FRANK O. GEHRY

BY:- SHIVANI CHOUDHARY

B.ARCH IV B

ABOUT GEHRY Born: February 28, 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada Birth Name: Frank Owen Goldberg.  Left Canada: Moved with his Polish/Russian parents to

southern California in 1947. Choose U.S. citizenship when he turned 21.

Education: Los Angeles City College University of Southern California. Architecture degree

completed in 1954 Harvard Graduate School of Design. Studied city

planning for one year. Personal Life: From 1952 to 1966, married to Anita

Snyder, with whom he has two daughters. Frank Goldberg's name change to Frank Gehry is generally attributed to his first wife's encouragement. Gehry divorced Snyder and married Berta Isabel Aguilera in 1975. They have two sons.

CAREER OF FRANK GEHRY Buildings: Frank Gehry established his Los Angeles

practice in 1962. Early in his career, he designed houses inspired by modern architects such as Richard Neutra and Frank Lloyd Wright. Gehry's admiration of Louis Kahn's work influenced his 1965 box-like design of the Danziger House, a studio/residence for designer Lou Danziger. With this work, Gehry began to be noticed as an architect. As his career expanded, Gehry became known for massive, iconoclastic projects that attracted attention and controversy.

Furniture: Gehry had success in the 1970s with his line of Easy Edges chairs made from bent laminated cardboard. By 1991, Gehry was using bent laminated maple to produce the Power Play Armchair. These designs are part of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) collection in NYC.

Memorials: The Eisenhower Memorial Commission choose Frank Gehry's design for the Washington, D.C. memorial honoring Dwight D. Eisenhower's command of the Allied Forces in Europe in World War II and as the 34th President of the United States.

Gehry Designs: Because architecture takes so long to become realized, Gehry often turns to the "quick fix" of designing smaller products, including jewelry, trophies, and even liquor bottles. From 2003 to 2006 Gehry's partnership with Tiffany & Co. released the exclusive jewelry collection that included the sterling silver Torque Ring. In 2004 the Canada-born Gehry designed a trophy for the international World Cup of Ice Hockey tournament. Also in 2004, the Polish side of Gehry designed a twisty vodka bottle for Wyborowa Exquisite.

TORQUE RING

Ice hockey tournament trophy

vodka bottle

TIMELINE 1929 Gehry was born on February 28, in Toronto, Canada. 1947 He moved with his family to Los Angeles. 1952 He married Anita Snyder. 1953-1961 Gehry apprenticed with Victor Gruen in Los

Angeles and with Andre Remondet in Paris, France. 1954 He recieved a bachelor of architecture degree from

the University of Southern California. 1956-1957 He studied city planning at Harvard University

Graduate School of Design. 1962 He founded his architectural firm Frank O. Gehry &

Associates in Los Angeles. 1968 He was divorced from Anita Snyder Gehry. 1972-1973 Gehry was assisant professor at the University

of Southern California. 1974 He was elected to the College of Fellows at the

American Institute of Architects.

1975 He married Berta Aguilera. 1976 He was visiting critic at Rice University. 1977 Gehry recieved the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial

Prize in Architecture from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

1977-1979 He was a visiting critic at the University of California.

1979 He held the William Bishop Chair at Yale University. 1982 He held the Charlotte Davenport Professorship in

Architecture at Yale University. He held this position again in 1985 and 1987-1989.

1983 Gehry was visiting critic at Harvard University. 1984 He was the Eliot Noyes Chair at Harvard University. 1986 A retrospective exhibition of Gehry's work was held

at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and traveled to Atlanta, Huston, Toronto, Los Angeles, and New York.

1987 He was a Fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.

1989 He was an assisant professor at the University of Southern California.  He recieved the Pritzker Architecture Prize.

1991 Gehry was a trustee of the American Academy in Rome.

1992 He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

1994 Gehry received the Wolf Prize in Art (Architecture) and the Praemium Imperiale Award in Architecture by the Japan Art Association.He received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Arts.

1996 He received the title of Academician by the National Academy of Design.

1996-1997 He was a visiting scholar at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.

1997 He received the Friedrich Kiesler Prize. He was an honorary consul of the city of Bilbao.

1998 He was an Honorary Academician at the Royal Academy of Arts and a visiting professor at the University of California. He received the gold medal at the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.

1999 He received the American Institute of Architects gold medal for lifetime Achievement.

2000 Gehry received the british architects gold medal from the royal intitute.

2004 he received the Royal Fine Art Comission's British Building of the Year award for Maggie's Centre in Dundee, Scotland.Gehry was chosen to design the Performing Arts Center at Ground Zero in New York City. 

AWARDS 1977: Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture,

American Academy of Arts and Letters 1989: Pritzker Architecture Prize 1992: Wolf Prize in Art, the Wolf Foundation 1992: Praemium Imperiale Award, Japan Art Association 1994: Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award for lifetime

contribution to the arts 1998: National Medal of Arts 1998: Friedrich Kiesler Prize 1999: Lotos Medal of Merit, Lotos Club 1999: Gold Medal, American Institute of Architects 2000: Lifetime Achievement Award, Americans for the Arts More than 100 awards from the American Institute of

Architects Numerous honorary doctorates and honorary titles

FAMOUS BUILDINGS

1. 1967: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, Maryland (first Gehry structure reviewed by The New York Times)

2. 1978 and 1987: Gehry House (Gehry's private home), Santa Monica CA

3. 1993: Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

4. 1997: Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

5. 1999: Maggies Centre, Dundee, Scotland

6. 2000: The Experience Music Project (EMP), Seattle, Washington

7. 2001: Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

8. 2004: MIT Stata Complex, Cambridge MA

9. 1989-2004: Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles CA

10.2004: Jay Pritzker Music Pavillion, Chicago, Illinois

11.2005: 'MARTa' Museum, Herford, Germany

12.2007: IAC Building, New York City

13.2008: Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, Kensington Gardens, London, UK

14.2010: Dr Chau Chak Wing Building Design, the "Treehouse,", University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

15.2011: New York By Gehry, New York City

16.2014: Biomuseo, Museum of Biodiversity, Panama City, Panama

MERRIWEATHER POST PAVILION, COLUMBIA,

MARYLAND Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor concert venue nestled

within the 40 preserved acres known as Symphony Woods, conveniently located in the Baltimore/Washington corridor in Columbia, Maryland. Originally built to be the home of the National Symphony Orchestra, Merriweather was designed by the renowned architect Frank Gehry. The natural outdoor setting, the state-of-the-art sound system and large video screens make this amphitheatre a favorite for bands and fans.

  GEHRY HOUSE (GEHRY'S PRIVATE HOME) Frank and Berta Gehry bought a pink bungalow that was

originally built in 1920. The original structure is the conventional two-storey bungalow with framing. Some interior finishes have been stripped to reveal the support of the structure inside the residence. The bearing wall is raised inner and outer structural frames wooden support beams, girders and joists.

Concept: Frank Gehry said "... I loved the idea of leaving the house intact ... I came up with the idea of building a new home about. We were told there were ghosts in the house ... I decided they were ghosts of cubism. Windows ... I wanted to make them look like they're dragging. At night, since the glass is tilted reflect light ... So when you are sitting at this table all these cars are passing by, you see the moon in the wrong place ... the moon is there but it reflects here ... and you think it's there and do not know where the hell are you ... “ The architect explains: "... Armed with very little money I decided to build a new house around the old and try to maintain a tension between the two, making one define the other, and making them feel that the old house was intact within the new, from the outside and from the inside. These were the basic objectives ... "

Materials: It makes use of unconventional materials such as fences with trellis, glass inner wire and corrugated metal sheets, wood framing, corrugated steel, plywood and light wood frames.

WEISMAN ART MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, MINNEAPOLIS

The museum's current building, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry, was completed in 1993. The stainless steel skin was fabricated and installed by the A. Zahner Company, a frequent collaborator with Gehry's office.

It is one of the major landmarks on campus, situated on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River at the east end of theWashington Avenue Bridge. The building presents two faces, depending on which side it is viewed from. From the campus side, it presents a brick facade that blends with the existing brick and sandstone buildings. On the opposite side, the museum is a playground of curving and angular brushed steel sheets. This side is an abstraction of a waterfall and a fish.

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, BILBAO, SPAIN The work of American architect Frank O. Gehry, the

Guggenheim Museum has played a key role in the urban revitalization and transformation of the area, in addition to becoming the symbol of the city of Bilbao, Spain.

It is situated on a plot of 32,500 square meters, of which 24,000 square meters are occupied by building. 9,066 square meters are devoted to exhibition spaces.

Concept: The design of the building follows the style of Frank Gehry. Inspired by the shapes and textures of a fish, it can be considered a sculpture, a work of art in itself.   The museum is essentially a shell that evokes the past industrial life and port of Bilbao. It consists of a series of interconnected volumes, some formed of orthogonal coated stone and others from a titanium dkeleton covered by an organic skin. The connection between volumes is created by the glass skin. The museum is integrated into the city both by it height and the materials used. Seen from the river, the form resembles a boat, but seen from above it resembles a flower.

Structure: The building is built with load-bearing walls and ceilings, which have an internal structure of metal rods that form grids with triangles. The shapes of the museum could not have succeeded if it did not use load-bearing walls and ceilings. Catia(three dimensional design software) determined the number of bars required in each location, as well as the bars positions and orientations. In addition to this structure, the walls and ceilings have several insulating layers and an outer coating of titanium. Each piece is unique and exclusive to the place, determined by Catia.

Materials: Built of limestone, glass and titanium, the museum used 33,000 pieces of titanium half a millimeter thick, each with a unique form suited to its location. As these pieces are so thin, a perfect fit to the curves is necessary. The glass has a special treatment to let in the sun's light, but not its heat.

MAGGIES CENTRE, DUNDEE, SCOTLAND

The Maggie’s Centre is very much on a domestic scale, with a floor area of 250m2 and around the size of a large bungalow.

It includes an information library, a kitchen, sitting room, large relaxation common room, and two small consultation rooms.

Structure: Stability for the remainder of the single-storey structure was achieved by tying the square hollow sections to the walls. These are all curved on plan, and are constructed in brickwork. This was for two reasons: firstly, some of the walls are to small radii which was not easily achievable in blockwork, and secondly there was a need to minimize control joints. To maintain uniformity of beam sizes, raking kickers were provided to minimize overhang deflections.

The tower was designed as a separate structure, inherently stable in its own right.

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, LOS ANGELES CA The Walt Disney Concert Hall, designed by the architect

Frank Gehry, opened in 2003 after many years of gestation. The history of the building began in 1987 when Lillian Walt

Disney, widow of businessman donates $ 50 million to start building a philharmonic hall. The idea was to create a reference point for music, art and architecture, which position the city of Los Angeles in the cultural level.

Concept:The design represents the style of their creator, architect Frank Gehry, could be considered a work of art in itself. The extravagance of its forms seems to defy any rules of harmony and symmetry. The forms are external inspired by a boat with sails drenched.

The building is essentially a shell which consists of a series of interconnected volumes, some form of orthogonal coated stone and other forms of organic and surfaces covered with a corrugated metal skin of steel. As a bridge between the different volumes are used glazed surfaces.

The centerpiece of the interior of the building was designed to represent the hull of a boat. The idea of the architect was to design a room with an evocative sculptural forms of music, achieving an intimate connection between the orchestra and audience.

The building also fulfills an important role in urban areas.

Structure:To calculate the complex shapes of the curves Walt Disney Concert Hall was used to Catia software. This allowed us to determine the structure and shape of each piece of steel that covers them.

Materials:To coat the outer surfaces were used corrugated 12,500 pieces of steel together on the outside. No two equal parts, as each piece takes a unique form of agreement to their location.

In areas outside of regular forms, the stone was used. Glass surfaces function as a liaison between the various volumes.

The interior of the auditorium and rooms, is lined with fir wood. This is the same type of wood that is used in the back of violoncelos and violas. Here was used in floors, walls and ceilings.

WIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.pbs.org/ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/ http://www.archdaily.com/

BIBLIOGRAPHY

o Frank Gehry By Caroline Evensen Lazo