Thomas Heatherwick on Frank Gehry
Three weeks ago I was standing inside the art gallery space of Jeffrey Deitch in Los Angeles — a simple warehouse recently renovated by my hero Frank Gehry. But there was not the slightest hint of the extravagant architectural form he’s known for. Simple restored raw wood beams and ceilings, polished concrete floors, and clean walls. But hang on — it was a hot day… where were all the air-conditioning pipes? And where were the typical vents you so often find yourself stepping across in front of the artworks in so many ordinary gallery floors?
Speaking to the owner, it suddenly became clear that Gehry’s brilliance for this project lay in his utter minimalism. Instead of ugly vents on the floors for you to stumble over, the walls were lifted to create a virtually invisible slot for the air to come out. And instead of clumsy giant pipes in the ceiling, they were sitting on top of the roof, out of sight.
How could it be that the world’s most famous living architect, known for the astonishing exuberance of his buildings, was also able to be as simple and refined as any minimalist?
Here was Frank Gehry, not as a person bound to formulaic gestures, but as a remarkable designer, able to tune up or down his incredible talent, to create design grounded in problem-solving. He could be innovative and spectacular when a building needed to give a city its distinctive moment, or absolutely quiet and refined when a particular gallery required the art — not the architecture — to be the thing that shines.
Much has been written about Frank Gehry’s sculptural forms. He was unafraid of creating visually daring, engaging architecture, and he understood the importance of making forms that connect to people’s emotions and feelings. To me, he symbolised the confidence to create buildings that are loved and popular with millions of people. He recognised that people want and need generous places — places that are interesting and amazing — not boring or inhuman. His work carried humour and spirit, and it stands as one of the most genuine attempts of the past half-century, amidst the sea of otherwise characterless buildings,
to humanise the cities around us.
His greatest achievement was that his visions weren’t just academic theories or concepts — he actually got them built through a strong and multi-faceted making intelligence. He had a deep material curiosity in both his architecture and furniture, a physical instinct for experimenting through models, and an entrepreneurial drive that led him to develop new software and tools when existing ones couldn’t support his ideas. This combination of curiosity, experimentation, and innovation allowed his most ambitious designs to become real. At his core Frank Gehry was one of the most imaginative problem-solvers we’ve ever known, whether through the means of flamboyance or the subtlest of minimalism. Ultimately he sought to make the world a better and more interesting place – and did.
Image: Forgemind Archimedia