Citations

• Eisenman, Peter. (2008). “Ten Canonical Buildings 1950-2000.” Published by Rizzolli.

• Charles, Jencks. (1995). “:The Architecture of the Jumping Universe.” Published by London Academy.

The Lewis building

The full transformation of Gehry's work is clearly seen in the Lewis building. The Lewis building was mainly done on the computer using two different architects each with their own opinion. It is necessary to distinguish Lynn’s idea of the digital versus that of Gehry and also between the conceptual in Lynn and the phenomenal in Gehry.
The invocation of the digital part is important for the understanding of the evolution of the Lewis Building. This building went through a huge evolution from 1997 up until 2000. The final model was done in 2000, where there was a little bit of an argument over whether they should go with the digital or the analogue. The final product showed many traces that were taken from all of Gehry's previous projects that were discussed earlier on. (Eisenman, 260-265)

Bilbao Guggenheim Museum

In 1991, Gehry started working on the Guggenheim Museum in Balboa (1991-1997). This museum was an opportunity for Gehry to prove that the program that was established at Vitra, was applicable to a large-scale work. Gehry likes to work with freedom an this building in specific helps weild the symbol of the city’s future. His work is considered, at this point, new work that the city desires. This building has a lot of symbols, it embodies Bilboa’s optimism and tries to be for its citizens, a constant visible reminder of new goals. It reveals Gehry’s talent as an urbanist, his contribution in the choice of the site, was determinative. This building was one of the first buildings that Gehry had used a program on the computer in order to finalize his drawings. (Eisenman, 302-303)

The Santa Monica Place

The previous post displays a brief introduction of Gehry's early work, but the turning point of his career was the Santa Monica Place, which caused a huge shift in Gehry’s work. In the Santa Monica Place of 1972-1980, he changes his way of constructing the outside before the inside. In this project, he designs the inside of the shopping mall completely, according to the logic that was dictated by the program. He later constructed the outside of the building but not as an architectural form or gesture, but as a huge sign saying “Santa Monica Place.”this was the change in Gehry’s work. His work had a complete change at that point because of instead of working from the outside in, he begins to work from the inside out.(Eisenman, 264-266)

Frank Gehry as a deconstructivist

The architecture of Frank Gehry, is closely related to that of the city of Los Angeles. He escapes the monumental, ignored the topological criteria, and bears with the mark, the stigma of the temporary and the ephemeral. He will respect a way of doing things but to him environmental preexistence does not count. Some of his early works started by studying different architectures in Los Angeles. His first work was the house of the artist Ron Davis which was built in 1972. He took the idea of how Davis draws his paintings and came up with something similar for the drawings of the house of Davis. Gehry wanted to be close to the freedom of an artist so he always discovered the materials that he wanted to use for building house instead of just focusing on the drawings of the building. (Eisenman, 264-266)

Defining Deconstructivism

De-constructivism in architecture, is a development of postmodern architecture, which began in the late 1980s. It is distinguished through the notion of fragmentation, an interest in reworking designs of a structure's surface or skin, into non-rectilinear forms, which result in the distortion and dislocation of the architectural elements, such as structure and envelope. The physical aspect of the final product that displays many de-constructivist "styles" is distinguished through a stimulating unpredictability and a controlled chaos. Jencks stated “If modernism had a primary place for abstraction, then the new movement emphasizes this to such a degree that it often becomes completely hermetic- carried out in a private code.” (Jencks) Unlike early modernist structures, these structures are not required to reflect the specific social or universal ideas, such as speed or universality of form, and they do not reflect a belief that form follows function.

The de-constructivist movement entails works by architects such as: Frank Gehry, Daniel Liebskind, Rem Koolhaas, Coop Himmelblau and Zaha Hadid.