Gardners Art through the Ages A Global History

forced concrete almost as a sculptor might use resilient clay, Wright,
who often described his architecture as “organic,” designed a struc-
ture inspired by the spiral of a snail’s shell. Wright had introduced
curves and circles into some of his plans in the 1930s, and, as the ar-
chitectural historian Peter Blake noted, “The spiral was the next logi-
cal step; it is the circle brought into the third and fourth dimen-
sions.”^32 Inside the building (FIGS. 36-1and 36-85), the shape of the
shell expands toward the top, and a winding interior ramp spirals to

connect the gallery bays. A skylight strip embedded in the museum’s

outer wall provides illumination to the ramp, which visitors can stroll

up (or down, if they first take an elevator to the top of the building),

viewing the artworks displayed along the gently sloping pathway.

Thick walls and the solid organic shape give the building, outside and

inside, the sense of turning in on itself, and the long interior viewing

area opening onto a 90-foot central well of space creates a sheltered

environment, secure from the bustling city outside.

36-55Frank Lloyd

Wright,Solomon R.

Guggenheim Museum

(looking north), New

York, 1943–1959.

Using reinforced

concrete almost as a

sculptor might use

resilient clay, Wright

designed a snail shell–

shaped museum with

a winding interior ramp

for the display of art-

works along its gently

inclined path (FIGS. 36-1

and 36-85).

MAP36-1Modernist and postmodernist architecture in Europe and America.

0 1000 2000 miles

0 1000 2000 kilometers

PACIFIC OCEAN

ATLANTIC

OCEAN

Mediterranean SeaMediterranean Sea

Black SeaBlack Sea

North

Sea

North

Sea Ba

lti

c^ S

ea

Caribbean Sea

Gulf of

Mexico

Hudson

Bay

UNITED STATES

ENGLAND

GERMANY

AUSTRIA

CANADA

FRANCE

ITALY

MEXICO

New York SPAIN

Paris

Stuttgart

Vienna

Weil-am-Rhein

Bilbao

Ronchamp

Washington

New Orleans

Portland

Denver

Chicago

Architecture and Site-Specific Art 1003