Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi close to realisation

The construction of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Abu Dhabi on Saadiyat Island in the Persian Gulf is about to start.
The project contains plenty of plaster blocks and self-cooling translucent cones and is more than 12 times the size of Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Guggenheim New York.
Contemporary art from 1960s to the present day from around the world will take place in the new sculptural building of Gehry. The museum aims to be a catalyst for scholarship, including the history of art in the Middle East in the 20th and 21st centuries.
The design is inspired by expansive industrial studio spaces and reflects the large scale at which many contemporary artists work. A pile of galleries in different heights, shapes, and character allow curatorial to easily organise exhibitions at increased dimensions than before. These galleries connected by catwalks center around a covered courtyard. A combination of vertical and horizontal spaces for exhibition organisation is created by additional vertical clusters of galleries.
As the project site is surrounded on three sides by the waters of Arabic sea, it serves as a manmade breakwater and protects the island’s north beach zone.
The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi which will be the new landmark in the region doesn’t yet have a specific timeline for construction, but Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, assures Euronews that the project is “on track”.

https://www.archdaily.com/916177/gehrys-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-set-to-begin-construction