Life and Style of Frank Gehry - Essay Example

Frank Gehry Personal life and education Born in 1929 on February 28, Frank Gehry grew up to become one of the most acclaimed architects in the world. He was named Frank Owen Goldberg at the time of his birth in Toronto, Canada by his Polish and Jewish family. In 1949, Frank relocated from Canada to Los Angeles in the U.S., where he would later join the University of Southern California while working at various jobs. He was to graduate from the university’s school of architecture, and it was at this time that he changed his surname from Goldberg to Gehry. In 1956, Gehry moved to Massachusetts with his wife in a bid to enroll into Harvard’s School of Design. Sadly, the education life at Harvard was never completed, which saw him drop out and afterwards, divorce his first wife. The reason for his non-completion in Harvard’s Design School was because his ideas for a socially responsible type of architecture were not realized (Isenberg and Gehry 43). He remarried in 1975, and had two more children with Berta Isabel Aguilera. He later went back to California after his attempt at design school failed, and that is where the legend of Frank Gehry was born. Works around the world Shortly after moving back to California, Gehry began making his name a household name through the Easy Edges furniture line. Most of the cardboard furniture products were sold in California between 1969 and 1973 before his marriage to Isabel, and before taking on the task of remodeling his family’s house in Santa Monica. It was this erratic remodeling that saw Gehry capture the architectural world’s attention as his design was deemed unique and out of this world. The famous Walt Disney Concert Hall is among Gehry’s famous works, and this was after he achieved celebrity status after modeling homes in Southern California for a while. The Guggenheim Museum building in Spain and a skyscraper in New York city are also Gehry’s works, and have become tourist attraction sites visited by countless individuals. The Opus Hong Kong tower in China can also be placed among his top achievements (Isenberg and Gehry 48). In some instances, Gehry is said to have been involved in the designing of jewelry, liquor bottles, and even trophies. He is said to have designed an ice hockey trophy, which was for the World Cup Hockey tournament. These ‘quick fixes’, according to Gehry, were as a result of the little or lack of realization of exceptional architecture (Lange 53). He, therefore, may have wanted to remain relevant in the field of design even if it meant that he would not be designing buildings and memorials. Style and design and the material used Gehry’s style was a deconstructivist form of architecture, which pushed and challenged the accepted designs of architecture. It is a post-structuralist aesthetic that is most familiar with architects who go against the normally accepted paradigms of architecture, and is most visible and popular in California. This might be because he did most of his works in the area during the 1980’s. It is believed that Gehry calculatedly violates the modernism approach to architecture with his focus on the right angles and cubes (Lange 59). The instability that is the deconstructivist approach is what makes the designs by Frank memorable. Even though the projects may be comprehensive and complete, they tend to bring about the feeling of explosion. In some sense, the nature of the deconstructivist style is to bring about the acceptance of flaws as an inevitable phenomenon in architecture. Cardboard and scotch tape are the materials used to bring the designs in Gehry’s head to life, which later turn into buildings. In many of his works, Gehry has incorporated the use of titanium and stainless steel. Theme in Frank Gehry’s works One thing that makes Gehry a truly gifted architect of his day is his perceptive and immaculate manner of bringing out his designs. He is said to be fond of fish as most of his structural designs are said to have used fish motifs engrained in some of their edgy and catchy frameworks (Hartoonian 64). It is the fact that some of the architects in Gehry’s day were going back to the Greek days to make some of the famous structures present in modern day that made him go past the Greek era, and into an era which preceded mankind, which involved fish. An innovative way of bringing out designs in architecture, which many have criticized and even called weird depending on the level he went to creating or designing something. It is this theme that has seen the creation of FISH in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain. Similarities in his works The Disney Auditorium in LA and the Guggenheim Bilbao are said to be similar in some ways as the structural aspects of both designs are brought out by designers in the same field. Some of Gehry’s countless critics insinuate that his designs lack the originality that most architectural designs require or deserve. To most of them, it is evident that Gehry is creating variations of his previous works to make some of the modern buildings that he is called on to be the leading designer. Subsequent structures by Gehry offer critics the ammunition to go after his works with an aim of diminishing his credibility as a modern-day architect who has the ability to capture the minds of people who look at his designs, and want to be a part of them (Hartoonian 72). The similarities, or the variations, in most of Gehry’s works make him highly unpredictable. It is not easy to guess what he might come up with in form of a structural design as he is undoubtedly different from all other players in the architectural field. Frank Lloyd Wright has been placed in the same league as Gehry, but many count his designs more versatile and a more prolific designer than Gehry. This could be a highly convincing argument, but is crucial to note that they were not doing the same style. While Lloyd aimed to just design and create, Gehry aimed to amaze and astonish with his creativity. It is these designs and structural differences that make Gehry a force in the architectural field (Lange 76). This force is paving way for countless individuals who believe in the deconstructivist approach Gehry once took, on his way to becoming one of the greatest architects of his time. Works Cited Hartoonian, Gevork. Architecture and Spectacle: A Critique. New York: Macmillan Publishers, 2012. Print. Isenberg, Barbara and Gehry, Frank. Conversations with Frank Gehry. New York: Knopf Publishing, 2009. Print. Lange, Alexandra. Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print. Read More