Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry By: Grace Phillips

About the Artist• Born on February 28th 1929 in

Ontario Canada

• In 1947 he moved to Los Angeles, California

• He received a bachelor’s degree in architecture from University of Southern California.

• He has been a professor at Columbia University, Yale, Rhode Island School of Design, and many more

• In 2011 he went back to University of Southern California as a professor of architecture.

His Inspiration• Use to play with scrap

wood with his grandmother on the floor

• Drawn to the social issues, architecture is the panacea for cities futures

• “For me it's a free association, but it grows out of a sense of responsibility, sense of values, human values. The importance of relating to the community, and all of those things...and the client's budget, their pocketbook, the client's wishes”

Deconstructivism•Postmodern architecture that began in 1980’s•Departs from modernist style•Function follows form•Non-rectangular, distortion, fragments,

manipulation •Influenced by French philosopher Jacques

Derrida•Daniel Libeskind, Christine and Horst Lechner

Formal Qualities•His work is abstract incorporates

movement•The interaction between space, people,

and building is important•Reflection and play of light•Functional building, but with a sculptural

twist

His Process• He starts with scribble sketches

• Then builds a rough model out of thick paper

• Assistance take pictures to load to the computer

• Computer programs provide the math and physics to make it stand

• http://www.youtube.com/movie?v=o49mPHHEiZ4

Beekman Tower, New York

The Experience Music Project, Seattle

Dancing House, Prague

Guggenheim Museum, Spain

Vitra Design Museum, Germany

Millennium Park, Chicago

Lesson Ideas• Have students construct small buildings in

similar processes

• Compare and contrast his architecture to traditional buildings

• Look at other deconstructivist artists

• Write a reflection on overall effectiveness of his style in communicating his ideas.

References• Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Gehry

• Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deconstructivism

• Sydney, P. (Director) (2005). Sketches of frank gehry [DVD]. Available from http://youtube.com/movie?v=o49mPHHEiZ4

• Straub, M. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://matthewstraubdesign.com/483e_web/project04/gehry.html

• Greenberg, J., & Jordan, S. (2000). Frank O. Gehry : outside in / Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan. New York : DK Ink, 2000.