Chapter 9 to the Pacific island of New Caledonia, the other European in origin, global in scope, and advanced in terms of its level of technological development. As in the Viceroy’s House in New Delhi, the balance between imported and indigenous elements is tipped decisively in favor of the former. However, if reports from Piano’s office are to be believed, the islanders have responded enthusiastically to the design and critics should be wary of using interpretive models based on an alleged opposition between First and Third World sensibilities. Movies, popular music, and television programs cross national borders with impunity and the isolation that once ensured cultural differentiation is disappearing under the impact of communication media that did not exist a century ago. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the global circulation of ideas, images, and technologies is facilitating the development of novel, hybrid designs that fuse elements from different cultures. Unlike the classical orders of Greco-Roman antiquity that inevitably bear the stamp of a European–Mediterranean heritage, high-tech architecture increasingly escapes national or continental associations. Renzo Piano was born in Italy but his architecture belongs much more to this new global culture than it does to the venerable tradition of Italian architecture.
Frank Gehry: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain In 1997 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, based in New York City, opened a new art museum in Bilbao, Spain (images). The Guggenheim’s New York facility designed by Frank Lloyd Wright remains one of the most famous examples of modern architecture. However, it is not the only facility operated by the foundation; there are Guggenheim collections on display
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