[Aaaah You'll like this :-) ]

The «Bilbao effect» or the «Look at ME!» architecture:

The true architectural icon is a building that is unmistakable, often provocative, and carries cultural signals far beyond its purpose. Obvious iconic landmarks include the Sydney opera house, the Pompidou centre, even the new Scottish parliament building (...)

But there are also less significant buildings that aspire to iconic status but do not always deserve the profile their sponsors demand. In this context, the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao has had a significant effect. (...) Its significance as a building is less in its extraordinary shape and surface (which many now consider formulaic) than in the popularity of its formal abstraction.

Read more  from this speech to the Architects' Journal/Bovis Awards for Architecture dinner.