Frank Gehry in the Studio

[free533]

thank you so much for this video. Great to see a genius at work. I'm going to study architecture next year at uni so i don't know a whole lot yet but it's great to see such a process still being used. thanks for uploading this :)

[DestroyerX61]

You gotta love how all these random kids come here commenting about things they know nothing about then throw in words like sketchup and architectural detailing thinking they are some sort of pros, making complete fools out of themselves. I can't help but laugh.

[DestroyerX61]

@zofronio They actually use CATIA (I'm sure you've never heard of it). They send the data from CATIA directly to fabrication plants, which custom build each part with its serial number and sequence of assembly. The engineering of their structures is actually quite state of the art.

[DestroyerX61]

@101ers77

While you may disagree with his style, the fact is physical models evoke a different 'qualia' to that of 3D imaging. This means that we do not perceive computer generated images the same way we perceive physical models. You probably haven't worked in the field, but I guarantee if you go to any design studio of a 'real' architect, you will find piles upon piles of physical models, as if they were relics of design excellence.

[VertigonA380]

What's wrong with this process exactly? Using cradboard is probably the quickest and most direct way of putting up and putting together a form. It will then be digitised and refined, then a final model created. Why do people with no recogniseable body of work feel they can talk down to an acclaimed architect, seems like stupidity in action to me.

[filipe182]

This is so funny, it's kinda simpsons wouldn't even have to caricaturate about him to make a snob architect character.. "I don't know why I don't like it yet.."

[clockworkwar]

Let craig do everything...

[mikeypoo911]

if he loves working with his hands he should try it, instead of having craig do everything while he looks on, saying "... noooooooo... not quite." then maybe crumpling up some paper.

this isnt much of a design, let along a process that is to be admired.

starchitect indeed.

[letskillyoko]

this is not the thought process of an architect, this is the thought process of an overly paid celebrity who is dumbing down architecture with every building he makes...i mean honestly, "that is so stupid looking it's great"

[LeahBrea]

@letskillyoko: I'm studying architecture at university and we are constantly taught (and learn) there are many paths a design process can follow. There is no one set way. As an architect who is revered, or atleast known, by people around the world his design process deserves some credit. Who are you to judge? When you prove yourself better, then you may judge.

That aside: 1:26 - 1:31 makes me laugh every time -

"This side, I still don't like this side. Craaaaaaaig I still don't liike it."

[letskillyoko]

@LeahBrea he's wasteful, site unspecific, his buildings are physically hazardous (increasing the temperature around them by 15 degrees and melting parking meters with their reflective walls), and they have no directionality. his museums, though dazzlingly metallic, are very hard to work with. i commend some of gehry's designs, but the man has gotten to a point in which he is no longer incorporating art into architecture, he's incorporating architecture into art...a very dangerous process

[LeahBrea]

@letskillyoko: you insulted his design process, not the practicality of his designs. I have to agree with you on that (practicality) point; keeping the balance of function and form (both equally vital to good architecture)seems to be something architects have struggled with for centuries.

Such out-there designs do, however, seem to encourage engineers (& others involved in the building) to stretch current understanding of materials, technologies, design and building, which is a positive.

[letskillyoko]

@LeahBrea the design process ultimately leads to the practicality, and very few buildings can be practical if modeled by completely arbitrary decisions. i agree with your final point, but again, there's ways to experiment without having to deter from the function of the building

[maimeu]

@letskillyoko totally agree

[GetMrCarter]

@letskillyoko I don't think there is anything wrong with 'dumbing down Architecture'. This is the process that one of the greatest living Architects chooses to follow and who are we to criticise. Gehry builds what he sketches; not many Architects can do that.

[Asmita27]

I LOVE this guy!!! "that is so stupid looking, "it's great!" hehehehheheheh and I loved when he said, "This has to get crankier"!!! I loved that! I wish I could meet him!

[diegobota]

im not particularly a big gehry fun... but I admire him as an architect, because he is taking it to whole new different level, since the majority of architecture is soo boring and unoriginal now-days...we are in a new architectural renaissance, and architects like gehry, among others, are great in the sense that they are coming up with something NEW!...new ideas scare some people and are hard to accept, i guess the majority of you will rather see our cities with more of the same boring stuff.

[Crazylalalalala]

it really isnt much of a challenging many architects are doing that.

you need a lot of the boring stuff so that cool stuff can stand out. cant have everything unique.

the world is not just a canvas to paint on industry and offices need to be built economically. unique and economical are often contradictory not to mention code and feasibility.

NEW and significant are two different things. Just doing things because they are new doesnt mean anything.

[kellyslater12345]

gehry is sooooooo lame tupac would kick hiss ass in a fight

[PUArtista]

I think its lame that you guys criticize him...the reasons for these are obvious. For those of you with nothing good to say --I say take your modernist boxes and your critical regionalism and go back to the 80s LOL

[opera2545]

Thanks wiilguso, for some sanity. Listen to his language - "crankier " " I don't like this side" His gofer is a boot licker, and Frank is the Emperor with no clothing.Listen to him, "That is so stupid lookng it's great "

Yea Frank, it is stupid !

If you like making things with your hands, try hot dogs - you're a classic dilettante.

[opera2545]

Dear RGAW ....this is why;

Mies van der Rohe said, "Architecture is not a playground for children, young or old. It is the true battleground of the spirit."

And please don't use that old school kid response to criticism - "I'm just jealous" Christ, who would want to take credit for this shit. You think Architecture is frivolous ? Do you think the ancient Greeks developed the Parthenon with little pieces of paper, while drinking wine? You don't belong in architecture. You don't know what it is.

[RGAW]

Sorry for the late reply opera2545,

No... you're right I don't belong in architecture, or at least not yet and I apologize for calling you jealous, however I'm interested to see your work. Are you as famous as Gehry? Is your work as well known? And if is work is shit as you say why is it that he still has employment?

[Shmoofles]

@opera2545

Do you think architects should just sit around designing parthenons and colloseums with the odd sky scraper thrown in? Not that i mean to diminish the worth of these buildings, but architects should be free to explore ideas. New is fresh and beautiful, when the ancient romans built the colloseum nothing like it had ever been seen before. Dont be dismissive just because something challenges your preconceived perceptions of what architecture is.

[Crazylalalalala]

sense your other reply was blooked il reply to it here.

in the particular problem that the MIT issue game accros the engineers have tolled ghary that his design cannot work and he has refused to change it.

and to say that an architect as no role in the structural and electrical parts of the building is way off too. While he might not knw the exact diamentions of the components he does design their general layout and has a great say in both.

In fact both are in the Arch reg test.

[Crazylalalalala]

the Colosseum thing isnt really true either its just two auditorium put back to back

challenging perception is for art. architecture involves people using it. Architecture is many things but to just do things because they look pretty and ignore their structural problems is not right.

i am not particularly against him as an architect, the things that i have problems with is A. that MIT failure and B. the fact that many of his buildings look too similar in resent day at least. C. carviness...

[Shmoofles]

mm. After i replied i looked up the whole MIT thing to see what had actually happened, and i do actually agree that it was appalling. next time i'll check my facts first XD. But buildings aren't just pure functionality, people need to be surrounded by beautiful and unique spaces, all those giant modernist housing projects have proven that.

[Crazylalalalala]

while i dont think they HAVE to be beautiful and unique it sure would be nice (while maintaining an acceptable degree of function) and architects should strive for such a goal.

[Shmoofles]

Also while i'll warrant that some of gehry's buildings are quite similar you can't deny that he has designed some beautiful structures particularly the guggenheim at bilbao and his dancing house in prague. These two buildings are quite different. Architecture should be, and always has been a form of art and social exploration and denying that is wrong.

[Crazylalalalala]

i do like the guggenheim at bilbao but i feel he took that theme and put it everywhere.

Besides what i like about it is the contrast that it makes, not all of it is that fancy cladding and form the rest of it is quite "regular". so it creates an interesting effect thu many look over the regular parts.

the dancing house is not to my taste but it sure is unique.

i do agree with your last statement. but there must be a balance (true to everything)

[Shmoofles]

But i do agree that functionality is very important, and i'm pretty disappointed in gehry. Architecture, is functional art. If its not functional its not architecture. ps while the Colosseum was extremely structurally complex and an auditorium of that grandeur, height and scale had never been seen before.

[Crazylalalalala]

i guess for one single structure it was pushing the scale but that Colosseum is exactly (while excluding some of the grandeur) two standard auditoriums of that time back to back which i think is kinda cool by simply combining two things they knw how to do to make something never before seen. Roman were good at that and is why we learn about them .

[willguso]

Personally, i think Gehry believes his a Master of Architecture... He believes that he can create a building just by intuition and commanding another guy to cut, push or bend... its disgraceful.

[Shmoofles]

@willguso

who cares what he thinks our how he does it, his buildings are beautiful! And lets be honest, when your that successful you can command some other guy to cut.

[Crazylalalalala]

beautiful to you and me (even though i dont like to admit it) it isnt for all. beauty is a taste.

[RGAW]

You know, it doesn't take much effort to put something down, but as far as I can see all of you people who are insulting Gehry's architectural abilities are voicing that you don't like him, but not why

In-fact it seems to me that you are just jealous, rivals with not as much skill as Gehry and you feel the only way you can make yourselves feel better about your inadequacies is if you put down someone with much better skills than your own... correct me if I'm wrong but try to prove your denial.

[Crazylalalalala]

MIT filed a negligence suit against him due to design failure. His bran spanking new building started to fall apart the day it was opened. failures that were pointed out to him but he was too stubern/stupid to change.

he and many like him give architecture a bad name.

[tirisee]

twisted

[opera2545]

Frank Gehry is just a well funded sculptor, and a bad one at that.

I wish he would work in ice, so that these "things" would melt and fade, as does anything with no substance.

[opera2545]

Watch a profound lack of intellect at work. If he were designing cereal boxes, well maybe...

Architecture, a very loosely used term, is a sacred thing - something bigger than the creator - a controlled expression of forces much larger than an individual...a rare thing. Mies van der Rohe said, "Architecture is not a playground for children, young or old. It is the true battleground of the spirit."

[megi0003]

Frank is really something. His ability to step outside of these so called "boundaries" is a truly unique trait. His inability to understand the relationship of form and function working harmoniously together is considered to be a problem. The point is Frank Gehry is a sculptor, not an architect. But without people like Frank Gehry bending the rules, our world would not be nearly as interesting.

[SometimesIncoherent]

Jesus, I can't believe that Gehry has been getting away with this for so long. This is simply so wrong. This is not how to make a building. I study architecture and if i presented this to a tutor and explained the design process to them they would beat me until I was unconscious.

He's like a rich child with servants to do everything for him.

[gonzinho07]

So you study architecture? well, I do to and in fact I'm so happy knowing that there are people like frank in architecture...designing depends on functionality, certainly true, but breaking boundaries is something you and I should have as a general commitment as future architects don't you think? I had that awful experience about tutors who don't like what I design, but that's so subjective as is your point of view..

Art should not be corrupted, neither ideas..

[Crazylalalalala]

designing building that fall apart is not breaking boundaries its FAILURE to design a building.

if someone built a bridge that fell he did not break boundaries he potential cause the deaths of many and most def caused the lost of capital.

Architecture happens to involve people living and working in it. If it isnt save for people to live in it MUST be corrupted. Architecture is not just an art.

[dzurawell19]

you're an idiot

[scandeelous]

Lets be aware

[baija1]

ma come cazzo progetta questo?????

[vellumUTube]

i watched it without sound so their design process looked like kindergarden children can achieve this, i'll watch it with the sound next time to give better judgement

[arc20051]

Is his architecture only about form? What about people and place??

[BlueStrikeP]

that's the thing... I feel that form follows function... the building could be about the form, but it also needs a purpose, besides looking cool, that it needs to fulfill. sure, most architects don't push the limit and I think frank is trying to do that, but it would be useless if you don't take the program and the people who use it (along with the people's scale) into consideration...