From Tortuous to Torturous: Baroque and Frank Gehry - Essay Example

He also constructed and achieved striking chiaroscuro effects in his transparent effective designs.3 Perhaps the chief beauty of the cathedral, however, is the 12th-century Portico da Gloria, behind the western facade. This Portico da Gloria in the narthex of the west portal is an epitome of the Romanesque period, which combines masonry, arch, piers, and the addition of pure geometrical forms. Thus the Church combines the development of the Baroque style in its many odd and even phases. The Churriguera popularized the blend of religious columns and composite order, the Churrigueresque column, in the shape of inverted cone or obelisk, established as a central element of ornamental decoration and preservation of the Romanesque in its forms that were less twisted in movement or excessive ornamentation and affected a neoclassical balance and sobriety.

The whole effect is one of spacious continuation and tortuous, endless in ornamentation and experimentation. The Great Curvature of walls, particularly in urban settings, is probably the most famous of all Baroque inventions for expressing infinite space in the modern buildings of Frank Gehry4. One of the earliest examples of this approach, the exterior wall takes on a convex form, which expresses, and becomes a continuation of the interior space is set by the Church. Frank Gehry's Dancing House has this effect that resembles Baroque in their fixation on movement and spatial illusions.

5 Frank Gehry reflects an interest in dynamic spatial and material forms. His own home in Santa Monica is an early example of the way in which he models structural forms to suggest instability, immanence, and movement. This use of structural modeling creates the effect of Baroque, both in their geometric, endless surface details, as well as in their intellectual and expressionistic effects. His goals are sheer Baroque; they impart movement and through perspectival play, set up spatial illusions, subverting the vocabulary of conventional forms while more or less leaving it in place.