ARCHITECTURE > Frank Gehry to design Guggenheim Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The Guggenheim Foundation announced Saturday it had commissioned American architect Frank Gehry to build a new branch of the Guggenheim modern and contemporary art museum in this Gulf Emirate.

The Guggenheim Abu Dhabi is planned at 323,000 square feet, larger than any of the existing Guggenheim museums.

Construction was expected to begin shortly on Saadiyat Island, which is being developed as the cultural district of the Emirates' capital city, officials here said.

The museum is expected to be finished in five years.

It will display its own major collection of contemporary art and exhibit works from the Guggenheim Foundation's global collections, according to a government statement.

Abu Dhabi, like the flashier neighboring emirate of Dubai, is in the midst of an energy-fueled economic boom that is quickly filling the Persian Gulf cities with luxury housing and resorts. Observers say the development of a world-class art museum like the Guggenheim may serve to defuse critics who have complained the cities lack the cultural amenities of the world's great cities.

The Abu Dhabi government signed a memorandum of understanding to build the museum with Guggenheim Foundation director Thomas Krens on Saturday, as royal family members and star architect Gehry looked on.

"Today's signing represents the determination of the Abu Dhabi government to create a world-class cultural destination for its residents and visitors," Abu Dhabi crown prince Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in a statement.

Established by philanthropist millionaire Solomon R. Guggenheim in 1937, the foundation draws more than 2.5 million visitors per year to its flagship museum in New York and local branches in Bilbao, Spain; Berlin; Venice, Italy; and Las Vegas.