Architect Frank Gehry has shattered conventions, designing buildings that look more sculpture than architecture. Using unorthodox materials and space-age methods, Gehry creates unexpected, twisted forms. His work has a radical, playful, organic, sensual element to it — a modernism called deconstructuvisim. I will be examining some of Frank Gehry's most famous projects and try to understand the patterns of the architect.
The Guggenheim Museum
The Guggenheim Museum, BilbaoOn the riverside of Bilbao, Spain, the ship-like form of Gehry’s Guggenheim shimmers with warm light reflected from the cool waters. The undulating metallic planes are serene, like the ripples and waves below. At night the building is lit with tones of blue, green and purple, reflecting the colors of a Bilbao evening sky. This is a dynamic place of ever-changing surfaces and rhythmic transitions of space and void. Despite the effect of fluidity, it is also very solid, a majestic guardian of art, giving a sense of timelessness to modern architecture.
The Guggenheim Museum, BilbaoOn the riverside of Bilbao, Spain, the ship-like form of Gehry’s Guggenheim shimmers with warm light reflected from the cool waters. The undulating metallic planes are serene, like the ripples and waves below. At night the building is lit with tones of blue, green and purple, reflecting the colors of a Bilbao evening sky. This is a dynamic place of ever-changing surfaces and rhythmic transitions of space and void. Despite the effect of fluidity, it is also very solid, a majestic guardian of art, giving a sense of timelessness to modern architecture.
Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles
Home to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the concert hall was built as a tribute to Walt Disney’s devotion to the arts and his love of the city. In the original design the building had a stone exterior, but, due to a limited budget, this was later changed to the steel cladding – which makes the building so distinctively Gehry’s. The architecture has a music of its own, the melody of intersecting planes mimic a graphic score while delivering the harmony of light and form that Gehry does so well. |
Dancing House, Prague
The Dancing House in Prague stands on the site where a house was destroyed by the U.S. bombing of Prague in 1945. In 1992 work began on the building, taking into account the previous architect Milunić’s idea of a static and dynamic architecture symbolizing the transition of Czeckoslovakia from communism to democracy. The regularity of the windows on one part is juxtaposed by the swaying form of the other; a beautiful interplay of movement and stasis. Now the building houses offices and an art gallery that is well worth a visit on your next trip to Prague. |
I printed out my best images and then created kaleidoscope patterns with it. Even though I already liked how my kaleidoscope patterns turned out because of the different textures and colour. I used the kaleidoscope patterns to guide me where to fold and create paper sculptures. I repeated these steps with more than one image, experimenting with which one turns out better but I realised that they all worked well especially if I bring them together to create an even bigger sculpture. My work reminded me of Nicole Crook because of the folds but more of Frank Gehry because of how unique the shapes came out. Also I wanted to turn it into a structure such as a building because it looks like one of Gehry's architectural buildings.