Frank Gehry, whose photos you will see later, is a well-known American architect whose direction is deconstructivism. His real name is Ephraim Owen Goldberg.
The architect was born on February 28, 1929 in Canada, Toronto. The Ephraim family consists of Polish Jews. They lived in the city of Tymens (this is the province of Ontario). There Goldberg’s grandfather was engaged in the sale of building materials, and Frank's dad owned a store with machine guns (trading and gaming).
From a Canadian with Polish roots to Americans
When Gehry was 18 years old, the family moved to California, the city of Los Angeles. A little later, Frank changed his citizenship to American.
After the move, father changed his name from Goldberg to Geri, and after 20 years, Ephraim changed his name to Frank Gehry. The architect, as a teenager, was often confronted with anti-Semitism and beatings. This was the impetus for the change of name.
Training and future profession
In the early years of his stay in America, it was difficult for Frank to decide on his future profession. He entered Los Angeles City College and attended many different courses there. Frank Gehry, whose biography is filled with many interesting facts, teaches us to rush to success and achieve it without stopping at anything.
Having visited architectural courses, Gehry realized that these are immense opportunities, but was afraid that he would not be able to realize himself as an artist. Rafael Soriano, then famous architect and modernist, helped him strengthen his faith in himself. All the teachers sympathized with Frank and saw in him a huge potential.
In 1954, Gehry received a bachelor's degree from the University of South Carolina School of Architecture (scholarships). Immediately after that, he goes to work for Victor Gruen's company in Los Angeles, while continuing his studies.
Army and continuing education
Training and work were interrupted by the need for compulsory service in the American army. This took a year, after which Frank Gehry entered Harvard University to study urban planning and urban infrastructure planning. At that time, in the post-war period, a building boom was just happening in Los Angeles, and then the works of the modernists Richard Neutra and Rudolf Schindler were known.
Upon completion of training (in 1957), Gary receives a master's degree and moves back to Los Angeles. There, he gets a job in another company, Pereira and Luckman, but after a short time he returns to his previous job.
Family and relocation to France
In 1952, Frank Gehry was married to his first wife Anita Snyder. It was she who insisted that Frank change his name. From this marriage, Geri has two daughters.
After 9 years of marriage, the family moves to France, in Paris. There, the architect works as a restoration specialist in the workshop of the French architect Andre Remondé during the year. The sphere of activity of Geri was the church, which was very impressed with him. In France, Gehry got acquainted with the projects of modernists such as Balthazard Neumann and Charles Le Corbusier.
Later, in the mid-60s, Frank divorced his first wife and in 1976 finds his current wife Bert Isabel Aguilera. From his second marriage, Geri has two sons - Alejandro and Sami.
Return to Los Angeles
After a year in France, Frank, inspired and motivated, has been setting up his Frank O. Gehry and Associates studio, founded in 1962. After 15 years, she turns into the big company Gehry & Krueger Inc, and in 2002 - "Gehry Partners LLP".
Gehry began his activities with projects of various shopping centers and shops, interior design. The beginning of the 70s was marked by a mass of projects for the construction of residential buildings, the style of which excluded the usual forms and traditions.
During the period from 1977 to 1979, Frank Gehry was designing his own house in Santa Monica, the style of which was called "anti-architecture." A lot of effort was invested in this house, and materials that were already in use were used: plywood, pieces of fences and others. The house was rebuilt in such a way that its inner part remained untouched.
Later, his similar ideas found a way out in such buildings as De Mesnil Residence in New York, Davis House, built in Malibu, as well as Spiller Residence (Venice, California).
In 1979-1981, Geri's large-scale ideas were embodied in a complex of retail markets in the city of Santa Monica. Also in 1979, the Aquarium Museum in San Pedro was designed, the area of which is about 2 thousand square meters. Another museum project dated 1981 is the California Aviation Museum .
The hottest 80s in the life of Frank Gehry
It is worth noting that the eighties were the most fruitful years in Geri's life. His construction projects are being implemented all over the world: the furniture and interior museum (city of Vail am Rhein, Germany), the eighty-story skyscraper in New York (on Madison Square Garden).
In the late eighties, Frank Gehry wins a contest, the main prize of which is the design of the Walt Disney Hall in the Music Center. The construction was completed in 1993. The main idea is the structure above which the glass atrium is located.
At the same time, according to the idea of Geri, the Japanese restaurant Fisance was being built, the entrance of which is decorated with a large fish sculpture.
Well, 1989 is the most significant year, since it was this year that Gehry was awarded the Pritzker Prize, which is the most prestigious architectural award. The building that gave a chance of victory is the Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan (pictured).
Frank Gehry's extraordinary writings and recognition
The Museum in Minneapolis named after Frederick Wiseman, the Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), a dancing house in Prague - the creator of this is Frank Gehry. The master’s architecture is filled with deconstructivism. All buildings are arbitrary geometric figures: broken decaying surfaces, seemingly fragile volumes.
Geri’s hand also owns such works as the Seattle Music Museum, Panama Biodiversity Museum, the MIT large data center, the Louis Viton Arts Center (Paris), the Museum of Tolerance (Jerusalem), the Cancer Center (Dundee), and the Cleveland Brain Health Clinic Larry Ruvo
For ideology, not everyone recognizes the architectural works of Gehry. The essence is precisely in these refracting ideas. Many architects consider buildings unstable and extremely dangerous for being in urban infrastructure. But in fact, all projects are well thought out and would not be embodied in real life, if they were a danger to a large crowd of people.
Today, Frank Gehry, whose work is shocking in its forms, is an architect with a world-famous name. He is the owner of more than 100 different awards in the field of architecture; many articles and monographs are devoted to his works.