Bilbao, Spain

To most of us, Bilbao means Gehry's Guggenheim.  I have always reserved judgement on the aesthetics of the building and site.  But I was overwhelmed and converted as St. Paul was by lightning upon seeing it.  It is absolutely beautiful inside and out as is the entire site.  It is said to have taken inspiration from the opening of petals on a flower, which makes sense.  Otherwise I could not understand an architect coming up with such a unique design.  But seeing it, one wonders how to put idea on paper to be followed by builders, how to convince city fathers of a v. traditional city to accept this exquisite heap of titanium junk at a huge cost in their nice city, then to actually succeed in getting it built, and amazingly to leave it alone and not alter the site nor building once it was completed.
I had long wondered how the galleries fit and if they were effective in such an odd scheme.  They are.
I cannot explain The collection problem with this or other Guggenheims, but the Irwin Unger book The Guggenheims provides the best explanation of the matter.
On the second photo from the top, you will see a beautiful blue glass 40 Storey office tower by Cesar Pelli.  It is wonderful to see how comfortably this huge tower opened in 2012, fits into the low rise and traditional Basque city.