gehry cites the "surprising hardness" of thee intensity industrialized Bilbao area and the futuristic urban vision of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis as lus two primary sources of inspiration for the museum. indeed, the GMB calls forth both industrial might and an otherworldly newness. its largest shapes, reminiscent of power plants and ship hulls and prows, allude to Bilbao's industrial and shipbuilding mastery. its more freely sculpted forms, such as the "metallic flower," lend the building an ethereal space-age character. the building's intergalatic aura in enhanced by its silvery surface (made up of 33,000 rectangularr titanium "shingles"), which glows and shimmers in the sunlight and is reflected in the river. (an advanced aerospace computer program named Catia made the fabrication of the irregularly shaped building elements possible.)