Frank O. Gehry Series

I am finished with the buildings by Frank O. Gehry. Here are some pictures of some of his other buildings:

And a picture of a bridge he designed:

Vitra Design Museum

This is the Vitra Design Museum, located in Weil am Rhein, Germany, and designed by Frank O. Gehry. While the abstract style is characteristic of Gehry, his usual use of a large percentage of metal on the faces of the building is restrained here. 

The museum is centered on furniture and interior designing and switches out collections regularly. The architecture of the museum is as much an attraction as the art.

Binocular Building

While I don't have time to post anything long, here are some pictures of one of Gehry's most unconventional buildings: the Binocular Building. The office building was built in 1991 in Los Angeles, California. The building structure to the right of it that looks like wooden struts is also part of the building, but since the binocular part of it stands out so much, that is what the building is named after. The binocular part of the building is the entrance for the building, both people and cars.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

This is the Walt Disney Concert Hall located in Los Angeles, California. The architecture was designed by Frank O. Gehry, and the acoustics by Yasuhisa Toyota. It was opened in October 23, 2003. When opened, the Los Angeles Philharmonic practiced with an audience of celebrities. They were all wondering what the acoustics would be like. As the conductor was directing the music, he was startled, as he realized there were wrong notes in some of the performer's music. The orchestra had played this piece multiple times, but had never been a concert hall with good enough acoustics for the wrong notes to be heard among all the rest of the instruments. The concert hall, (which seated 2,265 people) was designed to perfection. 

It had an enormous cost: 130 million dollars, with a parking garage that cost 110 million. Much of the money was donated by Walt Disney's family and the Walt Disney Company. The organ was designed by Gehry. He was working with a person, Manuel Rosales, who told him whether or not the design would actually work; Gehry was coming up with outlandish designs, such as all the pipes upside down, and the keyboard console at the top! Finally he toned down his ideas, and came up with the design seen above. Some of the pipes are metal, and some are actually wood. The organ has a total of 6,125 pipes!

After the concert hall was opened, people living in apartment houses across from it were complaining about intense heat, causing them to run their air conditioning very high and as a result, spending a lot of money on the air conditioning bill. The reason of the heat was that the curved metal surfaces of the Walt Disney Concert Hall was directing sunlight straight at the apartments. When the temperature was measured in the area, the temperature got as high as 140 degrees! The fix the problem, Gehry had research done which figured out the panels that reflected the light, and had these tiles sanded to a duller sheen:

In all, this concert hall by Frank O. Gehry is a very interesting building. It is now the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

            This is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. It is one of several museums founded by the Guggenheim Foundation, and by far the most famous. (I have posted on the other famous one, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum). This one was designed by Frank O. Gehry. His style of architecture falls under the category "Deconstructivism". Here is a link about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism. Gehry, though, does not associate himself with that style.

         As I mentioned before, Gehry often used steel or titanium to clad his structures. That is evident here. Guggenheim Bilbao is totally recognizable with it's rippling walls, layers, and titanium panels that look like scales. Some people say the building looks like a bucket of flopping fish and others say a sailing ship. Both of these analogies tie right in with the fact that the museum is right on the river, and that Bilbao is a port. The design also looks natural, which is another aspect of Gehry's works. The complex curves would not have been possible twenty years ago; the building was designed with complex computer programs. 

The building houses artist's works; some permanent, and others rotating out. The largest exhibit is "The Matter of Time" by Richard Serra:

It is housed in a  430 ft. gallery, and consists of curving weathered steel sculptures. Outside the museum are other sculptures including one called "Tulips" made from material blown up like a balloon:

 and a gigantic statue of a puppy made from flowers:

 By the entrance of the building is a tall sculpture of a spider which can be seen in the first picture in the post. 

        This building is VERY famous. It's pretty much put Bilbao on the map when the city was shutting down. Amazingly, critics, academics, and the public all love it. It was built on time and in budget as a result of careful supervision by Gehry. I would say this is the first building someone would associate Gehry with nowadays. I really like it. 

Next Series

My next series will be on Frank O. Gehry, a modern architect:

He is a famous modern architect, and has a exceptionally unique style. He likes to use stainless steel and titanium to clad his buildings. He also likes abstract shapes and dimensions. For example, his own house:

When he bought the property, it had an existing house. He integrated the house as the middle of a entirely different structure, with building materials such as chain link fencing, and corrugated steel. He left the studs of the structure in view in many places. He placed glass cubes framed with wood beams at abstract angles.
All these aspects are characteristic of Gehry.