Inside and outside the white cube. The consequences of the Guggenheim Bilbao as a tourist model in the 21st century.

Reflections about museums architecture.

Abstract

Museum architecture has recently become important as a trend in mass tourism and for this reason, the most renowned architects on the international scene are called upon to design new museum projects and to remodel historical ones. The implications on urban planning, the connection with the city in which it is located, its population and political and economic strategies are the keys to understanding the dynamic role of the museum and its importance in the current tourism model. In addition to raising these reflections on the current role of museum architecture, the accent of this study focuses on a bibliographic review of the Guggenheim Bilbao as a paradigm of mass cultural tourism, to later analyze the consequences it has had on the various attempts to replicate this tourist and cultural model in some cities in northern Spain. The particular case of each of the examples studied helps us to understand the common origin of their success or failure: the importance of a solid and sustainable museum project. With all this, and based on the reflections of O'Doherty in his work "Inside the white cube", it is intended to provide a critical perspective on the issues raised.