Frank Gehry Research Articles

Return of the master architect

Long before architecture became a profession, the ‘architect’ was the ‘chief carpenter’, from the Greek word architekton. Architecture as a profession was formalised in the UK in 1834 and the USA in 1857. Prior to that, architects and engineers were pretty much as one, a great example being Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, often cited as the first architect but just as often referred to as the Chief Engineer of the Roman Empire. Vitruvius described the need for architecture to be well built (firmitas), useful in its purpose (utilitas) and beautiful to look at (venustas) – sentiments I think we can all align with today. In my opinion, the Great Pyramid, which I have been fortunate to study for TV shows, represents the birth of modern architecture. I refer to ‘modern architecture’ as the Great Pyramid is the epitome of a complex three-dimensional design conceived and created using method-led off-site manufacturing and construction techniques – to the extent that even 4500 years later we cannot determine how Hemiunu, its engineer/architect, actually did it. Fast forward to 2014, which is the year Frank Gehry said, ‘Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98% of what gets built and designed today is pure s**t’. Whether you agree with this vulgarity or not, the construction industry needs a shake-up and that shake-up has now arrived. It’s called PropTech or ConTech. ConTech refers to the digital transformation of the construction industry. With that transformation, two tectonic shifts are about to occur: 1. It will become the greatest time in history to be an engineer (that’s an article for another day). 2. The master architect will return to rival the feats of Hemiunu and Vitruvius.

The role of sketching within the process of creative maturation of an architect in 21st century – sketching from nature in cognitive development

In the XXIst century, there is a debate whether an architect should practise freehand drawing. This article covers statements about both advantages and drawbacks concerning this activity. Firstly, sketching remains an universal and timeless medium in cognitive development for artists, due to its engagement with various types of deep concentration at once, such as: practical, theoretical, aesthetic or scientific attention focus. What is more, through the medium of freehand drawing from nature, an architect is introduced to experience natural and build environment, by both reason and physical presence in a setting. In addition to this, there is a strong resemblance of methods within cognitive and creative process of an architectural design. On the other hand, the concepts of artistic freedom and genius, which appeared in XXth century, seem to strongly support the idea, that there is a little or no purpose of learning, development, and practise for an artist. Apart from that, recently there happen to be a common belief that manual methods lose their importance in an era of super fast and precise technology or hyper-realistic visualizations and simulations. Freehand drawing fails to reach the standards of the temporary definition of an ideal. If other qualities of manual techniques remain unrecognised, such methods could be abandoned, lose popularity and recognition. These and other controversiesconcerning freehand drawing are presented and discussed In conclusion, to show XXth and XXIst century’s approach towards this problem several architectural studios and their methods are introduced. Among many others there are modern architects: Peter Zumthor, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Alvar Aaltoand Frank Gehry, that provide numerous examples of drawings, paintings, studies and sketches from nature. Moreover they emphasize the crucial role of manual techniques within architectural design too. To summarise there is a quotation from Alvar Aalto with a remark about this topic: It is not through simple sketches and superficial similarities that they [painting, sculpture, architecture] influence each other, but through “materia”: an intellectual analysis of the chosen material.

ACERCA DEL DISEÑO ESPECULATIVO DEL ESPACIO ARQUITECTONICO: EXPERIENCIAS, METAFORAS Y ABSTRACCION

Los actos de imaginar, crear y proyectar son conceptos de especulación pura, ya que, al inicio del proceso, arquitectos con conciencia, no saben con certeza lo que se va a lograr, pero con el objetivo siempre de mejorar lo existente. Arquitectos como Peter Eisenmann, Frank Gehry, Mies van der Rohe y Peter Zumthor tienen como meta proponer especulativamente en sus proyectos soluciones formales basados en conceptos abstractos, metafóricos y experienciales.

HOMO FABER: COME I METALLI HANNO SEGNATO E SEGNANO ANCHE OGGI LA CIVILTÀ DELL’UOMO

The succession of various ages, from those of copper to that of bronze, then iron and so on, is dictated by the chemical properties of the various metals and, ultimately, by the periodic table of the elements. The capacity expressed by the homo faber to extract and work the different metals, have marked technological developments so radical as to be chosen by historians to designate real civilizations. Gold was the first metal used by man, although it could not be used either as a tool or as a weapon. More than any other ancient element, gold has always been associated with a timeless charm. None of the chemical elements discovered by modern science has been able to overcome its supremacy. Since the time of its discovery, gold has been used for ornamental purposes and only with technological development has it been used also for technical and scientific purposes. For titanium, however, the reverse path was verified, from its essentially technological use it then moved on to the artistic one. Starting in the 1960s, when titanium became available even for non-military uses, its applications have done nothing but grow and diversify. His artistic fame is unquestionably linked to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao designed by the architect Frank Gehry in 1997, while in Pedeferri’s titanochromies we have the combination of art and technology.

Deconstruction: Between Icon and Architectural Landmark, Two Spanish Examples

The 20th century was a period in the history of humanity that was marked by numerous technological advances, many discoveries and achievements in terms of knowledge, science and the arts, as well as numerous changes and political restructuring. In the Human Sciences, especially in Philosophy, new concepts and thoughts that marked and conquered the opinions of the intellectuals of that time emerged. One of these new concepts was the “Deconstruction” around the 60s of that century. The term “Deconstruction” was used for the first time by the philosopher Jacques Derrida in his work “De Grammatologie” in 1967. Deconstructivist Architecture emerged in the 80s of the 20th century. Deconstruction had as the main intention the rediscovery of new values, through the contrast of concepts, and the suppression of Modernism. Architecture was no exception, because new thoughts, styles, movements and new constructive techniques arose, which produced and caused a (re)affirmation of Architecture in society, through the implementation of new configurations and modern spatial conceptions. “Deconstruction”, as an architectural movement, arose from the fusion of the Russian Constructivism and other movements related to the philosophical concept of “Deconstruction” presented by Jacques Derrida. But it is the 1988 exhibition “Deconstructivist Architecture” organized by Marc Wigley and Philip Johnson at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York, that acknowledges Deconstruction in Architecture. Frank Gehry, Peter Eisenman, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelb(l)au, and Bernard Tschumi were the avant-garde architects featured in this exhibition. On the 25th anniversary of the exhibition, MoMA curator Barry Bergdoll hosted “Deconstructivism: Retrospective Views and Actuality”, which traced the subsequent careers of that seven architects to examine the impact of the exhibition and the changes in architecture in those 25 years. This paper identifies the Deconstruction concepts that were the basis of deconstructivist architecture but keeping in mind that Iconic deconstructivist architects were not committed completely to all concepts of this philosophy as they produced their architectural objects. Two iconic buildings as Peter Eisenman’s City of Culture outside Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Spain) are presented to achieve the debate.

Zaha Hadid’s Center for Contemporary Art and the perils of new museum architecture

As epitomised in the works of Renzo Piano, Frank Gehry, and Daniel Libeskind, the ‘new museum’ of art claims its own architectural typology. With asymmetrical silhouettes, gallery spaces that eschew the much derided ‘white cube’, and cleverly conceived circulation systems, the new museum has been heralded as revolutionising the display of art. Yet its function extends beyond the display and conservation of art. The new art museum is conceived as a multifaceted cultural centre – a public forum – where art and culture are democratised, and families, scholars, students, tourists, and teachers come together. At the same time, the new museum competes with other entertainment venues on a commercial level. As a cultural factory replete with an ambitious programme of temporary exhibitions, media facilities, restaurants, and shops, the new museum emphasises consumption as much as it does contemplation. In fact, the array of non-artrelated diversions contained in the new museum is often more important to the institution’s success than the art itself.

A Zero Energy House for and by Frank Gehry

This paper presents an energy concept of set of two residential buildings: a main house and a guest house in Santa Monica, California of total floor area of 836 m2 The aim of this concept was to create a built environment with high comfort for users and the lowest possible impact on the environment. The architect and owner of the project Frank Gehry (88), see this as his statement in the discussion on sustainability. A site potential analysis has been performed, which then led to the proposal of optimal systems. For the energy supply a PV, highly efficient reversible heat pump/chiller with heat source/surplus heat sink by closed loop geothermal system as well as evacuated tube thermal collectors have been proposed. To increase internal comfort, movable ventilated internal shades, a wind driven solar chimney supported cross ventilation and an air quality controlled natural ventilation, or a radiant floor conditioning with high cooling and low heating temperatures are used. The concept also includes an individual zone adjustment possibility by gravity wall systems. To optimize the whole system, a set of simulations and mock-up tests has been carried out. The results are then compared in this paper with the measurement results from the occupied building operation and further optimization possibilities are presented.

Art Forms in Nature: radiolaria from Haeckel and Blaschka to 3D nanotomography, quantitative image analysis, evolution, and contemporary art.

The illustrations of the late nineteenth-/twentieth-century scientist/artist Ernst Haeckel, as depicted in his book Art Forms in Nature (originally in German as Kunstformen der Natur, 1898-1904), have been at the intersection of art, biology, and mathematics for over a century. Haeckel's images of radiolaria (microscopic protozoans described as amoeba in glass houses) have influenced various artists for over a century (glass artists Leopold and Rudolph Blaschka; sculptor Henry Moore; architects Rene Binet, Zaha Hadid, Antoni Gaudi, Chris Bosse and Frank Gehry; and designers-filmmakers Charles and Ray Eames). We focus on this history and extend the artistic, biological, and mathematical contributions of this interdisciplinary legacy by going beyond the 3D visual, topological, and geometric analyses of radiolaria to include the nanoscale with graph theory, spatial statistics, and computational geometry. We analyze multiple visualizations of radiolaria generated through Haeckel's images, light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, micro- and nanotomography, and three-dimensional computer rendering. Mathematical analyses are conducted using the image analysis package "Ka-me: A Voronoi Image Analyzer." Further analyses utilize three-dimensional printing, laser etched crystalline glass art, and sculpture. Open sharing of three-dimensional nanotomography of radiolaria and other protozoa through MorphoSource enables new possibilities for artists, architects, paleontologists, structural morphologists, taxonomists, museum curators, and mathematical biologists. Distinctively, newer models of radiolaria fit into a larger context of productive interdisciplinary collaboration that continues Haeckel's legacy that lay a foundation for new work in biomimetic design and additive manufacturing where artistic and scientific models mutually and robustly generate wonder, beauty, utility, curiosity, insight, environmentalism, theory, and questions.

The Urban Regeneration Project of Abu Dhabi and the Building of Guggenheim: Issues and Tasks

최근 많은 도시는 기존의 이미지에서 벗어나 국가 경쟁력을 높이기 위한 수단으로 도시재생에 주목하고 있다. 그중 미술관과 박물관을 활용한 문화기반형 도시재생이 주목받고 있으며, 산업화시대 이후 낙후된 스페인의 도시 빌바오에 세계적인 브랜 드인 구겐하임 미술관을 개관하여 지역에 경제적 성과를 안겨준 구겐하임 빌바오가 성공적인 사례로 꼽힌다. 많은 도시가 이를 벤치마킹하여 미술관건립을 도시재생의 수단으로 추진하고 있으며, 석유생산이 주산업이었던 중동의 아랍에미리트(UAE) 또한 1970년 이후로 포스트-오일(post-oil)시대에 대비하여 경제기반을 석유부문에서 지식기반산업 육성으로 이동하기 시작하면서 미술관을 활용한 도시재생에 주목하고 있다. 아랍에미리트의 수도인 아부다비(Abu Dhabi)는 2008년 ‘경제비전 2030’ 발표를 통해 문화 관광 분야 발전에 주력하면서 사디야트(Saadiyat) 섬에 다수의 미술관과 박물관 건립을 추진 중이다. 구겐하임 빌바오와 동일 건축가인 프랑크 게리(Frank Gehry)에게 의뢰하여 최대 규모의 구겐하임 미술관을 아부다비에 설립하려는 계획도 중동지역 현대미술의 중심역할을 목표로 2012년에 개관을 계획하고 있었다. 그러나 그동안 여러 차례 건설이 중단되는 등 난항을 겪고 있으며, 지역 특유의 사회 적 문화적 문제들과 대면하면서 현재도 개관 시점이 불투명한 상태이다. 본 논문은 세계적인 구겐하임 미술관이 글로벌 전략 일부로서 아부다비로의 확장과정에 대해 살펴보면서, 빌바오와는 또 다른 지역적 환경맥락에 기인한 문제점들에 대해 논하 고자 한다. 결국 막대한 자본을 바탕으로 한 중동지역에서의 문화 주도형 신도시건설은, 지역의 사회적 문화적 발전을 통해 성숙한 문화생태계 성립과 수반되어야 함을 보여준다.Many cities are utilizing their cultural capital as a means for urban regeneration and tourist attraction. Museums form an essential component in these culture-based urban regeneration efforts, the Guggenheim Bilbao being a frequently cited example of success. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has benchmarked the Bilbao case study as they were looking for alternative income-generating industries in the post-oil era, embarking on a city-building project on the Saadiyat Island where resorts and cultural institutions of massive scale are being constructed. The Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi were pursued under this scheme, aiming at attracting tourism and elevating their status in the region as a cultural capital. This study examines the political, economic, and cultural background behind the Saadiyat city project and the pending issues behind the construction of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. This study purports that besides funding and an ambitious plan, social and cultural developments in the region over time will be essential for a successful localization of a Western brand museum in the region.

Poetical, Polite, Political Architecture in Latin America

In 2016 and responding to the Pritzker Price given to socially committed Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena, Patrik Schumacher [Partner at Zaha Hadid Architects] complained that the Pritzker Prize had mutated into a humanitarian design award and announced a worrying symptom of a political politeness flowing over architecture practice. With examples in recent humanitarian architecture laureates such as Alejandro Aravena, Shigeru Ban or Balkrishna Doshi we are experiencing a shift in recognition towards a more socially committed practice by comparison with the beginning of this century and that had witnessed celebration of exclamatory poetical building expression in the works of starchitects such as Zaha Hadid or Frank Gehry, amongst others. Using this recent debate as starting point I would like to explore the conflictive oscillations of architecture when referring and relating to the poetical, the polite and the political. The use of these three notions is limited to specific understandings associated with material practices that might be summarized as follows: POETICAL having an imaginative or sensitively emotional style of expression. POLITE relating to ‘refined’ cultural expressions. POLITICAL having some reference to the polis and thus considering the social and political community as a primary instance. It is my intention to trace the understanding, interpretation and implementation of these three notions within some Latin-American architecture practices of the last 50 years. In order to do so I will go over some ideas published by academia and I will present some building examples that help illustrate some points; mostly low-income housing and public infrastructure which are the most pressing architectural subjects in the region.

EPMA’s Bilbao Congress Plenary opening showcases world PM

Bilbao, capital of the Basque Region and the largest city in northern Spain, played host to the Euro PM2018 Congress and Exhibition. A key component of Spain’s industrial heritage, the spectacular Guggenheim Museum designed by Frank Gehry helped to revitalise Bilbao and make it the cultural centre it is today. It was unfortunate that poor weather at the wrong time made it difficult for attendees to take in the cultural riches on offer, but there was no shortage of PM subjects to occupy the time, not only the multiplicity of parallel sessions but also the only plenary session, which filled the first morning and is the subject of this report.

Servicescape, positive affect, satisfaction and behavioral intentions: The moderating role of familiarity

This study is the first to assess the relationships between substantive and communicative servicescape, positive affect, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in a highly substantively staged hotel setting, as well as the moderating effects of brand and architectural familiarity. One hundred fifty online responses were obtained from guests who stayed at a hotel in the Rioja region of Spain, designed by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, famous for creating architectural landmarks that disrupt the local landscape. Data were analyzed utilizing Partial Least Squares – Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings show that both substantive and communicative servicescape positively influence hotel customers’ positive affect, which has a positive impact on satisfaction, and which in turn significantly increases behavioral intentions. Brand familiarity moderates the relationship between substantive servicescape and positive affect, with the influence being greater for participants with low familiarity than for those with high familiarity. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.

Editorial: Pelestarian Elemen Keruangan dan Pembangunan Identitas Kota

In Ruang we address issues of form and urban space, leaving the economists to ponder the larger issues of democracy and equality in a rapidly fracturing social environment. This raises the problematic of urban form, its representations, symbolism and practices. The conservation of traditional values and norms imply the conservation of those environments that support them. Since conservation means retaining building form without its prior content, the actual fabric and processes of urban conservation are also thrown into the market place. Conservation on any scale also threatens the urban land market since large areas are then removed from trading (or is all history up for sale?) So do we proceed with adaptation, regulated change, conservation or sterilisation (preservation)?
 Today the identity of a place is not merely about localities, but is, in many occasions, more about image making to support the creation of a modern urban living environment. Over the last forty years, the use of iconic buildings to generate capital has become more and more frequent, from Sydney Opera House and the Pompidou Centre, to the new Guggenheim Bilbao. These are iconic structures whose prime function is not to give identity to neighbourhoods, but to source capital through tourism and to boost local industry. Here there is a crossover from high technology to local icons. For example Frank Gehry used technology from the American space program to design shapes and forms, as well as technology focussed on the properties of materials. But such buildings fall again into the arena of capital rather than community development. So what is happening on the other side of the coin?
 There is no doubt that social change is also accelerating in many countries and it is also clear that where we cannot hold capital accumulation and globalisation accountable for many adaptations from gender equality, new housing forms based on the disintegration of the nuclear family, the idea of a universal wage to counter automation, the generation of new communities that wish to live ‘off the grid’, and a phenomenon we might call ‘micro-communities of resistance’ to state neo-corporatism and the abuse of technology.
 At the level of design and urban form, the Charter of the New Urbanism, now sweeping Europe, and North America, with intrusions in Malaysia, China and other countries appears to have merit. Its agenda is community based planning and design, using a process of natural selection to generate urban density, with urban and architectural forms that reflect history and proven value in use. While the New Urbanism is theoretically weak, it sources two major thinkers namely Patrick Geddes and Ian McHarg, who were both concerned with the relationship between the natural environment and human habitation. Importantly, the New Urbanism deals with the tricky problem of transformation that links past formal languages with new uses. Something that we can all learn from.

Os Novos Museus e a Estética na Pós-modernidade

Esse artigo considera a eclosão dos novos museus como sintomática da cultura pós-moderna iniciada nos anos 1980. Toma como referência o Centro George Pompidou, em Paris (1977), considerado o marco inaugural da dita cultura dos museus, além do Guggenheim Bilbao (1997), tomado aqui como o principal exemplo da arquitetura icônica e midiática dos museus contemporâneos. A arquitetura espetacular dos novos museus, observada de modo mais claro no exemplo do museu Guggenheim de Frank Gehry, é compreendida como emblemática do esgotamento da arquitetura moderna, marcado pela perda de sua função prospectiva, e do surgimento da chamada pós-modernidade.

Frank Gehry on the Anti‐globalization Backlash

Frank Gehry on the Anti‐globalization Backlash

Media Review: Sketches of Frank Gehry

In 1988, an exhibition of new group ofarchitects’ works at MOMA, New York, U.S.A.,manifested “new images” in architecture. Thoseworks respond to architectural issues of complexityand diversity different from the movement ofHistoricism in architecture, which began in 1960sas a part of Postmodernism1. The title of the exhibitionwas named “Deconstructivist Architecture.”These architects, championed by some architecturaltheorists, believed that the historical type was nota concrete answer to the development of westernarchitecture. Such “Historical Postmodernism” wasthought as merely the superficial re-presentation of“old images” from the past. And it did not respondto contemporary ways of life, which was enormouslyeffected by newly developed technologies.

The effects of architectural congruence perceptions on winery visitors’ emotions and behavioral intentions: The case of Marqués de Riscal

Abstract This study examines the influence of the perceived congruence of a postmodernist hotel, which was built at one of Spain's oldest wineries, on visitors’ emotions and behavioral intentions. Due to the rather unpredictable nature of Frank Gehry's architectural landmarks, the delight model was used to investigate the effects of congruence perceptions – as related to the local landscape, visitors’ self-image and the winery's brand image – on arousal, delight and behavioral intentions. Data were collected from travelers who had visited a winery in Spain and structural equation modeling was used for analysis. The results suggest that the perceived congruence between the hotel architecture, the local landscape and the winery's brand image positively affect visitors’ arousal and delight. On the other hand, the perceived congruence between the hotel architecture and visitors' self-image only improves arousal. Arousal also affects delight and both of these emotions significantly increase visitors’ behavioral intentions. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in detail.

Making a place out of space: The social imaginaries and realities of a Business School as a designed space

We chart the sociomaterial imaginaries and realities of a new Frank Gehry–designed University of Technology Sydney Business School as both a space and a place. We review the broad sociological literature on space, considering its philosophical and conceptual parameters. Lefebvre’s work is central to such discussion, a centrality that we do not so much question as extend by turning attention from a macro-historical conception of space to consider the specificity of place and placemaking, contributing our ‘place in space’ heuristic model. We apply the model empirically through analysis of the design and occupancy of the business school, highlighting elements that concurrently produce the phenomenology of space and place. Our findings suggest that while organizational space ensconces power and the production of relationships, the translation of these into an identity ordering place is not a linear process. ‘Spatial narratives’, characterizing the imagined functions of the building, have been inconsistently materialized, and different actors have re-inscribed alternative functions and meanings in this new place. Theoretically, the article moves debate beyond the frame bequeathed by Lefebvre while building on it, proposing an analysis that affords equal emphasis to material elements (architectural features, furniture, policies) as to discursive elements (symbols, interpretations, narratives).

In-corporeal diagrams: Drawing from dance to architecture

Abstract This article is one of the offsprings of an ongoing enquiry that set out to revisit drawing’s role in architecture, by weaving a field of relations between pedagogical and epistemological theories of dance, drawing and architecture. The theories situate the affective/haptic kinaesthetic body at the centre of all in-corporeal experience, perception and conception. This article examines drawing’s potential to revive the body in architectural practices, by unveiling forces and processes that compose bodies and intertwine with the corporeality of architecture. It establishes drawing as a form of dance capable of inscribing the kinaesthetic vitality of the body into architecture. It examines architect Frank Gehry’s sketches as dynamic tracings of embodied gestures and bodily logos that mediate body and environment, interior and exterior.

Diseño y construcción del puente Frank Gehry. Primer acceso a la nueva isla de Zorrotzaurre en Bilbao

Named after Frank Gehry as homage by Bilbao's City Council, the bridge will materialize the first connection of this island with the rest of the urban fabric. It saves the watercourse with a main span of 76.9m and an average width of 28m, using an innovative design concept which combines two structural schemes: an inverted Fink Truss and a three span variable height beam. It is a bridge of major interest due to the structural type used, without any precedent in road bridges.The bridge construction is carried out on land, counting on real time monitoring of all structural elements during bridge cables tensioning, with Internet remote access.