This paper traces the development and realisation of a unique and versatile structural system created for the recently-opened Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain. The system developed is best described as a discretised lattice grid in structural steel and may be applied to any arbitrary free-form shape. The application of the system to the fluid
and curving forms of the landmark Bilbao Museum is presented, along with a description of the role of the computer on the project. Finally, details of the steel fabrication and erection concept for the structure are described, as well as the key engineering and analysis studies that were performed.
H. Lyenger, L. Novak, R. Sinn and J. Zils