Coil a gigantic titanium museum around an old smelly shipyard and see what happens.
What happens is, the river gets cleaned up, the graffti in the surrounding neighborhoods gets resurfaced and money begins to pour in. People call it the Bilbao Effect.
Even the 79 year old Canadian architect who designed the Bilbao Guggenheim, argues people don’t really understand the full story. You don’t just place a $100 million (paid off in the first year, by the way) tourist magnet in a rust belt neighborhood and sit back and watch the transformation. It wasn’t just the museum, he points out, but a larger plan that altered the infrastructure of a whole city. The original economic plan included a bridge and an airport terminal, (designed by Calatrava) a railway station, (designed by Foster) and a whole riverfront renewal project (designed by Pelli). And everybody planted vineyards.
Gehry designed his coils to catch light. It does that with great majesty, but it has also caught a million tourists a year, since it opened in this gritty Basque port in northern Spain eleven years ago. To welcome all those cash-laden visitors, the city has sprouted new hotels, like this colorful Hesperia Bilbao. And restaurants. And Tapas bars. And shops. And…
[Photos: Denis Doyle for The New York Times - see the entire slide show]
...And, now every city says, why can’t we do that? Why can’t we come up with a giant spider people can bicycle under and a 43’ puppy dog made of potted pansies? Why can’t WE become rich?
When we speak of the “power of place” are we speaking of the power of tourist attraction? Quality of life? City identity? How we value art?
Or are we looking for today’s cathedral to anchor our spirits AND fill the city coffers? They used relics in the middle ages to attract "business." Bilbao uses an art museum. What are your thoughts on "The Bilbao Effect"?
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