Description
The museum is part of a larger complex of arts and cultural institutions that is being built on Saadiyat Island intended to appeal to international tourists. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be a preeminent platform for global contemporary art and culture, presenting the most important artistic achievements of our time. A museum of modern and contemporary art, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will showcase the most important international artistic achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Through its permanent collection, exhibitions, scholarly publications and educational programmes, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi aims to promote a truly transnational perspective on art history.
Currently under development, the new museum will be situated on a peninsula at the northwestern tip of Saadiyat Island adjacent to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Surrounded on three sides by the gleaming waters of the Arabian Gulf, the building site also serves as a manmade breakwater configured to protect the island s pristine north beach zone.
Overview
Galleries, many unprecedented in scale, will be distributed around the atrium on four levels connected by glass bridges above. The museum will include 13,000 square metres of gallery space, with eleven iconic cone-like structures providing further exhibition space. In each of the cones, visitors can view unique, site-specific artworks by leading contemporary artists.
Just off the soaring glass atrium will be an educational centre and a 350-seat theatre, where the museum will offer a wide-ranging educational and performing arts programme, allowing for a wide variety of live programmes including lectures, panels, symposia, music recitals, theatre productions, film viewings and performance.
Architectural design
The landmark structure housing Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, who describes his composition for the building as intentionally messy , moving into clarity.
Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will boast spectacular views of the Saadiyat Cultural District and Arabian Gulf.
Open to the elements, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi s cones are inspired by the region s ancient wind-towers, which both ventilate and shade the museum s exterior courtyards in a fitting blend of Arabian tradition and modern design.
