Frank Gehry also known as Frank O. Gehry is a native of Toronto, Canada. He is a bold Canadian-American architect and designer. Known worldwide for his postmodern designs, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
In 1947, his family emigrated to Los Angeles and studied architecture at the University of Southern California. At Harvard University he completed his studies in urban planning and after working for other architecture firms, in 1962 he created his own company. He is one of the most acclaimed architects of the 20th century, and is known for his postmodern forms and unusual fabrications.
His experimental beginnings
At first he began experimenting with home renovations and started with his own. The remodeling consisted of surrounding the house with a corrugated steel fence and with a skylight he divided the house. This avant-garde design captured the attention of the entire architecture sector.
His Santa Monica home is an example of the deconstructivist style, challenging the accepted paradigms of architectural design while breaking with the modernist ideal.
Gehry is noted for his choice of unusual materials, as well as for his architectural philosophy.
In this period, the Vitra Furniture Museum and Factory (1987) in Weil am Rhein, Germany; the American Center (1988-1994) in Paris; and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art (1990-1993), at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
His maturity and reputation
Gehry was shortlisted to design a new venue for the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1988; the well-known Walt Disney Concert Hall opened in 2003. Today, its critics and the public support this project and agree that the landmark building was worth it.
In 1990 Gehry gained his great reputation and his work skyrocketed. He feels free and his undulating shapes take center stage. Here we highlight the Guggenheim Museum (1991-1997) in Bilbao.
It combines curvilinear forms of titanium with interconnected limestone to create a magnificent sculptural work of engineering. The curvaceous museum opened to the public in 1997 and has since become one of Gehry’s most iconic buildings.
In 1992 he designed the sculpture for the Olympic Village in Barcelona, the Olympic Fish Pavilion. With this work he advanced technologically since he used three-dimensional software for the great aeronautical design carried out.
Other noteworthy works
Also noteworthy are works such as the Experience Music Project (1995-2000), baptized as the Museum of Pop Culture in 2016 in Seattle. Highlighted by its steel frame wrapped in a large colored sheet resembling the shape of a guitar.
Chicago’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion is a centerpiece in the metamorphosis of downtown Chicago’s railroad yards into Millennium Park public square. Gehry used stainless steel tapes that extend into the lawn in the form of steel pipes while also wrapping around the sound distribution.
Gehry in 2007 built his first building in Manhattan. A nine-story building that was his first large glass building.
In 2014 he was commissioned by the Fondation Louis Vuitton, in Paris. The exterior is a type of boat includes 12 glass sails, which cover the gallery spaces clad in concrete.
Gehry is known as one of the most important contemporary architects of our era and labeled a “starchitect” although he does not like that concept.
In 2016, Gehry was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.
Images obtained from Pinterest.
