Gehry cites the "surprising hardness" of the intense i; industrialized Bilbao area and the futuristic urban vision of Fritz Lang's film Metropolis as two primary sources of inspiration for the museum. Indeed, the GMB calls forth both industrial might and an other- worldly newness. Its largest shapes, reminiscent of power plants and ship hulls and prows, allude to Bilbao's industrial. Its more freely sculpted forms, such as the "metallic flower," lend building an ethereal, space-age character. The building's intergalactic aura is enhanced by its silvery surface (made up of rectangular titanium "shingles which glows and shimmers int he sunlight and is reflected in the river. (An advanced aerospace computer program named Catia made the fabrication of the irregularly shaped building elements possible)