Architect is survived by his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; sons Alejandro and Samuel; and the buildings he created
Frank Gehry, who designed some of the most imaginative buildings ever built and achieved a level of worldwide acclaim rarely accorded any architect, has died at age 96.
Gehry died Friday at his home in Santa Monica after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.
Gehry’s fascination with modern pop art led to the creation of some of the most impressive structures ever built. Among his many masterpieces are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, on; the Walt Disney Concert Hall in ; and the DZ Bank Building in .
He also designed an expansion of Facebook’s headquarters in the North of , at the request of the company’s CEO, .
Gehry has received every major award that architecture has to offer, including the field’s top honor, the Pritzker Prize, for work described as “originally refreshing and all-American.”
Other honors include the Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Lifetime Achievement Award from Americans for the Arts, and his home country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.
Years after he stopped designing ordinary-looking buildings, news emerged in 2006 that the shopping center project in Santa Monica, which had led to his career epiphany, could be demolished. Gehry’s admirers were shocked, but the architect himself was amused. “They’re going to tear it down now and build on the kind of original idea I had,” he said, laughing.
Eventually, the mall was renovated, gaining a more contemporary and airy external appearance. Still, it’s not a Gehry masterpiece.
Gehry, in turn, continued to work well into his late 80s, producing acclaimed buildings that reshaped skylines around the world.
InterActiveCorp’s headquarters, known as the IAC Building, took on the shape of a shimmering beehive when it was completed in New York City’s Chelsea district in 2007. The 76-story New York By Gehry Building, once one of the tallest residential structures in the world, was a stunning addition to the lower Manhattan skyline when it opened in 2011.
In the same year, Gehry joined the faculty of his alma mater, the University of Southern California, as a professor of architecture. He also taught at Yale and Columbia University. He is survived by his wife, Berta; daughter, Brina; sons Alejandro and Samuel; and the buildings he created. Another daughter, Leslie Gehry Brenner, died of cancer in 2008.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
