Known for practicing a deconstructive style in his works, Frank Gehry has gradually become a well-known name in the world of contemporary architecture. The world of architecture has changed significantly in style over the course of human existence, ranging from ancient pyramids to Gothic cathedrals to a more classical approach. In the 19th century, the use of technology slowly began to be integrated into many architectural projects due to its great ability to transform a thought on paper into something more realistic and three-dimensional. Frank Gehry's constructive style made its way through multiple accidental discoveries and a leap of faith to pursue a style that may be hated by the rest of the world. Gehry's journey to success and notoriety in the world of architecture was never easy, but like all empowering stories, they were born of motivation and, above all, individualism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayBy slowly beginning the architectural transition from simple modern works to technologically advanced abstract buildings, Frank Gehry left an important mark on the world of architecture. . Born on February 28, 1929 as Ephraim Owen Goldberg, his father later adopted the surname Gehry when the entire family immigrated from Toronto, Canada to Los Angeles, California in 1947. Once Ephraim would have reached his twenties, he would then officially change his name. to what we now know as Frank Gehry. Gehry's now well-known architectural style began as a child when he entertained in his grandfather's hardware store, spending time building small towns from everyday utilitarian materials such as wood and steel. His fascination with art and building was deeply connected to his mother as he once stated: “But my father thought I was a dreamer, I wasn't going to amount to anything. It was my mother who thought I was just reluctant to do things. She would push me. Gehry went on to study at the University of Southern California, where he discovered his true passion for art, saying, "...'What do I love?' Where was I? What excited me? And I remembered art, how I loved going to museums and I loved looking at paintings, I loved listening to music. These things came from my mother, who took me to concerts and museums. I remembered Grandma and the blocks and, out of intuition, tried some architecture classes. His mother's encouragement and memories of his early childhood eventually paid off as Gehry graduated from the University of Southern California School of Architecture in 1954. After graduating, Gehry performed one year of mandatory service in the United States Army; after serving in the military, he later moved to Massachusetts and eventually enrolled at the Harvard Graduate School of Design to study urban planning. Gehry ultimately did not complete graduate school because he began to feel unenthusiastic and eventually returned to Los Angeles with his family. Probably the most notable form of credit Gehry gives to his working style is accidental discovery. Early in his professional career, Gehry's primary concern with his buildings was that he wanted everything to have a sense of place and for nothing to appear out of context or uncomfortable to the public. Much of his personal feelings about his works were put aside because he wastoo focused on pleasing its customers and what the general sophisticated population deemed appropriate. Gehry's first monumental shift in his art came in the 1960s, when he was making successful paper furniture for Bloomingdale's. He couldn't understand the success he was receiving by making simple furniture, and in the blink of an eye he simply "shut everything down and made furniture that no one would want", but what Gehry only understood more Later, it was that this unwavering decision would lead him to make many other accidental discoveries from which he would then learn and incorporate into his style. One of his most profound accidental discoveries occurred when he drank a little too much after signing a construction contract for a small restaurant. He started sketching ideas on napkins and drew a fish; after realizing that Gehry noticed that everything about the fish he was drawing was absolutely perfect, from the scales to the fins, but one aspect he despised was the tail, so he once again made a rash decision and eliminated the head and tail from the image. Gehry also attributes this moment as accidental, but also mentioned that "it was kind of an intuitive thing, and I just went with that, and I made this building proposal, which was just a proposal . » After several project completions with only mediocre success, Frank Gehry's first shot at fame began in 1978 with the renovation of his own house located in Santa Monica. Despite his neighbors' opposition to this outrageous project, Gehry managed to attract critical attention from the rest of the world because he managed to take "common and unattractive elements of American residential construction, such as chain-link fences diamond shapes, corrugated aluminum and unfinished plywood, and to use them. » as flamboyant elements of expression...". Once news of his little house in Santa Monica surfaced, it seemed Frank Gehry was unstoppable as he was asked to build multiple works around the world and eventually received the prestigious Pritzker Prize for 1989 which serves to “honor a life”. architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of these qualities of talent, vision and commitment…”. The group of people responsible for Gehry's selection outlined their reasoning, describing him as someone "always open to experimentation, he also has a sureness and maturity that resists... His buildings are juxtaposed collages of places and materials that make you appreciate both the theater and the backstage…”. In a few years, Frank Gehry truly succeeded in moving the world of architecture from an “orthodox modernist practice” to a more contemporary and abstract style, which was rare at the time. The ability to create buildings as an "incomplete state of construction" eventually led critics to label the style deconstructive. Due to their unique aesthetic, Gehry's deconstructive works have allowed him to become a "highly distinctive and easily recognizable designer of the recent past." Another very notable work done by Frank Gehry was the Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2003, which is located in Los Angeles, California. Although beautiful and distinctive like many of Gehry's projects, this one in particular managed to elicit a somewhat critical reaction due to its late schedule and lack of fundraising for this complex building. The concept for the concert hall was started in 1987 by Walt Disney's widow, Lillian Disney, when she graciously donated $50 million toward the project's completion. Gehry had completed the concept and drawings in 1991and quickly began construction the following year. Funds were initially received through bonds sold by Los Angeles County, but construction itself proved to become an expensive challenge as funds dwindled and the garage itself cost $110 million. Gehry was able to improvise in some ways by substituting some materials for the less expensive ones, but ultimately it was the delay that created financial strain for the city of Los Angeles. Gehry even admitted in a TED talk he gave that "it's not a big building, but I approached it with optimism, thinking that we would establish a compositional relationship between us that would strengthen us both ". It is important to note that due to Gehry's well-known abstract and original style, there was sometimes a back and forth between him and the client to deliver something they both agreed on. Alongside this, being a concert hall, the building had to offer good acoustics, sufficient lighting, a large stage but not intimidating enough to diminish intimacy with the audience, and without forgetting to maintain a sort of magical aspect that the Walt Disney Company aspires to deliver. Despite everything, faced with these differences of opinion and financial problems, “artists and critics agree that it was well worth the extra time taken before the venue opened to the public.” This project hit close to home for Gehry, as it was one of his first major assignments in what he now calls his hometown and all eyes were on his handling of the project. Although the finished piece may have sparked doubt and controversy from some critics, the Los Angeles Times called the concert hall "the most effective response to skeptics, naysayers and grumpy critics that an architect American has ever produced. Frank Gehry's real breakthrough The moment that finally established him as a "master among architects" came with his 1997 design and construction of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. Three American architects, including Frank Gehry, were invited to develop a conceptual project for the new Bilbao museum. Like any work of art, it all started with an imagination and a subsequent sketch, but what really allowed Gehry to take this work to the next level was the incorporation of technology and the ability to take “computer-aided design technology allowed him to translate poetic forms into reality,” which allowed him to reuse his physical sketches into complex shapes and patterns that would never have been imagined on paper. Since its opening in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has been considered by many to be one of the most important buildings of the 20th century. What greatly contributed to the success of the museum was that its construction was kept secret from the press, so that when the entire museum was revealed to the public, the amount of publicity the museum received was astronomical. The construction of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao has benefited the city's economy immensely, as the city of Bilbao has seen a large increase in the number of tourists passing through it. The success was so great that it became a phenomenon known as the “Bilbao effect”. In the first three years the museum was open, Bilbao welcomed four million tourists who came to witness first-hand the massive success the building has become, generating more than $160 million for the city's economy. The success of the Revelation became so widespread that there were multiple attempts elsewhere to replicate the same success by implementing vast and outrageous building styles to attract critical attention,but none have seen as big a reaction as the Guggenheim Museum. Bilbao. A more recent project that Frank Gehry is known to have been involved with is the Dr Chau Chak Wing building at the University of Technology Sydney in Sydney, Australia. The building is named after a Chinese-Australian businessman who donated $20 million towards funding the building. Inspired by the appearance of treehouses, the building's overall aesthetic has often been described as a "crushed paper bag", to which Gehry responded: "Maybe it's a brown paper bag, but it is flexible inside, there is plenty of room for changes or movements. Initiated in 2011 and opened to the public in 2015, the $180 million business school building was finalized into a thirteen-story building with room for approximately just under 1,300 students and just over 300 faculty members. faculty. Using over 320,000 bricks to construct the building, the Dr Chau Chak Wing Building has received numerous awards, including the Australian Engineering Excellence Award 2016. Another well-known recent project that has once again put Gehry on the map was the construction of the Louis Vuitton Foundation located in Paris, France. This magnificent two-and-a-half-story building was designed as a “center for contemporary art and culture, and to house the rapidly growing art collection of the charitable arm of French luxury goods company LVMH Moet Hennessy- Louis Vuitton. »16 A key The inspiration that helped Gehry create this building was photos of greenhouses near the project site and imitating an “iceberg” effect by using “water in the form of moats and waterfalls to reflect light abundant which floods all the connection areas of the structure. …”. Plans for the building began in 2001 when Louis Vuitton chairman Bernard Arnault approached Gehry and presented the idea. The museum opened its doors to the public in October 2017 and even hosted Louis Vuitton's spring/summer 2015 women's fashion show; The overall construction would have cost $143 million, but a local French magazine revealed that the building would have cost around $900 million. Whether or not the amount of money spent to create this charitable building is true, the Foundation has been immensely successful as it welcomed over a million visitors in the first three months of its opening to the public. Although Frank Gehry was ninety years old, this did not stop him from becoming more involved and pursuing other efforts for the common good. Gehry was able to take his professional experiences and pass them on to others as a professor of architecture at several renowned universities in the United States. He passed on his knowledge to students at Harvard University, Columbia University, his alma mater which was the School of Architecture at the University of Southern California, and since 2017 he has taught at the University of Yale. His involvement in the design and construction of projects has not stopped either as he is currently involved in several notable upcoming projects; "Gehry's recent and ongoing projects include a new Guggenheim facility in Abu Dhabi, Facebook's new headquarters in California, and a memorial to Dwight D. Eisenhower in Washington, D.C., which is planned to be built at the base of the Capitol." Known as one of the first architects to start the architectural software revolution, in 2002 he created a company called Gehry Technologies which allowed them to develop their projects digitally. To date, many notable architects using Gehry Technologies include: Zaha Hadid, Jean Nouvel and Herzog & de Meuron. Interestingly enough, despite the massive success and notoriety that Frank Gehry seemed to gain, he..”