Frank Gehry, Pioneering Architect Known for Guggenheim Bilbao and Disney Concert Hall, Dies
Los Angeles, CA – Frank Gehry, the globally celebrated architect whose deconstructivist designs reshaped skylines and challenged conventional architectural norms, has died. While his age was not instantly disclosed, his passing marks the end of an era for modern architecture.
gehry’s career began in the office of Victor Gruen, a pioneer in shopping center design, before he moved to Paris in 1961 to work with Andrรฉ Remondet. He established his own practice in the United States in 1962.
Though he worked for decades, Gehry gained national prominence in 1972 with the launch of his iconic “Easy Edges” furniture line. He was elected a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1974. His increasingly influential work in California throughout the 1970s and 80s culminated in the 1989 Pritzker Prize, architecture’s most prestigious honor.A notable early work is his own home in Santa monica, California, recognized for its unconventional roof design.
Gehry achieved international acclaim in the 1990s with the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Fellow architect Philip Johnson famously declared it “the most important building of our time.” This success was followed by landmark projects including the Walt Disney Concert hall in Los angeles (2003),the lou Ruvo Clinic in Ohio (2010),the 8 Spruce Street skyscraper in New York (2011),and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris (2014). He remained active late in life, completing Facebook‘s new Silicon Valley headquarters in 2018.
Gehry’s designs, characterized by rounded shapes, curves, and circles, were once considered radical. He embraced complexity, even acknowledging the increased construction costs and engineering challenges they presented. He faced criticism for prioritizing form over function, dismissing it with a characteristic retort in a 2007 New Yorker interview: “At least they’re looking!”
In a 2007 interview while receiving the Prince of Asturias Award in Spain, Gehry offered a blunt assessment of contemporary architecture, stating, “98 percent of everything that is built and designed today is pure rubbish. There is no sense of design, there is no respect for humanity or anything else. They are just buildings, nothing more.”
Gehry also had a connection to Portugal. In 2003, Lisbon mayor Pedro Santana Lopes commissioned him to develop a project for Parque Mayer, a plan that ultimately stalled despite a cost of 2.9 million euros. The ambitious proposal included a casino, theaters, a jazz club, a fashion museum, and residential and commercial spaces. He later designed the setting for a 2010 concert by fado singer Mariza at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, aiming to recreate the atmosphere of a Lisbon tavern. He stated at the time, “It won’t be a frank Gehry decoration. they won’t recognize it.”
