Frank Gehry,

An architect with a fresh mind

Ava Ghassemi

18500250

M.Sc. in Architecture

Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, Northern Cyprus

April.2019

Email: [email protected]
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 2

Abstract

Frank Gehry is undoubtedly one of the most controversial architects. His designs brought both
praise and criticism. Some may call him a “Genius”, “Starchitect”, or as Vanity Fair label him
“The most important architect of our age”, while others argue that his designs are not worthy
enough to label him with these terms. The main point is that for Gehry there is no borderline
between art and architecture; the perception that leads to his sculptural designs and also provide
many criticism from those who believe architecture is truly merged with user’s experiencing of
space, function, and most importantly, the accordance with context. Even though there might be
too many criticisms toward Frank gehry’s designs, the fact that he is the architect who perfectly
“deconstructs” any aspect of architecture is undeniable. His designs aesthetically may seem
weird, unpleased or ambiguous with zero regard to its users and context, but as we engage with
his intentions through the design process and the characteristics of his projects, it will become
clear that all he wants is to decompose the previous perceptions about architecture and create his
own language. However, the question that did he completely succeed is this way or not will still
remain a debatable argument.

Key words: Simplicity and complexity, Deconstructivist architecture, Contextulism, Design

Introduction

To be more engaged with Frank Gehry and his intentions toward architecture, three controversial
aspects of his designing have been chosen to be explored; First, simplicity and complexity of his
projects; The Santa Monica house in California as a case study for this part has been selected.
Through this project, which brought a great fame for Gehry’s career the characteristics of his
design as an icon of “deconstructivist architecture” will be explored so as to find out the
simplicity or complexity of his design. Moreover, the definition of context according to Gehry
and the impacts of his buildings on context will be discussed. Three case studies have been
chosen for this part; the Santa Monica house, The Guggenheim museum of Bilbao and Walt
Disney concert hall, and third, the relation between form and function in his designs, the aspects
of the design process in his projects, and how these issues affects his design process and lead to
“Formal architecture” will be reviewed.
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 3

Simplicity and complexity

In the year 1935 the Modernist architect Marcel Breuer in his article name “Where do we stand”
defined the characteristics of a “New architecture”. Maximum aesthetic simplicity, rejecting the
old traditional styles, and clarity were the main features of new architecture as he stated. These
features were the foundation of Modern style architecture for many years till Robert Venturi in
1966 argued about these aspects in architecture differently. He believed that ambiguity,
complexity and contradiction are integrated with architecture. For him architecture instinctively
was a complex issue. These two main opinions, one from a Modernist architect and another from
a post-modernist designer discussed by Vittorio Gregotti in 1996 when he stated that:

“A building is simple not because its shape conforms to elementary geometry, not because all of
it is immediately visible, but because all its part voices their necessity.”(Vittorio, 1996)

If we consider Frank Gehry’s designs with the both modernist and post-modernist perceptions,
they aesthetically seem complex and ambiguous with zero relate to simplicity, but according to
definition of simplicity by Gregotti, Gehry’s design can represent simplicity since each part of
his design, as Gehry himself mentioned, had a reason.

I choose Santa Monica house in California as a case study for this part. Through this project
which brought a great fame for Gehry’s career, the Characteristics of his design will be explored
in order to find an answer for this question that : Can Frank Gehry’s design be considered as a
simple design or not?

Santa Monica house (1978-1988)

Unpredictable place

“I think it's important to create spaces that people like to be in, that are humanistic. This neo-
minimalism super cold stuff is weird to me. I need a place where I can come home and take my
shoes off.” (Frank Gehry, Foreign Policy, 2013)

Gehry achieved fame and also provided a huge shock by renovating the “Santa Monica house” in
1978 which was and still is his own residential house. In the late 1970s, Gehry and his wife Berta
bought a house in 22nd street in Santa Monica, California. The house belonged to a Domestic
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 4

Architecture style known as “Dutch Colonial” and like other houses of this style, had two stories
on a corner lot, a gabled roof with flaring eaves, and a symmetrical front façade. The house was
built at another location in 1900s and then was moved to the current site around 1920s.Gehry
remodeled the house and transformed it into an “unpredictable” place which brought anger to his
middle-class neighbors.

“Even before we moved in, Berta sensed I was going to change the house. Aesthetically, I
couldn't live there. The house was too formal and predictable, and completely lacking in
surprise. I've always been a jazz fan. I needed living space that had the music's improvised feel.”

(Frank Gehry, wall street journal, 2012)

His inspiration for remodeling the Santa Monica house was a Modernist residence house on St.
Ives Drive which he and his friends had bought in the 1970s and remodeled it. They left the
original structure of the place intact, but added extra geometric elements to building (Gehry,
2012). In renovation of Santa Monica, Gehry did the same. He kept the original house intact and
made the new house as an attachment around three sides of the ground floor. Corrugated layers
of metal and aluminum, irregular plywood frames, chain-link fences, and protruding glass cubes
were the additional structures around the original house (Gehry Residence / Gehry Partners,
2010). The interior of the house went through some changes as well and made the place as
mentioned before more “unpredictable” and “surprising”. For instance, he extended the house
towards the street and placed the kitchen with the asphalt flooring where the driveway had been.

“We don't feel penned in. On the ground floor, my wife and I look up through skylights at the
trees and the moon rather than at neighbors' homes or the street. It's like living in a tree house.”

(Frank Gehry, Wall street journal, 2012)

Accordingly, remodeling the house and all the additional structures to the old house, were based
on a ‘purpose’ for Gehry. He renovated the house and added extra structures to the house in
order to make it a better place for living. Each level of his renovation happened in a way that as
said by Gehry was strongly ‘necessary’, even thought that might not be delighted for others.
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 5

An icon of Deconstructive Architecture

In remodeling the house Gehry left all the additional structures unfinished which gave this
impression that the house is still “Incomplete” and “Under construction”. Therefore, before
designing the famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and Walt Disney Concert Hall which
brought him a great fame, by renovating his own house in Santa Monica, he gave the world new
icon of the “Deconstructivism” (Reynolds, 2017). However, in 1991 he made several changes to
the house due to his family’s growth, which caused the house to seem much more “finished” and
leaded to many criticism toward him about the original Deconstructivist aesthetics (Gehry
Residence / Gehry Partners, 2010).

This way of using the structures represents in other Gehry’s designs as well. In designing the
Spiller house in Venice for instance, he used the same idea: Designing a frame which was
exposed through the window due to create an “unfinished look” and “dynamic shadows”
(Vášková, Mourová, Vanhalst, 2017), same as the tilted glass cube in Santa Monica.

During 1998, in an exhibition of deconstructivist architecture at a Museum of Modern Art in

But how can Frank Gehry’s house be considered as a symbol of deconstructivist architecture?
Kaplan (1988) argues that Frank Gehry’s projects cannot be classified since they have been too
varied and their results as architecture are too mixed. Whereas in definition of deconstructivist
architecture, Mark Wigely (1988) states that deconstruction defines by challenging the harmony,
unity and stability, and suggesting a different perspective of the structure: “flaws are intrinsic to
structure”. Accordingly, the deconstructive architect is not someone who break down the whole
structure and destroy it, but who locate the inherent dilemmas within buildings (Wigely, 1988).

Hence, Philip Johnson (1988) argues that remodeling of the Santa Monica house gives the sense
that all the additional parts of the house emerge from inside of the house rather than being
attached to the site. What Johnson points out is that the original house had all these conflicting
structures instinctively and Gehry just pulling them out of the original house. Johnson states that
the Frank Gehry’s house is a renovation in three stages; in the first stage, the additional forms
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 6

twist their way out from the inside such as the tilted glass cube which is made of the materials of
the original house, in the second stage, the back wall of the house which is unprotected breaks
down. And in the third stage, the backyard of the house fills with forms that seem to escape from
the original house through the yard. Johnson mentions that The Gehry’s house represents the
conflict “within forms” and “conflict between forms” (Johnson, 1998).

As Wigely and Johnson argues about the deconstructivist architecture in a case of Santa Monica,
Gehry intended to remodel the house in a way that all the additional parts seem to be parts of the
original house and emerge from inside rather than being attached to the site. He challenged
harmony, unity and stability, and proposing a different perspective of the structure: “That flaws
are intrinsic to structure”(Wigely, 1988) Accordingly, the additional structures to the Santa
Monica house were not actually an inclusion to made the house more complex, all Gehry
intended to do was exposing the instinct of the structures.

Aesthetically, the form of Santa Monica house might seem complex to every viewer, but as we
engaged with Gehry’s purpose behind deconstruction of the house, we will have a doubt to label
Santa Monica a complex building.

Context

One of the main criticisms toward Gehry’s designs is his disregard for “Context” as an important
element in architecture. However, Gehry defined himself as a “Contextulist” who tries to
understand the “Language of Context” (Gehry, 2012).

In this part Santa Monica house, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and Walt Disney Concert Hall
are chosen as case studies in order to explore the definition of context by Frank Gehry and also
the effects and influences of his building on their surroundings.

Santa Monica house, California

Context as a neighbor

For Gehry the definition of “Context” and “Contextulism” is unlike his contemporaries. Similar
to other features of his designs, he deconstructs the definition behind Context as well and
expresses his own description. As mentioned above, the renovation of Santa Monica house, for
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 7

instance, brought anger to his modest neighbors. The additional structures and remodeling the
house made it like a detached building from its context, but Frank Gehry did not think this way.
He mentioned that as a “Contextualist”, he used materials that he found in the neighborhood.
Steel, plywood and chain-link fencing were all the materials that were available in the
surrounding area (Gehry, 2003). He used all of this materials as an input in his design which
according to him it is nothing against context.

“I tried to understand the context and the language of it. I wasn't quite as sure as I am now
about how to express it. But at that time I didn't understand it. I just saw these disparate shapes
and disparate materials colliding against each other. There was a kind of energy in it and it was
messy. And I used that. I just said, "Well, that's the context."

(Frank Gehry, Journal of Management Inquiry, 2003)

The Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

The Bilbao effect

When the Spain Basque country decided to spend about 228 million dollars on designing an art
museum for Bilbao city, too many criticized it due to dedicating too much money on a museum,
but after designing the Bilbao Museum By frank Gehry, the museum attracts an average of
800,000 tourists per year which would not be expected (Plaza, 2007) .The Guggenheim Museum
brought hope to citizens and city officials. This strong effect on the situation of the city is known
as “Bilbao effect” (Plaza, 2007).

The main reason behind this strong effect on the city of Bilbao is the innovative design of the
building. Like other Gehry’s projects Guggenheim Museum gives a “Dynamic” and “fluid”
sense to the viewers; He tries to show that all that is solid really does melt into air (Davies,
2018). As Gehry states in his interview with Bennis (2003), he always wanted to create a
painterly buildings because painting according to him is full of “surprise”, “emotion” and
“Immediacy”, so he intends to find this feeling in architecture as well. In designing the Bilbao
Museum, he tries to get to this “painterly impression” in architecture in the way that his choosing
materials work. This “Artistic Sculpture” made of titanium, glass, and limestone had an
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 8

influential impact on the “context” of Bilbao and transformed the backwater city into one of the
most tourist destinations in the Europe.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, United States

Macro scale impacts on the surrounding

Walt Disney Concert Hall, the famous work of Frank Gehry which is located in Grand avenue in
Los Angeles; confronted with several budget and management problems at the beginning in the
year 1994 which caused the original design went through some changes ( Jones, 2013). The shell
of the project was supposed to make of “limestone”, but it replaced with the “stainless steel”
shingles which were less expensive. Accordingly, some would say that the Walt Disney Concert
Hall is similar to his previous project the Bilbao Museum. However, Blair Kamin (2003) argues
it like saying that all the Frank Wright “prairie style houses” are similar because they all have
overhanging eaves and art glass.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall is partly concert hall and partly free form of sculpture which
containing of an office wing made of white limestone, outdoor gardens, two outdoor
amphitheater, and two buildings made of stainless steel. (Schiler & Valmont, 2015)

This polished steel made skin is mostly curved and composed of convex and concave surfaces.
Although this steel skin of the building may excite the viewer, it may lead to some difficulties.
These parts of the building are highly reflective which concentrate huge amounts of light and it
poses glare at a distance and also thermal issues on surrounding. As a result it is almost hard to
walk around the concert hall and do not feel the heat that is reflected from both the polished and
brushed steel surfaces (Schiler & Valmont, 2015).

Even though the skin of the building has thermal impacts on the surrounding_ which is now have
been replaced_ we cannot deny the fact that the Concert Hall is one of the most important land
marks of the Los Angeles city which surprise any viewer. It attracted and delighted the
neighborhood so much that became the symbol of the city.
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 9

Form and function

As mentioned before, Gehry strongly believes there is no borderline between art and
architecture; this perception makes his designs to share the same characteristics with a medium
of art and also provides many criticisms from those who differentiate architecture from art. This
view toward architecture and the special use of various digital tools, help Gehry to apply the
ideas in form rather than other aspects of architecture; in his designs “function follows form”.
Moreover, because of this main trait of Gehry’s designs, they can be compared with other type of
visual arts such as music, dance and painting. Through this part, some of the characteristics of
Gehry’s design which lead to formal or sculptural architecture will be reviewed:

The help of digital tools, Paperless designs

Gehry is known by testing the unusual devices in order to reach a “Personal vocabulary” in his
designs. In the late 1980s, Gehry’s office started to work with new digital tools which resulted
in “paperless” and the “Digital architecture” ( Kolarevic, 2003) specially with the development
of the military software called CATIA which make him to move from drawing to dancing with
this software and create building of folds and sails of bend titanium(Davies, 2018). The projects
such as Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (1997), Walt Disney Concert Hall (2003), Stata
Building in MIT (2004), the renovation of Art Gallery Ontario (2008), Beekman Tower (2011) in
New York and many other projects are all have designed with the help of digital tools
(Goldberger, 2015, Lemonier and Migayrou, 2014, Mathewson, 2007). The use of digital
software makes Gehry to represent his idea through a formal design perfectly.

Keeping the dream alive through the process

Like other designers, Gehry starts his projects from an “Abstract idea” or as he calls it a “Dream”
(Boland et al., 2008). He develops his idea through several raw models and sketches, and then
with the help of the digital techniques, he translates his dream into digital renderings (Boland et
al., 2008). Boland (2008) argues that when the process of designing the architectural projects
start, they will remain in a liquid format for long before they crystallize or became finalize. The
word Liquid here is considered as a part of the design process which is contained of constant
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 10

development and changing the main ideas; a level that designer transforms his ideas due to make
it possible for crystallizing (finalizing, became it to a solid format); due to make it more real and
practical. The main challenge for Gehry seems to be maintaining the “fluidity” of a project
without crystallizing his idea into the final step (Boland et al., 2008:18).

“I explore the unknown with a certain amount of insecurity. If I knew where I was going at the
start—which I don’t—it wouldn’t be interesting.”(Frank Gehry)

By challenging the limitation of the design process, Gehry tries to keep the “Dream” alive and
that is why his projects seem “unfinished” and “fluid”. All of his designs seem like they moving
dancing and trying to escape from something. And something here is crystalizing, they escape
from being crystalized.

Frank Gehry’s designs as an art of dancing

Kate Mattingly (1999) compares Gehry with the American dancer William Forsythe and argues
that Gehry’s architectural works share similar elements with choreography especially with
William Forsythe designs. In this comparison she explores the similarities and differences
between “architectural designs” and “choreography”. She argues that both architecture and
choreography are three dimensional visual arts which create a “language in space” to express
emotions and communicate with people. In architecture there is combination or as she mention
the marriage of structure and site and dancing is about music and movement. She added that both
designer have been called as post-modern and deconstructivist that share a unique quality which
divided them from their contemporaries. The combination of site and structure in Gehry’s
designs is alike to the arrangement of movement and music in dance, since Gehry’s buildings
constantly give the sense of “freedom” and “Movement” or as Bennis (2003) said:

“Someone once said that architecture is frozen jazz. Gehry's buildings are dancing jazz.”

Violence

Ouroussoff (1998) states that one of the surprising elements of Gehry’s projects is violence. His
designs such as famous “Walt Disney Concert Hall” and “Gugenheim Museum in Bilbao”
representing a sense of “chaos” and seeking for the “freedom”. Escaping from all the limitation
and boundaries is a key element in Gehry’s design. This characteristic which is applied in “form”
 FRANK GEHRY, AN ARCHITECT WITH A FRESH MIND 11

rather than other factors of an architectural design, made Gehry’s designs alike other type of
visual arts.

Conclusion

Although there might be too many criticisms toward Frank gehry’s works, we cannot deny that
he is the architect who “deconstructs” any aspect of architecture perfectly. His designs
aesthetically may seem weird, unpleased or ambiguous with zero regard to users and context, but
as we engage with his ideas through the design process, it will become clear that all he wants is
to decompose the previous perceptions about architecture and create his new visual language.
This ‘deconstructivist point of view’ represents in each step of his designs; from the beginning of
the design process till his final project. Therefore, this innovative world of Frank Gehry, as an
architect with a fresh mind, might remain a controversial discussion for some, but for other, it
may provide an inspiration.

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