PROJECT DETAILS
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO
BILBAO, SPAIN
Installed Products
A unique lighting solution for art with character
Outstanding art needs an equally outstanding lighting scenario: Zumtobel's customised special lighting solution for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao puts the works of important 20th and 21st century artists in the right light. Whether Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Rauschenberg or Eduardo Chillida: a unique product family based on ARCOS with four different luminaires provides the perfect combination of ambient lighting and expressively staged works of art. In addition to aesthetic and conservation requirements, ecological and economic considerations also played an important role in the lighting modernisation: thanks to the switch from halogen to LED luminaires, the museum was able to save up to 90 percent of energy costs compared to the previous lighting solution.
Wavy, organic, flowing: the Guggenheim Museum designed by star architect Frank O. Gehry is one of the most important sights in the Spanish metropolis of Bilbao. Situated directly on the banks of the Nervión River, it fascinates locals and visitors alike with its broken geometries, sloping walls and sloping or rising ceilings. Frank O. Gehry's deconstructivist architectural style is underlined by the building's cool materials: titanium, glass and limestone are used.
"In addition to the orthogonal rooms, the huge organically shaped spaces, none of which resembles the other - posed one of the biggest challenges of this project." — Yaneth Arraiz, Projekt manager at Zumtobel in Spanien
Custom luminaires for extraordinary spaces
"In addition to the orthogonal rooms, the huge organically shaped spaces, none of which resembles the other - posed one of the biggest challenges of this project," says Yaneth Arraiz, Project Manager at Zumtobel in Spain. "We had to find solutions to optimally illuminate, for example, angled levels or tilted rooms with ceiling heights of up to 15 metres." No easy task - especially as the time for an initial project presentation was extremely tight: "Our lighting solution for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was created within just two months."
Cooperation with the Atelier of Light
And this despite the fact that the project team of around 12 people was not able to use standard Zumtobel luminaires for the 9,000 square metres of exhibition space. Instead, they developed a completely new product family based on the ARCOS LED spotlight system. The solution was developed in close cooperation between Zumtobel Spain and the "Atelier of Light": it combines Zumtobel's expertise in special design, lighting design and visualisation - especially in architectural projects.
"Zumtobel has shown enormous flexibility and worked tirelessly to adapt the luminaires to our specific needs," says Daniel Vega, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Conservation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "We chose them as our lighting partner because Zumtobel offered the best solution, both technically and economically. Quite honestly: a fantastic collaboration."
The lighting experts have installed more than 1,000 special luminaires in Bilbao. With their uniform appearance, they ensure a consistent, appealing aesthetic in the galleries.
"Zumtobel has shown enormous flexibility and worked tirelessly to adapt the luminaires to our specific needs. We chose them as our lighting partner because Zumtobel offered the best solution, both technically and economically. Quite honestly: a fantastic collaboration." — Daniel Vega, Deputy Director Exhibitions and Conservation Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Maximum flexibility with just one luminaire family
The key element of the lighting solution is the WALLWASHER, which provides the optimal light quality particularly in rooms with high ceilings. The WALLWASHER appealed to the customer because the surface lighting it supplies is the perfect combination of finely accentuated and powerful, while its light distribution is constant and uniform and its colour rendering is outstanding (Ra > 95).
Additional REFLECTOR spotlights ensure that the individual works of art are lighted in a sensitive and, above all, careful way. These spotlights provide UV- and IR-free light that is especially suitable for fragile paintings, sculptures and installations – while still offering excellent colour rendering (Ra > 96).
Light creates emotion and enhances expression
Every artist wants his work to be illuminated and presented in the best possible way. The specific light settings are important: Which colour rendering? Which colour temperature? Sharp or diffuse light diffusion? - Ideas vary greatly in this respect. To achieve the greatest possible flexibility in lighting, Zumtobel offers various options: For example, three colour temperatures - 3,000 K, 3,500 K. and 4,000 K - can be implemented. For ease of use, the luminaires can be controlled and dimmed wirelessly via Bluetooth. A special filter enables diffuse light or even oval light distribution.
Curators and artists have the opportunity to play with light - and to give each work the desired emotional quality and depth. The people responsible at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao were particularly impressed by the excellent colour rendering of the special luminaires.
"Even the artists we exhibit and other museums from which we receive loans are impressed by the quality of our lighting. Many notice completely different details of the works again in our exhibition spaces that they hadn't noticed before." — Daniel Vega, Deputy Director Exhibitions and Conservation Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Art – illuminated with pin-sharp definition
Two additional luminaires are used to direct the visitors' focus to the individual exhibits: the VERY NARROW SPOT spotlight uses two rotationally symmetrical Fresnel lenses with 5° and 8° degrees to provide particularly precise, sharply contoured lighting. The PROJECTOR spotlight is also supplied with a special zoom to focus the light. Four different lenses (14°, 25°, 35° and 50°) are available for this purpose - once again illustrating the wide range of Zumtobel's special lighting solution. Both luminaires also impress with excellent colour rendition (Ra > 96).
"Even the artists we exhibit and other museums from which we receive loans are impressed by the quality of our lighting," says Daniel Vega, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Conservation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "Many notice completely different details of the works again in our exhibition spaces that they hadn't noticed before."
Power consumption reduced by up to 90 percent
But the lighting modernisation in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is not only a complete success from an aesthetic point of view. Zumtobel also took ecological and economic factors into account: the innovative LED technology of the special luminaires has significantly reduced energy consumption and thus also operating costs. Savings of up to 90 per cent compared to the previous museum lighting have been realised with the project, according to those responsible.
And that's not all: unlike the old halogen lamps, the LED luminaires also produce hardly any heat. "We have been able to realise additional cost savings because the energy consumption of our air conditioning system has dropped," says Daniel Vega of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "As a result, we expect to reduce our carbon footprint by 350 tons per year."
Expertise meets creativity
Thanks to this positive outcome, the collaboration between Zumtobel and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will be continued: right now, the team in Spain is taking care of optimally staging the "Puppy" sculpture by neo-pop artist Jeff Koons. The twelve-metre-high, flower-covered dog statue in front of the museum is currently undergoing extensive restoration - and will then shine again in the best light. The highest level of competence in the lighting industry and the joy of creative creation once again go hand in hand.
Outstanding art needs an equally outstanding lighting scenario: Zumtobel's customised special lighting solution for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao puts the works of important 20th and 21st century artists in the right light. Whether Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Cy Twombly, Anselm Kiefer, Robert Rauschenberg or Eduardo Chillida: a unique product family based on ARCOS with four different luminaires provides the perfect combination of ambient lighting and expressively staged works of art. In addition to aesthetic and conservation requirements, ecological and economic considerations also played an important role in the lighting modernisation: thanks to the switch from halogen to LED luminaires, the museum was able to save up to 90 percent of energy costs compared to the previous lighting solution.
Wavy, organic, flowing: the Guggenheim Museum designed by star architect Frank O. Gehry is one of the most important sights in the Spanish metropolis of Bilbao. Situated directly on the banks of the Nervión River, it fascinates locals and visitors alike with its broken geometries, sloping walls and sloping or rising ceilings. Frank O. Gehry's deconstructivist architectural style is underlined by the building's cool materials: titanium, glass and limestone are used.
"In addition to the orthogonal rooms, the huge organically shaped spaces, none of which resembles the other - posed one of the biggest challenges of this project." — Yaneth Arraiz, Projekt manager at Zumtobel in Spanien
Custom luminaires for extraordinary spaces
"In addition to the orthogonal rooms, the huge organically shaped spaces, none of which resembles the other - posed one of the biggest challenges of this project," says Yaneth Arraiz, Project Manager at Zumtobel in Spain. "We had to find solutions to optimally illuminate, for example, angled levels or tilted rooms with ceiling heights of up to 15 metres." No easy task - especially as the time for an initial project presentation was extremely tight: "Our lighting solution for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao was created within just two months."
Cooperation with the Atelier of Light
And this despite the fact that the project team of around 12 people was not able to use standard Zumtobel luminaires for the 9,000 square metres of exhibition space. Instead, they developed a completely new product family based on the ARCOS LED spotlight system. The solution was developed in close cooperation between Zumtobel Spain and the "Atelier of Light": it combines Zumtobel's expertise in special design, lighting design and visualisation - especially in architectural projects.
"Zumtobel has shown enormous flexibility and worked tirelessly to adapt the luminaires to our specific needs," says Daniel Vega, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Conservation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "We chose them as our lighting partner because Zumtobel offered the best solution, both technically and economically. Quite honestly: a fantastic collaboration."
The lighting experts have installed more than 1,000 special luminaires in Bilbao. With their uniform appearance, they ensure a consistent, appealing aesthetic in the galleries.
"Zumtobel has shown enormous flexibility and worked tirelessly to adapt the luminaires to our specific needs. We chose them as our lighting partner because Zumtobel offered the best solution, both technically and economically. Quite honestly: a fantastic collaboration." — Daniel Vega, Deputy Director Exhibitions and Conservation Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Maximum flexibility with just one luminaire family
The key element of the lighting solution is the WALLWASHER, which provides the optimal light quality particularly in rooms with high ceilings. The WALLWASHER appealed to the customer because the surface lighting it supplies is the perfect combination of finely accentuated and powerful, while its light distribution is constant and uniform and its colour rendering is outstanding (Ra > 95).
Additional REFLECTOR spotlights ensure that the individual works of art are lighted in a sensitive and, above all, careful way. These spotlights provide UV- and IR-free light that is especially suitable for fragile paintings, sculptures and installations – while still offering excellent colour rendering (Ra > 96).
Light creates emotion and enhances expression
Every artist wants his work to be illuminated and presented in the best possible way. The specific light settings are important: Which colour rendering? Which colour temperature? Sharp or diffuse light diffusion? - Ideas vary greatly in this respect. To achieve the greatest possible flexibility in lighting, Zumtobel offers various options: For example, three colour temperatures - 3,000 K, 3,500 K. and 4,000 K - can be implemented. For ease of use, the luminaires can be controlled and dimmed wirelessly via Bluetooth. A special filter enables diffuse light or even oval light distribution.
Curators and artists have the opportunity to play with light - and to give each work the desired emotional quality and depth. The people responsible at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao were particularly impressed by the excellent colour rendering of the special luminaires.
"Even the artists we exhibit and other museums from which we receive loans are impressed by the quality of our lighting. Many notice completely different details of the works again in our exhibition spaces that they hadn't noticed before." — Daniel Vega, Deputy Director Exhibitions and Conservation Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Art – illuminated with pin-sharp definition
Two additional luminaires are used to direct the visitors' focus to the individual exhibits: the VERY NARROW SPOT spotlight uses two rotationally symmetrical Fresnel lenses with 5° and 8° degrees to provide particularly precise, sharply contoured lighting. The PROJECTOR spotlight is also supplied with a special zoom to focus the light. Four different lenses (14°, 25°, 35° and 50°) are available for this purpose - once again illustrating the wide range of Zumtobel's special lighting solution. Both luminaires also impress with excellent colour rendition (Ra > 96).
"Even the artists we exhibit and other museums from which we receive loans are impressed by the quality of our lighting," says Daniel Vega, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Conservation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "Many notice completely different details of the works again in our exhibition spaces that they hadn't noticed before."
Power consumption reduced by up to 90 percent
But the lighting modernisation in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is not only a complete success from an aesthetic point of view. Zumtobel also took ecological and economic factors into account: the innovative LED technology of the special luminaires has significantly reduced energy consumption and thus also operating costs. Savings of up to 90 per cent compared to the previous museum lighting have been realised with the project, according to those responsible.
And that's not all: unlike the old halogen lamps, the LED luminaires also produce hardly any heat. "We have been able to realise additional cost savings because the energy consumption of our air conditioning system has dropped," says Daniel Vega of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. "As a result, we expect to reduce our carbon footprint by 350 tons per year."
Expertise meets creativity
Thanks to this positive outcome, the collaboration between Zumtobel and the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will be continued: right now, the team in Spain is taking care of optimally staging the "Puppy" sculpture by neo-pop artist Jeff Koons. The twelve-metre-high, flower-covered dog statue in front of the museum is currently undergoing extensive restoration - and will then shine again in the best light. The highest level of competence in the lighting industry and the joy of creative creation once again go hand in hand.
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