GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO:
TITANIUM CLEANING COMMENCES

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is having its titanium cladding treated to restore the sheen on Frank Gehry’s spectacular building.

A quick, safe, environmentally-friendly procedure has been devised to facilitate upkeep of the Museum’s metal shell and remove the pollution build-up accumulated over the three years since the Guggenheim’s Grand Opening.

Reaching all the surfaces of such swooping, soaring volumes is no easy matter, particularly as the Museum wished to avoid covering its curves with scaffolding or having its titanium lamina removed. What it wanted was something unavailable at the time in the market–an “in situ” cleaning system that would be quick and easy to apply.

Accordingly, it commissioned the Inasmet Foundation–a Basque technology center specialized in new materials and their industrial application–to develop a cleaning procedure that could be applied regularly, avoiding the problems posed by the unique design of the building.

Inasmet set to work and developed a process featuring a four-phase application sequence:

-          Priming: Application of the cleanser containing the active agent.

-          Neutralising: Application of a product that deactivates the primer.

-          Aspiration: Recovery of the product applied.

-          Final rinse: Water sprayed through pressure hoses.

This spring, right on schedule, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao tested the product prototype developed in the Inasmet laboratories, applying it to different areas affected by pollution build-up on the titanium. As a result Inasmet now has a product that successfully restores tarnished areas to their original condition.

Inasmet has until December to continue perfecting the product, its application process and specifications, checking and inspecting field tests and monitoring the evolution of restored surfaces.