The Museum initially approached us to develop a new kind of orientation experience for their visitors. How could they foster a new kind of immersive entrypoint to the Museum that also tells the story of the history of the territory, the Museum, and the collection? This question tied into the Museum’s larger Strategic Plan to enhance visitor experience and inspire engagement.

In addition to responding to this inspiring and ambitious brief, our firm confronted a variety of design challenges. First, we had to work within a unique-wedge shaped room adjacent to the Museum’s lobby, a result of Frank Gehry’s idiosyncratic curved architecture. At just over 1,000 square feet, the room itself presented a unique challenge for our physical designers. The installation needed to serve both local visitors (the region boasts two official languages, Basque and Spanish), and first-time visitors arriving with different backgrounds and speaking multiple languages.

We responded to these challenges with ZERO, a new introductory space offering visitors a deeper understanding of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s context and artistic mission. Instead of viewing the unique wedge-shape of the space as an obstacle we turned it into an opportunity. By placing mirrors on both of the large walls that frame ZERO’s projection surface, we were able to push beyond the physical limits of tangible architecture and create the illusion of a space multiplied 14 times, an optical technique that allows visitors to experience a 300-degree kaleidoscopic view.

We also responded to the challenge of the museum's highly diverse, multi-lingual visitors by emphasizing an enthralling visual language in order to emotionally engage all visitors regardless of age or culture.

Building on the institution’s mission to constantly offer new bridges of dialogue with a global public, ZERO proves the Guggenheim Bilbao’s commitment to innovative museum practice. We also created a non-verbal soundscape and original musical composition in order to serve the multilingual audience, including an original and vibrant score that features the beat of the txalaparta, a local Basque instrument.

The result is a dynamic panorama that places the viewer at the center of a suggestive audiovisual narration that revisits Bilbao’s evolution from industrial city to cultural icon.

ZERO not only presents breathtaking cinematic visualizations that but also provides visitors unique agency as the experience changes based on their movement and positioning in space.

The project made a splash with local press after opening in mid-December of 2018. We’ll continue to track the impact of the project throughout the year. ZERO also provides a dynamic space for multiple potential uses, and will act as a unique canvas for innovative museum programming, including education, special events, and performance.