthusiasts it will be like seeing Godot arrive on your doorstep: the long-awaited Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi will finally be ready to open in 2025. With the legendary architect and designer Frank Gehry at the helm, this extraordinary museum is destined to become the most resplendent jewel of any Guggenheim in the world.
I was waiting for Godot, finally Godo
Originally announced in 2006 and initially scheduled to open in 2012, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi project has suffered many setbacks over the years. Located on Saadiyat Island, an area off the coast of the United Arab Emirates set to make Abu Dhabi one of the world's leading cultural destinations, the museum will include a huge group of arts and cultural institutions, including Jean's Louvre Abu Dhabi Nouvel, the first outpost outside France of the famous Parisian museum.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, The greatest of all
Intended to be the largest of the four Guggenheim outposts currently in existence, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be a vast complex. 42.000 square meters of galleries and exhibition spaces. There will also be an art and technology centre, a conservation laboratory, a children's education facility and a Theatre.
The architect Frank Gehry (who also designed the Bilbao museum) described the Abu Dhabi project as “intentionally 'messy', moving towards clarity”. Nice definition. And indeed, at first glance, it looks a bit messy, a mass of cones and structures of various sizes seemingly stacked haphazardly like a brick tower built by a child.
It is the stylistic signature of this genius: many of his masterpieces often arise from a foundation of chaos that is, in fact, quite intentional. Like his past projects (Il Pop Culture Museum in Seattle, or the Stata Center at MIT in Cambridge) its structures challenge the eye to accept what it sees as more than the sum of its parts. Angular, conical and sometimes appearing to defy gravity, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is also destined to become an absolute landmark
It is really exciting to see this project enter a new phase. A great late masterpiece, with a great helmsman who still amazes today (at 92 years old!). It is true that good things come to those who know how to wait for them.
