| Famous architect builds a titanium castle on the sand The international network of the Guggenheim Museums is expanding. After the successful opening of the new building in Bilbao, the director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the museum manager, Thomas Krens, received numerous proposals to create satellite galleries in other European cities. In Italy alone, Genoa, Turin and Palermo dream of this, and patrons of the arts in South Africa and Australia are already ready to pay the highest price for the construction of new branches of the museum. Meanwhile, the Foundation's management decided that the next permanent exhibition would be opened in Latin America. The immediate plans of the tireless Thomas Krens also include the opening of a new museum building in the New York quarter of Soho: the Foundation’s collection is rapidly growing, and the existing space in New York is sorely lacking. To date, the number of exhibits - paintings, sculptures and architectural structures - has reached 8 thousand. These are mainly works of contemporary art created in the 20th century.
The project of the future museum in Soho was developed by the American architect Frank Gehry, the author of the famous museum in Bilbao. The start of construction of the building is being delayed due to the fact that the Guggenheim Foundation, along with several American architectural firms, is participating in a competition to develop the waterfront part of Lower Manhattan. The main complaint about the building project is its height - 135 meters, which is comparable to a 40-story skyscraper. According to city officials, such a grandiose structure could ruin the classic view of New York from the sea. Residents of Wall Street, in turn, are not happy with the fact that the future colossus will be located at the end of the street and block the river. In any case, the project's leaders hope that there will be a place in New York for Gehry's next masterpiece. It is envisaged that the museum building will be located on six pylons, rising 100 feet above the water, and will have the traditional vortex shape of Gehry's style. The material for it will most likely be titanium. The museum will be twice the size of the gallery in Bilbao.
Initial estimates show that construction of the museum in New York will cost $400 million. Thomas Krens plans to open the museum in 2006; investors have not yet been found. Evgenia KUBICH |
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