Guggenheim Abu Dhabi by Frank Gehry
The Guggenheim Foundation has revealed that its Frank Gehry designed art museum in the United Arab Emirates is "on track" to complete in four years time.
First unveiled in 2007, the long-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be 42,000-square-metres, making it the largest of the four Guggenheim outposts.
Though the specific timeline for construction of the sculptural building has not been disclosed, the foundation's director Richard Armstrong has confirmed that the project will take approximately four years to complete.
"We're on track and we're on budget, and we're looking forward to the commencement of building construction soon," Armstrong told Euronews at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi.
"I reckon it will be about three and a half or four years, it's a big building and parts of it are quite complex," he added. "It should take a little bit of time to put together."
Commissioned by Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development & Investment Company, which will own the museum, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will be operated by the Guggenheim Foundation.
It will be located at the northwestern tip of Saadiyat Island – a new cultural district off the coast of the UAE's capital city. Home to Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi, it is intended to establish Abu Dhabi as a major cultural destination.
The pair of museums will be joined by the National Museum of the UAE by Foster + Partners, a futuristic performing arts centre by Zaha Hadid Architects and a maritime museum by Tadao Ando.