gehry cites the "surprising hardness" of thee intensety industrialized Bilbao area and the futuristic urban vision of Fritz Lang's film Metroopolis as lus two prunaty sources of inspiration for the museum. indeed, the GMB calls forth both industrial might and an otherworldly newness. its larggest shapes, reminiscent of power plants and ship hullls and prows, allude to Bilbao's industrial and shipbuilding mastery. its more freely svulpted 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.)