The Bilbao Guggenhein Museum: Topics in Project Management

To see a previous course website, please go to: http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/courses/7400-02s99/The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has had an unprecedented impact not only on the city of Bilbao but also on the value of design and on the public\’s perception of architecture worldwide. The architectural genius of Frank Gehry is the central element for the success. Other courses teach our students design and architecture extensively and at depth. This seminar focuses on the \”other\” elements that make good architecture possible and allow architects like Frank Gehry to reach such miraculous results. These \”other\” elements are hidden in the large team of people that make such architectural works possible. Among them predominant role have the political establishment (for public works), the owner, the constructor, the engineers, and the craftsmen of the subcontractors. Case StudiesThis seminar studies the process of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao from the very beginning until today: from the politicians\’ conscious effort to transform their region, to inviting the Guggenheim institution, to commissioning Frank Gehry, to the design and construction process, to the operation of the museum and its political, cultural and financial impact. The focus is on process, leadership, management and technology, based on a case studies approach that by studying what happened in this project, associations are made with other works of architecture. The importance of project management for the success of big, complicated projects is analyzed, and emphasis is paid on client relations, a key element of project management. The case of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is complemented with 5 additional case studies: the Cruzcampo Pavilion by Miquel de Oriol for the Expo\’92 in Seville, Spain, the Alamillo Bridge in Seville, Spain by Calatrava, the Valeo factory in Mexico, the Spangler Center at the Harvard Business School, and the US Courthouse in Scranton, PA.Format/LocationThe course will be offered to students of Harvard, ETH-Zurich and TU-Delft in live simultaneous connections, using video conferencing and web-based collaborative tools. Prof. Pollalis will be based in Zurich. Prof. Rodriguez will be in Spain and will travel in Boston 3 times (6 class meetings). Panos Parthenios will be the Teaching Assistant at Harvard. The course will meet live 9-11 am (Boston time) and 3-5 pm (European time) on the following dates:Tuesday12-Feb-02Thursday14-Feb-02Thursday28-Feb-02Tuesday05-Mar-02Thursday07-Mar-02Tuesday12-Mar-02Thursday14-Mar-02Tuesday19-Mar-02Thursday21-Mar-02Thursday04-Apr-02Tuesday09-Apr-02Thursday11-Apr-02Tuesday16-Apr-02Thursday18-Apr-02All material will be available in digital form, on-line. Interaction will be enhanced with groupware, both within the teams as well as within the whole class. The instructors will hold office hours using video conferencing. All presentations must be prepared in Powerpoint, or similar tools to be shared with the rest of the class.Student WorkWe will accept up to 24 students to make 4 teams of 6 students each. Each team must include students from each school.There will be 5 modules of the course, focusing on the project manager, on:Bidding to get the jobStarting the jobProject developmentBidding for constructionConstructionThe teams of students will be required to analyze the data to be provided (original material from the process of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum), and submit their proposal for each phase. The teams will present to the class and will get immediate feedback. The 5 additional cases are associated with each of the 5 modules and will be discussed in detail in dedicated sessions.At the conclusion of the seminar, the students will prepare individual papers, either in Multimedia or in conventional text, on a very spe