A Blog Odyssey: Frank Gehry: "Starchitect"

The Rasin Building, Prague

I was recently inspired by a documentary I saw about world-renowned architect, Frank Gehry. He is known for creating unique buildings that redefine a place and are instant tourist attractions. Many cities go to him to design buildings, because whatever he creates will be innovative and benefit their city by attracting global attention – although it can go dangerously over budget. Gehry's services have now become a badge of distinction beyond the product he delivers. His creations have the ability to breathe new life into a place and creates a new architectural typology within it, while staying true to the existing buildings adjacent. Above all, Gehry is an artist and he creates his pieces at an unimaginablely large scale for all to enjoy and use from a distance or up close.

M.I.T. Building, Boston

Although his works are hugely innovative and rejuvenates a city's landscape, they aren't perfect. Gerhy's work comes with much criticism in terms of scale, safety and reflection issues causing heat. The MIT building above has had it's own share of problems as of late...

The documentary was called Sketches of Frank Gerhy and was directed by Academy Award winning director Sydney Pollack. It’s interesting to see Gerhy’s creative process in the when working on a project. This film illustrates this perfectly as it gets into his head and also shows how he works with others in the creation of his pieces.

Also, check out the homes he designs. He stays true to the history of the home, not removing anything from it’s original form, but adds to it his Gerhy-goodness. I tried Googling good images of homes he’s designed but they are pretty tough to find – but they are totally worth seeing. I want a Gerhy house!