Many people hate Frank Gehryhis swoopy designs make some Seattle residents vomit and curse his name. But, while the rest of the world contends with Gehry designed buildings (and their own individual notion of architectural taste), Gehry contends with his own demon, namely his own house.
gradually, the house seemed to become a psychological burden. "I was emotionally trapped because it was this icon," Mr. Gehry said in an interview. He worried that its status as an architectural landmark would weigh on his children after his death. His family's lifestyle had changed.
He resolved to start completely from scratch, and before long, he was sketching. Mr. Gehry, 75, has been showing me various models of the house for nearly two years. [ ]
When Mr. Gehry renovated the house in 1993, many were horrified: in removing some of the house's toughness, he had virtually destroyed its character. Mr. Gehry responded that he was simply adapting to the times. His family was growing older; his two sons, Alejandro and Sam, needed more privacy. He decided to extend the house to the back, adding a new bedroom. That led to other changes, like covering the exposed stud ceiling and removing the asphalt floors in the dining room. But he admits now with a shrug: "Once I touched it, the whole thing began to unravel. It got tarted up."
That lack of sentimentality - that sense that memory can be a prison as well as a source of inspiration - is essential to his creative process. He has said that he even needs to create some personal discomfort to force himself into new creative territory: dwelling in the security of the past, he argues, can be a trap.
I love Gehry, but I also think its appropriate that he should have to struggle with the design of his own home.
Kay said:
Funny, I haven't yet come across anyone who hates Gehry's work.
check out mike david 'city of quartz' - he looks at some of gehry's work in LA as part of turning the downtown into a fortress. davis sees the whole thing as bad for public space. (davis can be melodramatic at times - but he's a smart guy with some interesting points).
with that note: gehry did a helluva job on the new bandshell here in chicago at millenium park.
That falling ice sounds like more of his failure to anticipate problems like at the Disney concert hall in downtown Los Angeles; some nearby residents are blinded/cooked out of their homes for a few hours every day by intense sun reflection.
uncleduke said:
That falling ice sounds like more of his failure to anticipate problems like at the Disney concert hall in downtown Los Angeles; some nearby residents are blinded/cooked out of their homes for a few hours every day by intense sun reflection.
Last I heard, there are plans to have the surface of Disney Concert Hall sandblasted to prevent this problem. Or at least, the idea was being tossed around.
Christopher
Portland, OR
November 2002
JAN 10, 2005 06:58 AM