One of the criticisms of calling the Sydney Opera House a failed project given it’s time and budget overruns, is that is an architectural masterpiece. The thinking is that budget and schedule overruns are necessary evil if you are creating a work of art.
This idea is persuasive, but wrong. The Guggenheim Bilbao demonstrates that award-winning architecture does not have to be the result of lax project management. There is a detailed case study from the Havard design school here and Bent Flyvbjerg addresses the topic on page 53 of this paper.
The Guggenheim Bilbao was completed on time and budget and though it has not won the Pritzker Prize, it does place well in architectural surveys. It is a good counter example to the idea that architecturally innovative designs are likely to come in late and over budget.
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