Gehry: Contemporary Master

My Life as a Student of Architecture

I guess many of you have noticed a lag in entries posted recently.  For those of you who have been consistently reading my blog since its recent birth, I apologize.  In short, all of my time lately has been consumed in bringing a design project to a close, not to mention mid-terms.  However, all of my efforts have not been fruitless.  I, along with another design teammate, attended a national student design competition in San Francisco this past weekend.  The team of five that I was a part of was picked out of 13 projects to represent the school in the competition.  The conference was held by NOMA, The National Organization of Minority Architects. 

Though we did not win, the experience itself was amazing.  This was my first time visiting the west coast; San Francisco is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever laid eyes on.  If you get the chance, SFMOMA is a must; the entry to the space is awe-inspiring.  My first reaction was to stop and absorb the beauty of the atrium. 

In general, the area where I stayed during my visit was blessed with a plethora of great architecture.  My hotel was on the corner of 3^rd and Mission, if I had any free time it was usually spent around the corner at the Metreon and Yerba Buena Gardens.  Please visit the link at the end of this sentence; it is an article comparing Mario Botta’s design of SFMOMA to Gehry’s style of architecture.

So, being around so many architects this past weekend, I did get the chance to ask many about their opinion of Gehry.  The most common answer I received was not about the form of Gehry’s work but more about his approach.  It went something like this: “the greatest aspect of Gehry’s work is that he is not afraid to challenge architecture.  More or less, he is creating architecture that is his sole vision.  With little concern for criticism of skeptics, Gehry is introducing a new translation to the language of architecture.  That is the difference between Gehry and so many other architects; he is willing to take risks while others are not.” 

Post Script:  I will put up pics of my design that went to the competition later this week.

Sketches of Gehry

This week, one of my professors described what we as students would experience once we began working in the field. The basis of the lecture went something like this; “What you must do is read, read, and then read some more.  In doing so you will develop your own internal library to rely upon, trust me you will need it.  The architectural design process can be frustrating; there will be days when the ideas are not flowing.  You will become stuck.  However, if you have a library of architecture stuffed into your back pocket, it will make your life much easier.” 

“There will never be a dull day; there will never be a single day that is the same as the last or the one before the previous.  Also, there is no way that you will be able to learn all that there is to know about architecture.  It is simply not possible; there are not enough hours in a day or days in a lifetime to acquire all the knowledge.”  I find this portion of the lecture to be liberating and intimidating at the same time. It is liberating in respect to the day to day dynamics of design, on the contrary, it is intimidating in the sense of an individual’s attempt to acquire everything necessary to become an architect with integrity.

There was a defining moment in Gehry’s career, a moment where he decided through encouragement from a friend to stop settling for clients who did not share his vision.  This exact moment is defined in the documentary titled "Sketches of Frank Gehry" by Sydney Pollack. Basically, Gehry had just attended the grand opening of a lackluster building (Santa Monica Place) he had designed.  Afterwards he invited a few colleagues back to his home.  The recently renovated home spoke for itself, revealing for the first time what Gehry was actually capable of.  The colleague in particular asked Gerhy, “What exactly is going on here?”  Later stating, “If this is you, then you must not like the building we just came from.”  Gehry replied “No, I do not, but I must pay the bills.”  At this point the colleague said “Well then just stop it.”  Gehry answered “You know what, you are right, I will.”

Anyone who has seen “SoFG” knows that it is an intimate documentary.  The reason I believe that this film has the feel of a relaxed Sunday afternoon is it was made by Gehry’s friend Sydney Pollack who openly admits he knows not the first thing about architecture.  Many people have approached Gehry wanting to document his work and design process; luckily for you and me he said “No”.  For those of you who are architects or students of architecture and have not seen the film, I recommend you watch it as soon as possible.  It is not very often that you get the opportunity to look into a contemporary master’s head and see how he has developed his personal process of building design.  It is intriguing to watch from a design stand-point, as my professor stated earlier “there is not a dull moment” in the film. 

Post Script:  My class has entered a national design competition, one project from third or fourth year goes.  We are working in teams of five in my class (third year), I’ll keep you posted on the results.

Organic

“Organic” is the first word that comes to mind when describing Gehry’s work.  Not organic in the sense of raw materials, but organic in relation to nature’s constant movement.  A Gehry building relates to me in the same way as does a mountain or waterfall, generally resulting in a sense of beauty and awe.  With the exception of Santiago Calatrava, Frank Gehry is one of the few designers of our generation to push architecture aesthetically forward. Granted, many may be able to create an alluring asymmetrical façade, but few can do it with such grace as Gehry does while maintaining the functionality of interior space. If you will; form follows function with a twist of lime, shaken not stirred.