With the death of Frank Gehry at 96, we are revisiting some of his most iconic buildings that reshaped cities, reoriented cultural institutions, and redefined what architecture could look and feel like. Across more than six decades, the legendary architect created works that fused sculptural ambition with technical innovation, pushing the boundaries of form, material, and emotion. Below, a closer look at a selection of the projects that most clearly express his influence.

Frank Gehry at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, 2010 | image © designboom

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (1997)

Frank Gehry’s Bilbao museum remains his most transformative achievement, both architecturally and culturally. Clad in sweeping titanium panels and organized as a composition of fluid, interlocking forms, the museum demonstrated how digital modeling could translate sculptural complexity into buildable architecture. It’s more than an aesthetic icon. It jumpstarted the revival of a declining industrial city, drawing millions of visitors and sparking what became known worldwide as the ‘Bilbao effect.’ Few buildings have had such measurable civic and economic impact, and its shimmering presence on the Nervión River continues to symbolize the power of architecture to change the fate of a city.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilabao, Spain, 1997 | image © Hans-Jürgen Weinhardt

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (2003)

Nearly two decades in the making, Walt Disney Concert Hall stands as one of the most acoustically and formally ambitious buildings and concert venues in the world. Its stainless steel exterior unfurls in sweeping, sail-like planes, while the interior features Douglas fir and oak surfaces that enhance the hall’s acclaimed acoustics, shaped with the help of Yasuhisa Toyota. The project offered Los Angeles a defining civic monument and became a long-awaited cornerstone for Grand Avenue’s cultural district. Today it remains both a beloved public space and a testament to Gehry’s ability to merge sculptural exuberance with functional precision.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA, 2003 | image © Tim Cheung

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris (2014)

Situated in the Bois de Boulogne, Frank Gehry’s Fondation Louis Vuitton resembles a collection of glass ‘sails’ billowing around a solid core. The architect used advanced glass technologies to create curved, transparent forms that give the museum a startling lightness despite its size. The building navigates the delicate balance between parkland and monumental architecture, becoming at once a cultural destination and an experiential journey through layered spaces, gardens, and promenades. It demonstrated Gehry’s continued evolution late into his career, pushing digital fabrication and structural engineering to new heights.

Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, France, 2014 | image © Iwan Baan

Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein (1989)

Frank Gehry’s first European project marked a turning point in his international recognition. The Vitra Design Museum introduced a new vocabulary of sharp angles, white plaster surfaces, and expressive, intersecting volumes — foreshadowing the complex geometries that would later define his better-known works. Although it’s modest in scale, the building holds outsized influence as an early example of deconstructivist architecture and as a beacon in Vitra’s campus of radical design.

Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1989 | image © Arvydas Venckus

Dancing House (Fred and Ginger), Prague (1996)

One of Frank Gehry’s most distinctive urban buildings, the Dancing House is defined by the dialogue between a curving glass tower and a more static stone volume, often described — at Gehry’s suggestion — as ‘Fred and Ginger.’ This nickname is of course in reference to the iconic dance duo Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Built on a difficult riverside site, the building sparked controversy for its bold departure from Prague’s historic architecture, but ultimately became a beloved landmark. It remains a key example of Gehry’s ability to inject movement and personality into tight, complex city contexts.

Dancing House (Fred and Ginger), Prague, Czech Republic, 1996 | image © Te Lun Ou Yang

8 Spruce Street / New York by Gehry (2011)

This 76-story residential tower in Lower Manhattan — the tallest residential building in the world at its completion — brought Frank Gehry’s sculptural approach into the vertical city. The facade’s rippling stainless-steel panels catch and distort light, giving the tower a sense of motion against the skyline. Inside, 8 Spruce includes a public school and amenities designed by Gehry Partners. It proved that his signature forms could be adapted to high-density, commercial residential development while maintaining an expressive architectural identity.

8 Spruce Street, New York, USA, 2011 | image © Brett Wharton

LUMA Arles, Arles (2021)

Frank Gehry unveiled the sculptural LUMA Arles in June 2021. The museum occupies a 27-acre creative campus at the Parc des Ateliers in the city of Arles, France. Its opening exhibition will show works by over 45 artists and designers. the tower hosts exhibition galleries, project spaces, and LUMA‘s research and archive facilities, alongside workshop and seminar rooms. The newly completed structure is defined by its twisting, rippling geometry — finished with 11,000 stainless steel panels — that boldly stands out from the modest fabric of the city.

LUMA Arles, Arles, France, 2021 | image © Adrian Deweerdt

Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota (1993)

Before Bilbao, the Weisman hinted at the language that would later become Gehry’s hallmark: curving stainless-steel forms, unexpected shifts in geometry, and an animated interplay of surfaces. Positioned on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, the museum captures shifting Midwestern light across its metallic skin. The building also stands as a case study in how Gehry approached university commissions and balances experimentation with institutional needs.

image courtesy Weisman Art Museum

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago (2004)

A centerpiece of Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Pritzker Pavilion brought Gehry’s sculptural sensibility to the outdoor concert typology. The proscenium’s sweeping ribbons of stainless steel dramatically unfurl over the stage, while a trellis of crisscrossing steel pipes extends across the Great Lawn to support a state-of-the-art sound system. The pavilion established a new model for outdoor urban performance spaces.

Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago, USA, 2004 | image © Joel Durkee

EMP Museum (now MoPOP), Seattle (2000)

Commissioned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, the EMP Museum (MOPOP) — originally dedicated to music and pop culture — embraces Gehry’s love for expressive form-building. The structure is composed of undulating volumes clad in a patchwork of brightly colored sheet metal, reportedly inspired by the smashed shapes of electric guitars. Despite polarizing reception, it remains one of Gehry’s most exuberant works, revealing the role of play, pop culture, and material experimentation in his practice.

EMP Museum (MoPOP), Seattle, USA, 2000 | image © Pygmalion Karatzas

Gehry Residence, Santa Monica (1978; expanded later)

The project that first drew widespread attention from the architecture world, Gehry’s renovation of his own home involved wrapping a conventional bungalow in raw materials such as corrugated metal, chain-link fencing, plywood, and glass. The house challenged traditional ideas of domestic architecture and became a defining example of early postmodern and deconstructivist experimentation. Its rough edges, exposed structure, and fragmentary forms signaled the beginning of the architectural language that Gehry would refine over the next four decades.

Gehry Residence, Santa Monica, USA, 1978 | image © Flickr

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Frank Gehry died on Friday, December 5th at his home in Santa Monica, California, at 96 years old. One of the most legendary architects of his generation, his sculptural buildings transformed skylines and reshaped the public’s imagination about what architecture could be. His chief of staff, Meaghan Lloyd, confirmed that the cause was a brief respiratory illness.

Frank Gehry portrait, photo by David Lauridsen via Gagosian

A Global Architectural Force

Frank Gehry was best known for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which opened in 1997 and quickly became one of the most celebrated buildings of its era. Clad in rippling titanium panels and composed of sweeping, curvilinear forms, the museum drew worldwide attention and helped catalyze the economic and cultural revitalization of the former industrial city. Its impact was so significant that the ‘Bilbao effect’ entered the global architectural lexicon, describing how a single landmark building could shift a city’s fortunes.

Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilabao, Spain, 1997 | image © Hans-Jürgen Weinhardt

Born on February 28th, 1929, in Toronto, Gehry moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California and later attended the Harvard Graduate School of Design before establishing his own practice in 1962. His early work in Southern California, marked by unconventional materials and an experimental approach to form,  laid the foundation for a career defined by restless innovation.

Gehry Residence, Santa Monica, USA, 1978 | image © Flickr

Over the following decades, Gehry produced a series of major cultural works that solidified his reputation as one of the most influential architects of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. These include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park. His practice was among the first to embrace advanced digital modeling tools, which enabled increasingly complex geometries and influenced architectural production worldwide.

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, USA, 2003 | image © Tim Cheung

Gehry received numerous accolades, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989, the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects in 2000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. He continued to work actively into his nineties, contributing designs for cultural institutions, academic buildings, and urban master plans.

His legacy continues on through the buildings that express his unique vision and in the generations of architects he inspired.

8 Spruce Street, New York, USA, 2011 | image © Brett Wharton

Frank Gehry at the 12th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice, 2010 | image © designboom

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A study finds that Zaha Hadid and Wes Anderson are some of the top architects and artists used in prompts to generate AI images and videos on Midjourney. Conducted by the web-based video editing platform Kapwing, the research has studied how users refer to famous names and styles when creating their images and videos with AI. The findings show that the most used architect name on Midjourney was Zaha Hadid, with 63,103 mentions, with the next one being Frank Lloyd Wright at 13,361 mentions. Other architects frequently used on Midjourney to generate AI images and videos include Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Peter Zumthor, Kengo Kuma, Bjarke Ingels, Le Corbusier, Richard Meier, and Jean Nouvel. 

For the directors, Wes Anderson was the most mentioned, with 92,378 prompts. His name was used more than the combined total for Tim Burton (57,000), Christopher Nolan (22,246), Ridley Scott (20,109), Guillermo del Toro (19,755), and Stanley Kubrick (16,758). Among illustrators, the fantasy artist known as WLOP was the most used name, with 166,415 mentions. Then, there’s Greg Rutkowski following with 134,695 mentions, who is also involved in a legal case against AI companies for using his name and style without permission. The study on the most copied architects and artists on Midjourney to generate AI images and videos also found that anime is one of the most repeated visual subjects in prompts. The most used titles were Akira with 53,333 mentions and Naruto with 40,494. Works by Studio Ghibli, such as Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away, also appeared frequently.

Zaha Hadid as the most used architect in AI prompt | all images courtesy of Kapwing

Midjourney Discord server counts keyword frequency

The study team started by building a list of 897 keywords, and each keyword was a name or topic used to inspire AI-generated images. These keywords came from eight groups: artists, illustrators, film directors, architects, cities, media franchises, fast-food chains, and anime. The researchers used a public online database called Midlibrary to collect examples of popular names from each category. 

Then, they used the Midjourney Discord server to count how many times these keywords appeared in AI image and video prompts (for example, one prompt could be ‘in the style of Wes Anderson,’ or ‘a building by Zaha Hadid’). The total data included 4,929,594 prompts, showing how often people use references from real architects, directors, and artists when working with AI.

Wes Anderson is the most used artist for AI prompts on Midjourney

Art Nouveau poster designer, Alphonse Mucha is the most-used artist appearing in 230,794 Midjourney prompts

digital artist, WLOP is the most prompted Illustrator, appearing in 166,415 Midjourney images and videos

Akira with 53,333 mentions is the most-used anime on Midjourney prompts

Star Wars with 160,495 mentions is the most-used franchise as AI prompts

New York is the most prompted city on Midjourney with 156,598 video or images

project info:

name: The Most-Used Prompts For AI Videos and Images

platform: Kapwing | @KapwingApp

study: here

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The 20th century saw an unprecedented shift in how architects approached domestic space, moving beyond stylistic consideration to reimagine the home in response to evolving social, technological, and material realities. Architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Lina Bo Bardi were among those at the forefront of this movement, seeking to address social and economic shifts through housing solutions. The exhibition LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s-1970s, currently on view at Tokyo’s National Art Center, examines how architects across the globe reexamined the fundamentals of modern life — its challenges and possibilities — to improve functionality, artistry, and comfort in design. The exhibition explores the transformations of this period through seven key themes — hygiene, materiality, windows, kitchen, furnishings, media, and landscape — looking at how they shaped physical spatial forms and the ways in which people experienced and interacted with them.

As the show highlights across models, archival images, sketches, and furnishings, much of modernist housing was conceived as a response to multiple, sometimes competing, elements. Industrialization and mass production brought about new materials like reinforced concrete, steel, and glass, which allowed for radical spatial innovations such as open-plan layouts, expansive windows, and cantilevered structures that defied traditional constraints. At the same time, architects adopted context-first approaches as they sought to create homes attuned to their specific climates and cultures, and the family dynamics and characters of their individual residents. This dual impulse, toward universality and locality, defined the period’s most experimental developments, exemplified by structures such as Louis Kahn’s Fisher House in Pennsylvania and Alvar Aalto’s lakeside Murtala Experimental House in Finland.

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

rethinking domestic living in the 20th century

Many architects began approaching the house as a site for testing new ideas and examining how architecture and design could revolutionize daily life. Mies van der Rohe’s Row House, partially reconstructed in the LIVING Modernity exhibition, exemplifies this experimental ethos. Designed in 1931 as part of his courtyard house series, the project reflects van der Rohe’s lifelong exploration of spatial fluidity, characterized by walls dissolving into glass and interiors and landscapes seemingly becoming one. Similarly, yet in contrast to this abstracted purity, Lina Bo Bardi’s Casa de Vidro, completed 20 years later in Brazil pursues a materially and ecologically responsive approach. The structure reinterprets modernist transparency within the dense tropical landscape using elevated concrete slabs and vernacular materials.

Hygiene also became a central concern in the early 20th century as cities grappled with public health crises. Beyond its stylistic impact, the embrace of white surfaces, open-air balconies, and functionalist layouts thus seeped into architecture as a response to the need for cleaner, healthier living conditions. The kitchen, too, was no longer relegated to the back of the house, and instead, it became an integrated space influenced by designs like Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s Frankfurt Kitchen, a precursor to modern modular kitchen systems realized in 1926. Compact, built-in cabinetry, standardized countertops, and integrated appliances all emerged as ways to make domestic labor more efficient, influenced by industrialism.

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

integrating nature and light into the modernist home

One of modernism’s most visible transformations was the treatment of windows. Advances in glass manufacturing and reinforced concrete construction allowed architects to replace solid walls with expansive glazing, creating a greater connection to the outside world. By inviting more natural light and ventilation into the home — reinforcing modernism’s emphasis on reconnecting with nature — features such as Le Corbusier’s ribbon windows or Mies van der Rohe’s floor-to-ceiling glass walls began to alter perceptions of the house as a space in dialogue with its surroundings.

Architects also began experimenting with other site-specific designs that responded to climate, topography, and vegetation through elements such as courtyards and terraces. Many modernist homes, such as Richard Neutra’s projects in California or Alvar Aalto’s in Finland, embody this sensitivity to considering the psychological impact of domestic architecture.

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

material experimentations influenced by industrialization

With the rise of industrial materials, architects embraced steel, concrete, and glass for lighter construction, allowing for larger spans, thinner walls, and an overall sense of spatial freedom. Alongside the technological progress that allowed for the domestication of these materials, many architects also reexamined traditional materials and their role in contemporary housing. Wood, tiles, and textiles were adapted to fit the modern aesthetic, with craftsmanship adapting to new functional demands. For example, Pierre Chareau’s Maison de Verre from 1932, featuring glass-block walls, exposed steel framing, and custom mechanical elements layered alongside wood detailing and handcrafted metalwork.

These principles extended to furniture and household objects, too, reinforcing modernism’s impact on shaping daily life. Architects from the Bauhaus school, such as Marcel Breuer and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, designed chairs, tables, and lighting fixtures that combined the aesthetics they implemented across their architectural designs with ergonomic function. Many of their designs, like the Barcelona Chair, the Wassily Chair, or Alvar Aalto’s wood stools remain iconic and in production today.

Kōji Fujii, Chochikukyo, 1928 | image courtesy of Taizō Furukawa

Frank Gehry, Frank & Berta Gehry Residence, 1978 | image © Frank O. Gehry. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles

Lina Bo Bardi, Glass House, 1951 | image courtesy of The National Art Center, Tokyo

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

image courtesy of Kazuo Fukunaga

project info:

name: LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s-1970s

location: The National Art Center, Tokyo | @thenationalartcentertokyo

dates: March 19th — June 30th, 2025

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Media artist Refik Anadol presents Living Architecture: Gehry, a groundbreaking audiovisual installation at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao until October 19th, 2025. As part of the inaugural ‘in situ’ exhibition, a series dedicated to site-specific installations, the work reinterprets Frank Gehry’s architectural language through artificial intelligence and generative art.

all images courtesy of Refik Anadol Studio, unless stated otherwise

customized ai model turns gehry’s forms into digital tapestry

Developed by LA-based Refik Anadol Studio, the installation utilizes the Large Architecture Model (LAM), a custom-built AI model trained over several months on a vast archive of open-access imagery, sketches, and blueprints from Frank Gehry’s works. This AI-driven system transforms the architect’s signature forms into vibrant landscapes of color, light, and movement, creating an ever-evolving digital tapestry. Augmenting the visuals, composer Kerim Karaoglu’s immersive soundscape pairs AI-generated audio and material recordings captured within the Guggenheim Bilbao museum.

the work reinterprets Frank Gehry’s architectural language | image courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

data becomes architectural imagination through six chapters

By treating data as a pigment, Refik Anadol transforms Gehry’s legacy into a living, evolving canvas with his installation, unfolding across six interconnected chapters, each representing a stage in the evolution of data into architectural imagination. From the compilation of archival materials (Data Universe) to the emergence of intricate spatial compositions (Data Plotting), the process culminates in the AI’s ability to ‘dream’ Gehry-inspired forms (Machine Hallucination and Dreams), dissolving conventional spatial constraints into fluid, speculative architectures.

Beyond its immersive experience, Living Architecture: Gehry reveals Anadol’s creative process in an adjoining gallery, where visitors can explore audiovisual displays documenting the AI learning journey. Ethically sourced data and sustainable computing practices form the backbone of the installation, underscoring a conscientious approach to the digital creation of memory and design.

part of the inaugural ‘in situ’ exhibition | image courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

the installation utilizes a custom-built AI model | image courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

the AI model was trained on a vast archive of Frank Gehry’s works

transforming the architect’s signature forms into vibrant landscapes of color, light, and movement

Refik Anadol treats data as a pigment | image courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

creating an ever-evolving digital tapestry

the installation unfolds across six interconnected chapters

ethically sourced data form the backbone of the installation | image courtesy of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

 the process culminates in the AI’s ability to ‘dream’ Gehry-inspired forms

project info:

name: Living Architecture: Gehry

artist: Refik Anadol Studio | @refikanadol

exhibition: in situ: Refik Anadol 

venue: galleries 204 and 208 at Guggenheim Museum Bilbao | @museoguggenheim

location: Bilbao, Spain

dates: March 7 – October 19, 2025

curator: Lekha Hileman Waitoller

exhibition partner: lOFl

technology partner: Euskaltel

collaborator: Google Cloud

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For Art Basel Paris 2024, Louis Vuitton celebrates Frank Gehry by bringing his monumental white fish lamp and more inside the Grand Palais. The lighting adorns the Balcon d’Honneur of the palace and illuminates the space at night, and a wooden arch made of slats in geometric patterns encircles the fish lamp, which Frank Gehry also exhibited at Gagosian New York. The exhibition is the Maison’s homage to many of the architect’s designs and works with them, on view at the Grand Palais from October 18th to 20th for the 2024 edition of Art Basel Paris.

Frank Gehry and Louis Vuitton have had 20 years of collaboration. The architect, artist, and designer is the mastermind behind Maison Louis Vuitton Seoul, which opened its doors in 2019, featuring its glass-covered exterior and fluid lines. He also created a collection of stoppers for the Maison’s Les Extraits perfume bottles in 2021, as well as reimagined ones for the 2022 Les Editions d’Art, this time made from Murano glass. In 2023, Louis Vuitton presented Frank Gehry’s debut collection of handbags at Art Basel Miami, all inspired by his portfolio of architecture.

all images courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Louis vuitton brings frank gehry’s handbag collection to paris

Frank Gehry’s white fish lamp in the Grand Palais is accompanied by a series of his many collaborations with Louis Vuitton, including his handbag collection at Art Basel Miami in 2023. In Paris, the Maison encases these bags in glass for visitors to see firsthand. They’re inspired by the architect’s style, which often exudes flowing lines and ballooned or reconfigured shapes. As visitors roam around, they catch sight of the Capucines Mini Blossom and Mini Puzzle bags and their colored surfaces, harking back to the architect’s take on transparency and botanical-plant shapes.

The other bags, namely the Capucines MM Concrete Pockets, BB Shimmer Haze, and BB Analog, take direct inspiration from the buildings he designed, including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle; and the IAC Building in New York City. There’s a totemic animal symbol on the limited-edition collection, which appears on the handbags in varying forms. They seem like fish scales, as seen in his hanging lamp, or like an alligator, as seen in the handle of the BB Croc bag.

for Art Basel Paris 2024, Louis Vuitton celebrates Frank Gehry through an exhibition

‘Twisted trunk’ box version of the monogram canvas trunk

Louis Vuitton may be much more recognizable for their Monogram canvas trunk, and it’s a fated meeting between two icons in their respective fields the moment Frank Gehry designed his iteration of it in 2014. It’s the Celebrating Monogram collection, and the architect released it for the Maison’s 160th anniversary. 

The look of his Twisted Box trunk reveals exactly how the name sounds: it’s semi-deformed, on the verge of a twist. Visitors to Art Basel Paris and Grand Palais are afforded this Louis Vuitton trunk design, and when they have enough time to stay one of the nights between October 18th and 20th, they may be able to see the white fish lamp glow.

the exhibition showcases many of Frank Gehry’s works with and for Louis Vuitton

arch made of wooden slats around the fish lamp

the fish lamps have been shown in a Gagosian exhibition in New York

detailed view of the fish lamp, illuminated at night

inside Grand Palais during Art Basel Paris 2024

the making of Capucines Mini Blossom handbag

detailed view of the paper crafting

the exhibition is on view until October 20th, 2024

project info:

architect: Frank Gehry | @frankgehry_official

maison: Louis Vuitton | @louisvuitton

event: Art Basel Paris 2024 | @artbasel

venue: Grand Palais, Paris, France

dates: October 18th to 20th, 2024

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The Colburn School in Los Angeles, one of the world’s leading schools for music and dance, held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 100,000-square-foot expansion designed by Frank Gehry. The new Colburn Center will dramatically increase the school’s elite training and performance facilities and provide much-needed performance space, including a 1,000-seat, state-of-the-art concert hall, for young artists across LA. The groundbreaking ceremony took place adjacent to the construction site at 130 Olive Street, located within Downtown Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill area diagonally across the street from Colburn’s existing campus on Grand Avenue. The expansion will stand as an important addition to the cultural corridor which includes Gehry Partners’ Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Music Center, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed broad. Anticipated completion is expected for the first quarter of 2027.

left to right: Sel Kardan, Carol Colburn Grigor, Andrew Millstein, Jerry Kohl, Terri Kohl, Maeesha Merchant, Toby Mayman, Merle Mullin, and Terry Greene at Colburn Center groundbreaking ceremony, April 5, 2024 | image © Loreen Sarkis

a hall for all

Designed by Frank Gehry (see more), the Colburn Center at the Colburn School (see more) will be a ‘hall for all,’ giving artists and students a place to shine. the center will stand at the crossroads of culture, education, and landmark architecture — marking frank gehry’s third project within three blocks to become the world’s greatest concentration of his architecture. The colburn school welcomes over 2,000 students from across los angeles and around the world, with ages ranging from seven months to adult. the new center will make the colburn campus an even livelier hub of artistic activity and enable the school to expand its mission of presenting programs for the public, which include performance and educational collaborations with acclaimed local and touring artists and ensembles. it will also provide much needed performance space in a mid-sized hall for the region’s established and emerging performing arts organizations.

view from Hill Street West towards dance school entrance | image © Gehry Partners

the 1,000 seat theater, ‘terri and jerry kohl hall’

Frank Gehry’s Colburn Center will welcome students and audiences alike, with a dynamic composition of transparent and opaque interlocking blocks that step down into the natural contour of the site. A 1,000-seat concert hall uses an in-the-round design to create intimacy between the performers and the audience and removes the stage lip, putting front-row seats at eye-level with the performers. Orchestra, opera, dance, and musical theater will all be at home in the hall, which is equipped with an orchestra pit and a stage large enough to accommodate the grandest works and the largest orchestrations.

branded shovels used for groundbreaking ceremony | image © Loreen Sarkis

the theater and dance studios

Four professional-sized dance studios and a 100-seat flexible studio theater are enveloped in glass and provide a literal window into the beauty and rigor of dance training and performance. With a separate entrance and distinct architectural character, the light-filled dance facilities will have their own identity while harmonizing with the larger project. The Colburn Center will be equipped to take a modern approach to multi-media technology and production. The facilities include commercial-quality recording and streaming capabilities, and performance spaces will be outfitted with state-of-the-art lighting. Public spaces include an outdoor plaza, giving visitors a front-row seat to the performing arts, and gardens which provide much-needed green space and pedestrian access to nearby public transit hubs.

view from Hill Street and 2nd Street intersection

colburn president sel kardan comments: ‘With great joy and excitement, we share the design of Frank Gehry’s multi-dimensional project, which will welcome our students, performing artists, and audiences from across los angeles.The Colburn Center is a physical manifestation of the school’s founding principle of ‘access to excellence,’ allowing Colburn to continue and expand our educational and performance activities in a design which breaks down barriers between audience and performer and reveals the educational process. We look forward to collaborating with our artistic partners in Terri and Jerry Kohl hall, which complements the other stellar performance spaces in Downtown Los Angeles.’

performance by the Colburn Conservatory’s Pep Band | image © Loreen Sarkis

inside the 1,000-seat Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall | image © Gehry Partners

Sel Kardan, President and CEO of the Colburn School, at groundbreaking ceremony | image © Loreen Sarkis

inside the 100-seat studio theater | image © Gehry Partners

new urban plaza to be created at the entrance to the concert hall | image © Gehry Partners

aerial view of the Colburn Center

project info:

project title: The Colburn Center at the Colburn School 

architecture: Gehry Partners LLP | @frankgehry_official

location: Downtown Los Angeles, California

breaking ground ceremony: April 5, 2024  

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Louis Vuitton introduces Frank Gehry’s first-ever High Watchmaking timepiece topped with translucent sapphire crystal, making the rose gold- and rhodium-plated gears, plate, and flying tourbillon stand out. The watch follows the architect’s handbag collection with the French fashion house during Art Basel Miami in 2023, and it also forms part of the Louis Vuitton High Watchmaking series, which bears the mark of the Poinçon de Genève, an independent institution that certifies the manufacturing and finishing of all the components that go into watchmaking.

images courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Frank Gehry’s Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon watch with Louis Vuitton is the first timepiece with a sapphire dial and case to bear the Poinçon de Genève seal, created, developed, and assembled by the artisans and watchmakers at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton in Geneva. The timepiece springs from the collaboration between La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton and architect Frank Gehry, inspired by the latter’s designs for the Maison, namely the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris and the recently opened Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul.

Frank Gehry’s signature adorns the case back alongside the Poinçon de Genève seal

It is the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul where Frank Gehry drew his design influences for his Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon watch with sapphire crystal. For the Seoul Maison, he created a rippling glass structure that appears to float over the roof of the building, an allusion to the movement of a boat’s sails. It runs in the same vein as the architect’s work for the Fondation Louis Vuitton, where he built a glass ship. Frank Gerhy brings them together in his first-ever watch (limited only to five pieces), downsizing them to create a miniature scale that wraps around the wearer’s wrist. ‘My inspiration comes from the sea, fish, boats, and the nautical world because they embody the notion of movement, mobility, speed,’ Frank Gehry says  at the grand opening of the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul. ‘I like to express movement, inject this energy and dynamic into static materials.’

artisans at the La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton took 250 hours to produce the dial alone

Over 250 hours of craftsmanship with louis vuitton’s artisans

La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton crafted sapphire into the crystalline face of Frank Gehry’s Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon watch, sourced from a single 200-kilo block of the crystal. The case, dial, crown, lugs, and hands have all been cut from this gem, which is dubbed the hardest in the world after diamond, and artisans at La Fabrique du Temps Louis Vuitton took 250 hours to produce the dial alone, which is no thicker than a sheet of paper. Manual craftsmanship was put into play to sculpt and realize Frank Gehry’s architectural designs for the flying tourbillon watch. The dial makers even used medical tools just to reproduce the asymmetric forms and curved swirls that hark back to Frank Gehry’s design ethos in his architectural works.

Louis Vuitton sculpted sapphire for Frank Gehry’s Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon watch

rose gold- and rhodium-plated gears and flying tourbillon

In the end, the sculpted sapphire glass puts forward the rose gold- and rhodium-plated gears, plate and flying tourbillon’ meticulous detailing inside the watch, including the chamfering and satin finishes. Frank Gehry’s Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon comes with an 80-hour power reserve, and this hand-wound mechanical movement displays a Monogram Flower within the tourbillon carriage. The architect’s signature adorns the case back alongside the Poinçon de Genève seal.  After designing the Fondation Louis Vuitton building in Paris in 2014 and the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul in 2019, Frank Gehry agreed to take on creating the first High Watchmaking timepiece of his career. The resulting watch may testify that he made the right and conscious decision.

the dial makers even used medical tools to reproduce the architectural styles Frank Gehry

project info:

name: Tambour Moon Flying Tourbillon Poinçon De Genève Sapphire

architect: Frank Gehry

maison: Louis Vuitton

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In Gagosian New York, Frank Gehry’s Fish Lamp sculptures and works on paper light up, float in the air, and adorn the walls of the gallery, forming his recent exhibition titled Ruminations. Large-scale objects lit up through LED lights and small colored sketches all gather inside Gagosian New York to celebrate some of the revered sculptures and works of the American architect and designer, from his Fish Lamps and Crocodile Lamp sculptures to several works on paper that have not previously been seen in New York. Frank Gehry’s fish design also appeared in his handbag collection with Louis Vuitton during Art Basel Miami 2023. The exhibition runs from February 8th to April 6th, 2024.

Ruminations, 2024, installation view | images © Frank O. Gehry, courtesy of Gagosian | photos by Maris Hutchinson

Fish Lamp sculptures made of copper and Formica

In the Ruminations exhibition, Frank Gehry’s Fish Lamp sculptures are made of copper and Formica, a laminated composite material, with lights inserted inside the artworks. One of the copper fish hangs from the ceiling of Gagosian New York, floating adjacent to Untitled (Black Crocodile New York) (2023) crawling upwards on the walls of the gallery, luminous through the lights inside its black-colored body. The leaf-like scales on the copper fish are drawn from what Frank Gehry saw during a hike with his granddaughter. He shaped what he remembered into scaly, copper fish that swim downward, seemingly enjoying the flow of invisible water.

Frank Gehry, Ruminations, 2024, installation view

The fish lamp sculptures are rooted in a 1983 commission that Frank Gehry received from the Formica Corporation before they graced the exhibition. The company wanted the architect and designer to use their ColorCore plastic laminate. Its stark shade, malleable form, and scale-like appearance encouraged Frank Gehry to shape it into fish affixed to molded wire armatures and illuminated using LED lights inside their bodies.  In Gagosian New York, his attention to detail is noticeable as the fish lamp sculptures embody layered and thoroughly formed spiky scales.

Frank Gehry, Ruminations, 2024, installation view

In Crocodile Lamp, Frank Gehry reiterates his fascination with animals and transforms metal wire, Colorcore formica, and silicone into an immobile sculpture that emulates its freshwater living counterpart. This interest in animals was also conveyed in Bear with Us (2014), a life-size stainless-steel sculpture that can now be found in the sculpture garden of the New Orleans Museum of Art. An equine sculpture of it was also produced for Cheval Blanc in Paris. For the exhibition, the amicable sculpture lays still on the walls of Gagosian New York as it halts from crawling, complementing Frank Gehry’s freestanding fish lamp sculptures on a heavy, handmade wooden base.

Frank Gehry, Fish on Fire (New York), 2023, copper and steel wire

Works on paper recalling frank gehry’s oeuvre

Gagosian New York’s Ruminations exhibition also features Frank Gehry’s several small works in ink, watercolor, and acrylic on paper. In these joyful drawings, the architect and designer draws spiraling black lines, a signature style of his other works on paper, which can signal his vigorous motion in art. Patches of liquid color top the spiral lines, completing his works and resonating with his architectural sketches and studies. Through the forms of the lamp sculptures and works on paper, the exhibition recalls forms and elements that reappear throughout Frank Gehry’s architectural oeuvre, such as in 2003’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles; Guggenheim Bilbao (1997); and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (opening 2025).

Frank Gehry, Untitled Standing Fish (New York), 2023, copper, stainless steel wire, LED lights, and timber

Frank Gehry, Untitled (Black Crocodile New York), 2023, metal wire, Colorcore formica, and silicone

installation view inside Gagosian New York for Frank Gehry’s Ruminations exhibition

Frank Gehry, Ruminations, 2024, installation view

Frank Gehry, Ruminations, 2024, installation view

Frank Gehry, Untitled (Rust and Blue Fish), 2022, pen and watercolor on paper

project info:

exhibition name: Ruminations

architect and designer: Frank Gehry

gallery: Gagosian New York

location: 976 Madison Avenue, New York

dates: February 8th to April 6th, 2024

The post frank gehry’s fish and crocodile lamp sculptures illuminate gagosian new york’s exhibition appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Louis Vuitton makes a comeback at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach (read our ultimate guide here for details on what’s not to miss during Miami Art Week 2023), bringing the debut of the limited-edition Frank Gehry handbag collection for the first time. Louis Vuitton’s Art Basel Miami Beach stand showcases the Frank Gehry capsule, which is centered around three themes that point toward the architect’s long-life career, including Architecture and Form, Material Exploration, and Animals. Viewers are encouraged to roam around the booth between December 8th and 10th, 2023, in the West Lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry handbag collection features designs that evoke the Maison’s Capucines bags, the Twisted Box Trunk, and a Bear With Us Clutch which is based upon Frank Gehry’s 2014 Bear with Us sculpture. A selection of the works that Frank Gehry produced during his longstanding collaboration with Louis Vuitton is also on display inside the architectural booth of the Maison at the Art Basel Miami Beach. From its exterior alone, Frank Gehry’s style is already omnipresent.

images courtesy of Louis Vuitton | product images at Frank Gehry’s Studio by Mario Kroes

a scenography at art basel miami stand of louis vuitton

Louis Vuitton creates a scenography to introduce its limited-edition Frank Gehry handbag collection at the Art Basel Miami Beach. Wood and cardboard models emerge inside the booth, brushing against the five enveloping sail-like mesh structures that nod to Frank Gehry’s 2014 window displays for Louis Vuitton. The interior is organized into four themes that are closely linked to the architect, namely Architecture and Form, Material Exploration, Animals, and his Twisted Box creation for Celebrating Monogram.

To bring out the tangible objects related to these themes, the items on display fully encapsulate Frank Gehry’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton, from the handbags, trunks, and perfume bottles to original artworks, preparatory sketches, and architectural models. Here, visitors can scrutinize the handbag collection and see Capucines Mini Blossom with its glass-like resin petals, inspired by perfume bottles, and the hammered LV recalling the logo Frank Gehry created for the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Louis Vuitton returns to Art Basel Miami Beach for the debut of Frank Gehry handbag collection

Frank gehry crafts figurines reminisce of alice in wonderland

On display too is a Capucines MM Floating Fish handbag made with crafted leather which embodies a design inspired by fish lamps found at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Another Capucines MM Concrete Pockets handbag comes up, employing a 3D cement-effect printing technique on its calfskin exterior, creating textures similar to Frank Gehry’s architectural style.

Louis Vuitton’s Art Basel Miami Beach stand also brings back Frank Gehry’s sculpture trunk, a collection of eight figurines inspired by Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The architect created these figurines for the 200 Trunks, 200 Visionaries exhibition that celebrated Louis Vuitton’s 200th birthday. For Art Basel Miami Beach, these sculptures are spotlighted alongside the model of an imaginary Frank Gehry building, completing what the architect describes as a tea party for Louis Vuitton founder similar to a scene in Alice in Wonderland.

the collection features designs that evoke Capucines bags, the Twisted Box Trunk, and a Bear With Us Clutch

Other Frank Gehry projects and artworks for Louis Vuitton on display include his Les Extraits perfume bottles and their stoppers handcrafted in Murano, Italy, and the Flaconnier Les Extraits designed to transport them. There is also a selection of sketches and models by Frank Gehry, such as preparatory drawings for his work on the Celebrating Monogram project and maquettes exploring his design for the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

These are accompanied by videos illustrating the architect’s most famous collaborations with Louis Vuitton, and a painted portrait of the architect by French artist Jean-Philippe Delhomme. Visitors are free to roam around Louis Vuitton’s stand between December 8th and 10th, 2023, in the West Lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center during the Art Basel Miami Beach.

a selection of the works that Frank Gehry has produced during his collaboration with Louis Vuitton is also on display

on display too is a Capucines MM Floating Fish handbag made with crafted leather

visitors can roam around the booth in the West Lobby of the Miami Beach Convention Center

Louis Vuitton’s stand at Art Basel Miami Beach

wood and cardboard models emerge inside the booth

the interior is organized into four themes that are closely linked to the architect

the items on display fully encapsulate Frank Gehry’s collaboration with Louis Vuitton

project info:

name: Louis Vuitton x Frank Gehry

maison: Louis Vuitton

architect: Frank Gehry

event: Art Basel Miami Beach

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