Frank Gehry’s buildings around the world – A journey through the world of corrugated steel

Most of our articles here on Outdoor Revival are about nature, getting out into the wilderness and escaping in some way or another.  But getting out isn’t always about running away from man made things, sometimes we need to get out to see them and appreciate them.

You don’t need to be an architect to admire a building, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a 2000 year old ancient temple. It can be a miraculous projection of a contemporary architect’s mind. So, it might be a wonderful idea to start with “the most important architect of our age” – Frank Gehry and follow his buildings across the States and abroad.

Gehry Residence in Santa Monica, California (1978). Photo credit

 

“El Peix”, fish sculpture located in front of the Port Olímpic, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain (1992). Photo credit

 

Dancing House in Prague (1996). Photo credit

 

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain (1997). Photo credit

 

Frank O. Gehry. Photo credit

Frank Gehry is one of the most famous, living architects in the world today. His creations have been cited as ones of the most important works of contemporary architecture in the 2010 World Architecture Survey.

He has a recognizable style as his buildings are always made of unpainted plywood, chain link fencing, corrugated steel, and various different “everyday” materials. His creations are beyond contemporary, they are crude, magnificent, and imposing.

The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (2000). Photo credit

 

The Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle (2000). Photo credit

 

Gehry Tower in Hanover, Germany (2001). Photo credit

 

Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (2002). Photo credit

 

Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003). Photo credit

 

Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York (2003). Photo credit

 

Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts (2004). Photo credit

Gehry was born in 1929, in Toronto, Ontario and since his childhood was influenced by his parents and relatives to express himself creatively.

He spent a lot of time at his grandfather’s hardware store, while his parents introduced him to drawing and art. He later enrolled at the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture where he was appointed as the Judge Widney Professor of Architecture in 2011.

BP Pedestrian Bridge, Millenium Park, Chicago (2004). Photo credit

 

MARTa Herford, Herford, Germany (2005). Photo credit

 

Hotel Marqués de Riscal in Elciego, Spain (2006). Photo credit

 

The headquarters of IAC in Manhattan, New York City (2007). Photo credit

 

The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health of the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, Nevada (2010). Photo credit

 

The tower at 8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan, completed in February 2011, has a stainless steel and glass exterior and is 76 stories high (2011). Photo credit

 

The Louis Vuitton Foundation finished building (2014). Photo credit

 

So, if anyone decides to start visiting Gehry’s buildings around the world, they can start with the The Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health of the Cleveland Clinic in Las Vegas, the Nevadatitanium-clad Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, or Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, France, the MARTa Herford and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, or the many many other buildings in the States and Canada.

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We live in a beautiful world, get out there and enjoy it.

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