Simon Wilson is an award-winning senior writer covering politics, the climate crisis, transport, housing, urban design and social issues. He joined the Herald in 2018.
When the citizens of Bilbao, an unloved and unlovely city in the Basque country on Spain's Atlantic coast, decided to restore their fortunes, they turned to culture.
It was the local museum director's idea. The Government supported it. They roped in the architect Frank Gehry and the Guggenheim Foundation, whichowns a vast amount of modern art. And in 1997 the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao opened, on time and under budget. Since then, until Covid, it has consistently welcomed a cool million visitors a year, in a city that barely used to have any.
A phenomenon was reinvented. The "Bilbao effect" is now the name given to the idea that you can revitalise a city with an architecturally astonishing "iconic building", devoted to culture.
It's not a new idea: history is full of pyramids, amphitheatres and cathedrals that have done the same. And nor is it without controversy. The intellectuals of France tried to stop the Eiffel Tower going up in the 1880s, because they thought it was ugly.
In Sydney, the Opera House took decades, ran fiendishly over budget, destroyed lives and political careers, but turned out to be one of the modern wonders of the world. Sydney is a "world class" city because of it. Whatever that means.
Whangārei hopes for a Bilbao effect with its delightful new Hundertwasser Centre, set to open on December 15. Wellington went the other way with Te Papa.
When that museum was first proposed, our most inventive architect, Ian Athfield, teamed up with Frank Gehry himself to propose a waterfront jewel. The committee in charge, chaired by the dull-witted former prime minister Bill Rowling, opted instead for a dull design by Auckland firm Jasmax. It's stimulating inside, but the very essence of an unwonderful building to look at.
And yet, Te Papa smashed all its attendance projections and has stayed vastly popular ever since. Turns out great architecture isn't always the magic ingredient you need.
The Bilbao Guggenheim with "Maman", a spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois, on the forecourt. Photo / supplied
The Bilbao Guggenheim with "Puppy", a sculpture by Jeff Koons. Photo / supplied
The challenge now shifts to Auckland. Wynyard Point will be developed soon, but iconic buildings are out of favour: many architects and urban planners believe they distract us from the pressing need to do lots of good smaller stuff. More parks, better streets, better connections to local culture and communities, please.
Does the public agree? We've had several proposals for a new museum or stadium on the waterfront but none has galvanised strong public support. Politicians are disinterested.
The Bilbao Guggenheim has its faults, notably that it lacks cultural relevance to its location. And yet, it really did bring the city back to life. It also pushed technology forwards, with a lightweight titanium sheath and software that made the complex shapes easy to design and build. And it came in on time and under budget. Gehry created an inspiration.
If we had a magnificent public building devoted to culture on the Auckland waterfront, it wouldn't be for some offshore collection. It'd be the new museum of us.
What would that mean? A museum at the edge of the Pacific, built as a place to explore our histories and cultures and the technologies of past, present and future.
Auckland needs something magnificent. Doesn't it?
The culture building that transforms a city: Frank Gehry's Bilbao Guggenheim. Photo / supplied
Design for Living is a regular series in Canvas magazine.
