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Photo by Whit Preston, courtesy of Frank O.
Gehry & Associates.
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HOTEL AT MARQUES DE
RISCAL
Elciego, Spain 1998
At Marques de Riscal, the oldest winery in the Rioja
region of the Basque Country, Gehry explored a new
facet of the material used to dramatic effect in the
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (199197), layering
ribbons of colored titanium in a canopy adorning a
hotel building of natural-colored stone. His
ebullient structure is a response to the unbroken
landscape of lush vineyards surrounding the building,
while the hues of the colored metal are inspired by
the rich tones of the sky and vineyard.
The techniques Gehry employed to integrate his
contemporary structure with its traditional setting
are common to his earlier projects. The building's
radical departures from the winery's existing
architecture, which includes two sandstone structures
dating from the nineteenth century, are mitigated by
the traditional stone blocks used in its facade. A
similar approach is seen in the Frederick R. Weisman
Art Museum at the University of Minnesota
(199093) in Minneapolis and the Peter B. Lewis
Building (1997 ) at the Weatherhead School of
Management in Cleveland, where the appropriation of
familiar materials assists in integrating the
buildings' more uncommon metallic elements with the
surroundings. Gehry further synthesized the sleek
building with its historical setting by exposing the
structural support of the canopyan admission
of the building's unpretentious nature. Despite this,
the glimmering sculpture, which houses a hotel that
includes an exhibition area, a wine tasting room, and
a restaurant, is intended to animate the vineyard
with a design that is itself an attraction.
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