R.I.P. Frank Gehry

[Yankee Chronicler]

Frank O. Gehry, Titan of Architecture, Is Dead at 96

He burst onto the scene with an attention-getting renovation of his Southern California home before going on to design some of the world’s most recognizable buildings.

www.nytimes.com

For those who don't know, Frank O. Gehry is widely considered to be the greatest American architect since Frank Lloyd Wright. His designs are ... unique. Personally, I don't care for his work at all. Professional critics, however, fawn on his work. The NYT article on his death is a good example.

Whether you like his work or not, the world has lost one of its best-known modern architects.

 

[bill1952]

Sad time for architects. Robert A M Stern also just died

 

[Scipio]

I believe that his architecture would look fine for another civilization on another planet.

Andy.

 

[Yikes]

In some ways he was similar to Steve Jobs, almost ahead of his time. He had the vision for complex shapes, etc., but its successful execution was highly dependent on some very talented associates such as Jim Glymph who adapted the aeronautical engineering software for architectural use.

I recall when he first proposed the Disney Concert Hall in L.A., which originally predated Guggenheim Bilbao. He had an executive architect firm, Dworsky Associates do the construction documents. The building came in WAAY over budget, and he accused Dworsky on bungling it. But is was Gehry who insisted the exterior be made of heavy stone panels, cut and polished into compound curves, set on a steel frame in the heart of earthquake country. This was before computer assisted stone cutting, and each panel required its own set of drawings. He also had the concert hall buried into the hillside, where it was picking up noise from Grand Ave. The project went on hiatus until the Bilbao design showed it could be done with lighter mental panels. Then the hall interior was built as a separate, acoustically isolated box inside the complex outer shape.

Gehry claimed that Bilbao vindicated his approach, and that it somehow indicated Dworsky was the problem at the Disney Hall. But it was more about bringing the appropriate materials to solve the problem at hand.

 

[Yikes]

I would also add that if you enjoy buildings like Bilbao and the Disney Hall, or "Fred and Ginger", they work best as the "jewel in the setting". They need a support cast of other buildings (or nature, or waterfront) around them so they can stand out. If every building in a downtown was as equally attention-getting, it would all become an incoherent mess. LA is better off because we have the concert hall, for sure; but it needs the supporting cast / straight man partners around it into order to deliver its punchlines.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

I would also add that if you enjoy buildings like Bilbao and the Disney Hall, or "Fred and Ginger", they work best as the "jewel in the setting". They need a support cast of other buildings (or nature, or waterfront) around them so they can stand out. If every building in a downtown was as equally attention-getting, it would all become an incoherent mess. LA is better off because we have the concert hall, for sure; but it needs the supporting cast / straight man partners around it into order to deliver its punchlines.

The Pantheon, in Rome, is 1,899 years old and is still regarded as an architectural jewel. It is, IMHO, highly unlikely that Gehry's buildings will ever survive 1,000 years. If they do, I expect they will be regarded by future generations as jokes.

 

[ICE]

Not everybody can design a building that can melt cars.

 

[TheCommish]

The insulated window manufacturers melted things first