World's largest Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi expected to be completed by 2025

In the heart of the Saadiyat Cultural District in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the future Guggenheim Museum will soon rise. It is the result of a bold and visionary collaboration between the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, whose director, Richard Armstrong, has announced its completion by 2025. Designed by Frank Gehry, the museum aims to offer a rich and varied programme of exhibitions, research, educational initiatives and publications, and to promote a broad view of the global history of modern and contemporary art.
 

Guggenheim Abu Dhabi - Image courtesy of Gehry Partners, LLP

The new museum will be built on a 30,000 square metres site at the northwestern point of Saadiyat Island, adjacent to Abu Dhabi. Surrounded on three sides by the shimmering waters of the Arabian Gulf, the construction site will also serve as an artificial breakwater configured to protect the pristine area of the island's northern beach. Frank Gehry's project is an experiment in transformative museum design. The 13,000 square metres of exhibition space will be set up as large, flexible industrial spaces of various heights, shapes and characters, revolving around a central covered courtyard. The design of the spaces reflects the large scale at which many contemporary artists work, and will offer new exhibition layouts. This flexibility will allow great curatorial freedom in organizing exhibitions at previously unexplored scales and levels.

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi reflects the vision of the United Arab Emirates as a cultural leader in the region and as an important site of international exchange. Its mission is to focus broader interest in global modern and contemporary art, while providing a vital creative platform for established and emerging artists from around the world.