The body, which runs the late Frank Gehry\u2019s 1997 masterpiece in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, had long sought to open further sites in the region and had earmarked a former factory in Guernica and a plot in Murueta shipyards as potential sites for a museum outpost.<\/p>\n
No architects were named for the job and, according to reports, the proposal has now been abandoned.<\/p>\n
Both these sites are within the Basque Country\u2019s Unesco-recognised Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve and environmentalists had rallied against the proposals, which were reportedly put on ice<\/a> almost two years ago.<\/p>\n Campaigners Guggenheim Urdaibai Stop gathered more than 1,000 signatures<\/a> against the Guggenheim Urdaibai project.<\/p>\n Greenpeace Spain spokesperson Lorea Flores said last month: \u2018Social mobilisation has managed to paralyse a project that threatened one of the most important natural jewels of the Basque Country.<\/p>\n \u2018We are pleased that the board of trustees of the Guggenheim Museum Foundation in Bilbao has ruled out the expansion project in the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve.\u2019<\/p>\n The Guardian reported the Foundation as saying it had abandoned the project \u2018in light of the territorial, urban planning and environmental constraints and limitations\u2019.<\/p>\n A statement quoted by the UK newspaper added: \u2018New alternatives will be explored in order to face the challenge of elaborating a proposal that responds to the museum\u2019s objective of growing in order to remain a leading cultural institution internationally and a driving force in the Basque Country\u2019s cultural, economic and social scene.\u2019<\/p>\n A section of the foundation\u2019s website dedicated to the expansion was taken down last month.<\/p>\n A translated archived version read: \u2018As part of its strategic vision in constant evolution, in recent years the Guggenheim Bilbao has conceived an innovative project for the future that expands the museum\u2019s current exhibition, cultural and educational programmes in a new setting where artistic production, ecology, sustainability, research, social connectivity and technology interact.\u2019<\/p>\n In 2016, acclaimed Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa demanded<\/a> plans for a Guggenheim Museum in Helsinki be abandoned amid calls to re-run its design competition on a different site. The scheme was eventually scrapped.<\/p>\n