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About the Architect |
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Frank Gehry
 Frank Gehry (Toronto, 1928) is one of the most important architects of our
time, with a career that spans over four decades and commissions that stand
among the greatest architectural and artistic master works. Gehry designed the
breathtaking Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park.
The most sophisticated outdoor concert venue of its kind in the U.S., the
120-foot-high music pavilion features Gehry-trademark billowing curves of
stainless steel, framed by a monumental steel trellis that spans the entire
Great Lawn where audiences will enjoy live music and performances.
Complementing the new music pavilion is the only Gehry-designed bridge in the
world. The BP Bridge is a sinuous steel structure that features a gently
sloping hardwood deck that spans across Chicago's busy Columbus Drive and
provides a natural acoustical barrier to the sounds of traffic.
His work has earned Gehry several of the most significant awards in the
architectural field. In 1977, Gehry was named recipient of the Arnold W.
Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters. In 1989, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, perhaps the
premiere accolade of the field, honoring "significant contributions to humanity
and the built environment through the art of architecture." In 1992, he
received the Wolf Prize in Art (Architecture) from the Wolf Foundation. In the
same year, Gehry was named the recipient of the Praemium Imperiale Award by the
Japan Art Association to "honor outstanding contributions to the development,
popularization, and progress of the arts." In 1994, he became the first
recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Award for lifetime contribution to
the arts. In 1998, Gehry received the National Medal of Arts, and he became the
first recipient of the Friedrich Kiesler Prize. In 1999, Gehry received the
Lotos Medal of Merit from the Lotos Club, and he received the Gold Medal from
the American Institute of Architects. In 2000, he received the Gold Medal from
the Royal Institute of British Architects, and he received the Lifetime
Achievement Award from Americans for the Arts. In 2002, Gehry received the Gold
Medal for Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Gehry was
named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1987, a trustee
of the American Academy in Rome in 1989, and a Fellow of the American Academy
of Arts and Sciences in 1991. In 1994, he was bestowed with the title of
Academician by the National Academy of Design. In 1998, he was named an
Honorary Academician by the Royal Academy of Arts. In 2003, Gehry was inducted
into the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and he was designated as a
Companion to the Order of Canada.
A graduate of the University of Southern California, where he earned a Bachelor
of Architecture degree in 1954, Gehry studied City Planning at the Harvard
University Graduate School of Design. In addition, Gehry has received honorary
doctoral degrees from Occidental College, Whittier College, the California
College of Arts and Crafts, the Technical University of Nova Scotia, the Rhode
Island School of Design, the California Institute of Arts, the Southern
California Institute of Architecture, the Otis Art Institute at the Parsons
School of Design, the University of Toronto, the University of Southern
California, Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of
Edinburgh. In 1982, 1985 and 1987-89, Gehry held the Charlotte Davenport
Professorship in Architecture at Yale University. In 1984, he held the Eliot
Noyes Chair at Harvard University. In 1996-97, he was a visiting scholar at the
Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland.
Gehry was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of
Architects (A.I.A.) in 1974, and his buildings have received more than 100
national and regional A.I.A. Awards. Featured in major architectural
publications and in national and international trade journals, Gehry's
architectural drawings and models have also been exhibited in major museums
throughout the world.
Gehry Partners, LLP is a full service firm with broad international experience
in museum, theater, performance, academic, and commercial projects. Founded in
1962 and located in Los Angeles, California, Gehry Partners currently has a
staff consisting of over 140 people. Every project undertaken by Gehry Partners
is designed personally and directly by Frank Gehry. The staff of Gehry Partners
includes a large number of senior architects who have extensive experience in
the technical development of building systems and construction documents and
who are highly qualified in the management of complex construction projects. In
addition, the firm relies on the use of CATIA, a highly sophisticated
3-dimensional computer modeling program originally created for use by the
aerospace industry, to thoroughly document designs and to rationalize the
bidding, fabrication, and construction process. |
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