Frank Gehry

[jbsegal]

Before you ask who:
http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Frank_Gehry.html
http://www.guggenheim.org/exhibitions/past_exhibitions/gehry/

[Poll #249804]

Comments

clue?

[khatru.livejournal.com]

Going to that site (admittedly in links) says 'due to relaunch soon'. No content.

so um. mu?

er...What?

[bridgetminerva.livejournal.com]

What IS it supposed to be?

Re: er...What?

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

Better links put in.

[sandhawke.livejournal.com]

I'm a big Gehry fan, but ... we're moving into the State center in a couple weeks, and my office looks from the blueprints like a royal pain with only one straight wall, etc. (I also ended up with an office with no windows, but that's kinda my fault, since I only use it a few days a month.) I just hope the space ends up feeling nice. We shall see.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

I always wondered what you thought of that long reply I sent to you, when you asked me in email what I thought of same.

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

Frank Gehry is an abomination to architecture. Buildings should be practical before they have all the gratuitious bullshit hung off them. The buildings of his that I've seen contain so much unusable space that they exceed even the worst of I.M. Pei. Why he keeps getting hired is beyond me; both he and the people who hire him to design what should be useful buildings should be sacked without fail or delay. Ugh.

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

He makes good sculptures, but I don't think that his buildings are as workable as they should be. I kind of wonder if he's trying to be another Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank had great ideas, and a wonderful philosophy. But most of his "great" buildings were pretty unworkable or unlivable. But he exagerrated what he was trying to espouse in his buildings to give his ideas a larger audience. How many of his buildings "fit in with their surroundings"? Very very few.

[amberwood.livejournal.com]

Living by Seattle I have to say, I totally abhor his Music Experience building. It is an abomination to the eye and totally ruins what is otherwise a mostly beautiful city. I can't even begin to imagine what drugs the city planners, let alone the architect, were on when they allowed and designed that atrocity to be built in Seattle.

Gads but I HATE that building!!!

Re:

[ceo]

The best description I ever heard of the Experience Music Project building was "it looks like the Space Needle took off its clothes and left them in a pile around its ankles".

[ivorjawa.livejournal.com]

The Stata Center is an abomination before god and man.
When I first saw the University of Minnesota art museum, I thought "Holy FUCK! Why are the art and architecture buildings always the most incredibly butt-ugly places on campus?"
The man needs to have his hands, feet, and tongue removed so he can do no more evil.

[ceo]

I like a lot of his buildings from a purely aesthetic sense, but having never been in one, I can't tell you if they actually work or not. Haven't decided if I like the Stata Center or not; I'm reserving judgment until it's finished-- though, how will I be able to tell? :-)

Then again, I like the Space Waffle, so adjust your perception of my architectural taste accordingly.

Re:

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

I don't hate what you (and some others) call the Waffle...but mainly because I'm waiting for it to be hacked with some giant Lego minifigs climbing all over it, for that's what it really is - Lego.

[alphacygni]

I also like some of his buildings, on a purely aesthetic level. I like the way the Stata Center breaks up the monotony of cinder brick office cubes that surrounds it on most sides (the exception being building 34, with its glass entrance). However, the more I hear about how impractical the interior is shaping up for the occupants, the less I can excuse for aesthetic variety. True geniuses combine function with creative form. Of course, genius is rare.

I dislike SpongeBob SquareDorm (referenced above), but that's mostly because (1) I don't like the garish primary colors, and (2) the flatness around it makes it look all wrong. This will be corrected with time, as the campus starts to flow down that way, west Vassar Street is renovated, etc. I haven't heard as much about how useful its interior actually has been.

Re: Frank Gehry

[wolfieboy.livejournal.com]

Anyone actually admitting to designing the building for the Experience Music Project shows a lot of courage but it's still one of the two ugliest buildings in Seattle.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

Then there's that law school building in Cleveland that
Gehry built. Some dude went postal, and the fucked up angles
in the building bought him time to kill more people because
the SWAT team couldn't find a safe approach.

i wonder if he had a curl, because...

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

...when he was good, he was very very good, and when he was bad he was HORRID...

Re: i wonder if he had a curl, because...

[sauergeek.livejournal.com]

Can you post some links to buildings where Gehry was actually good? Everything of his I've seen makes me think he designs with an eye toward Dali paintings and/or acid.

Re: i wonder if he had a curl, because...

[thespian.livejournal.com]

the new Art Gallery of Ontario building promises to be interesting, and I actually like the proposal, though the new stairwell (while pretty) bothers me, since it's not actually wide enough for me to pass someone of the same size on comfortably. It's overly artistic without thought for some basic use issues (but then, my specialty is usability and accessibilty, and it IS an art gallery).

http://www.ago.net/transformation/new_building.cfm