Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
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Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi.

The long-awaited Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi by architect Frank Gehry is set to open in 2025, nearly 20 years after plans were unveiled and 14 years after construction began.

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is currently being constructed on Saadiyat Island – a cultural district under development off the coast of the UAE capital.

At 42,000-square-metres, the museum will become the largest of the four Guggenheim outposts, overtaking Guggenheim Bilbao that Gehry also designed.

https://www.dezeen.com/2021/10/08/frank-gehry-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-2025/

Status: under construction

Potential good news for the Guggenheim?

A $1bn contract for the development of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi has been awarded by the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT – Abu Dhabi). The contract has been awarded to a Besix-Trojan joint venture, which is also building the nearby Zayed National Museum.

Richard Armstrong, director at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation added, “Today’s announcement represents a significant milestone in the realisation of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Housed in Frank Gehry’s distinctive building, the museum will be home to an expansive and evolving collection of artworks that advance multiple perspectives on the global histories of modern and contemporary art, with a particular focus on art from West Asia, North Africa, and South Asia.”

Source: https://meconstructionnews.com/49575/1bn-contract-awarded-for-the-development-of-the-guggenheim-abu-dhabi

When the Frank Gehry-designed museum finally opens its doors, it will be the Guggenheim’s largest location, at 320,000 square feet. The project, which is being overseen by Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism, will also be one of the hubs of the nascent cultural and tourism district on Saadiyat Island.

The island is already home to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened in 2017 (after delays of its own). There are plans for a Zayed National Museum dedicated to the United Arab Emirates’s founder, as well as two other museums. The city pledged in June to spend $6 billion on the creative industries over the next five years.

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/guggenheim-abu-dhabi-2011351

5 years from next week! How precise!

Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum in Abu Dhabi has a new opening date: 2026. the news was revealed by the Guggenheim's director, Richard Armstrong, at a press conference in Basel.

‘We think it should be five years from next week,’ the art newspaper reported, adding he will visit the middle east soon. ‘it looks like everything is coming together so we can say something definitive. it has been a relatively long gestation.’

First announced in 2006 and scheduled to open in 2012, the long-awaited project has suffered many ups-and-downs. a new opening date was set for 2017, which obviously didn’t happen, and by the time the museum’s plans seemed to be washed up.

Source: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/frank-gehry-guggenheim-abu-dhabi-opening-2023-09-22-2021/

New Google Earth images.
There looks to be cranes on site at the Guggenheim Site which are new.

An early model for the Guggenheim Museum on Saadiyat Island. There is a full video of Frank Gehry speaking about the design of the museum. It's really fascinating, it can't embed but you can watch it on the link below.



The Video of Frank Gehry speaking about the design can be seen here... https://www.nytimes.com/video/players/offsite/index.html?videoId=100000003268745