As a strictly amateur aficianado of the architectural
arts, we have been following the career of one Frank
Gehry, one of the
giants of our times, and like all true giants, a controversial figure
as well. Among his acclaimed designs are a series of fantastic beach
houses in California, the Guggenheim
Museum in Spain, and the Walt Disney
Concert Hall in LA .
Our initial response to Gehry’s style was a guffaw of disbelief. We
were sure the photo we were looking at was a Photoshop hoax. What absurd,
impractical, bizarre spaces! Now an article in the Los
Angeles Times showers accolades on the Disney design for the way it has revitalized
the entire area in which it was constructed! The article says the zone
has become, as the architect intended, a sort of open-air "living room"
for the city.
This is of more than passing interest to Boston area residents as Gehry’s
latest project, the billion-dollar Stata
Center, is swiftly taking form
at MIT. It is already a controversial
project; aside from the design
(again, we hated it at first sight but are starting to come around) it
is seriously over budget and behind schedule (seemingly a trademark of
Beantown projects). Actually, we are looking forward to the opportunity
to see the space without all the cranes and scaffolding, and get a chance
to move around it.
Proof of the public’s fascination with architect Frank Gehry’s steel-and-glass
extravaganza can be seen in the hundreds of fingerprint smudges visitors
have left on Disney Hall’s otherwise sleek exterior.
"People actually feel the need to touch the building," said
Mark Slavkin, the Music Center’s vice president for education. "It’s
a nice problem."
An average of 1,000 people a day toured Disney Hall, the Music Center’s
fourth venue, for free when it opened to the public in November. About
7,000 people stopped by in December even after fees were instituted for
guided and self-guided tours.
article from the Los Angeles Times
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