The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is celebrating its 25th anniversary this October 2022. Set on the edge of the Nervión River in the Basque Country, Spain, Frank Gehry's Guggenheim boosted the city's economy with its astounding success and changed the museum's role in city development. Twenty-five years on, the Bilbao Effect continues to challenge assumptions about urban transformations and inspires the construction of iconic pieces of architecture that uplift cities' status, calling investors and visitors.
Gehry Partners transformed Bilbao from a small city with traditional Baserri Basque buildings to a global icon that attracts 1.2 million visitors annually. In 1991, the regional public institutions agreed to the ambitious plan of a Bilbao Guggenheim to transform the industrial waterfront city. The project would attract more visitors and change the general perception of Bilbao as a neglected industrial area and a stronghold of the Basque separatist organization ETA.
The transformation of Bilbao was not entirely the result of one building. After Guggenheim's boom, the city reached out to other star architects to modernize the city. Norman Forster built an entire subway line, Alvaro Siza designed a university building, and Santiago Calatrava set his mark with the pedestrian bridge "Zubizuri," located near the museum. A series of hotels, shops, and restaurants followed, renovating the city and segregating neighborhoods.
Cities worldwide saw the potential of creating their own "Bilbao," aligned with the Millennium Celebration. The London Eye by Marks Barfield Architects opened to the public in 2000 and is now one of London's most popular tourist attractions. Like Bilbao, "the Eye is a symbol that lets people interact with the city. Not just specialists or rich people, but everybody. That's the beauty of it: it is public and accessible," said Richard Rogers. Moreover, Calatrava's and Zaha Hadid's Buildings have contributed to the Economic Development of Midwestern American Cities. The impact of the Spanish architect in Milwaukee led the mayor to declare September 16 "Santiago Calatrava Day" to commemorate The Quadracci Pavillion's opening in 2002. Manchester has undergone a process of re-branding through a series of flagship developments, including star architects: Calatrava, Libeskind, and Koolhaas. The V&A Dundee design museum by Kengo Kuma has manifested the phenomenon by attracting businesses and retailers interested in investing and transforming the city.
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has also influenced the architectural process. The curved and angular titanium-clad building and the introduction of digital technology CATIA was a profound shift that introduced unprecedented architecture in the 2000s: The Beijing National Stadium by Herzog & Meuron, the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind in Berlin, and Zaha Hadid's Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Bilbao effect has been pivotal in the economy of middle-sized cities and fostered emerging talent worldwide, even though some studies pointed out that urban entities should be more skeptical of new cultural centers and expansions, and that urban development isn’t a predictable socio-economic process but an ongoing cyclical exercise.
