Renowned Architect Frank Gehry Passes Away at 96

Frank Gehry, the influential Canadian-American architect whose groundbreaking designs reshaped modern architecture, passed away in Santa Monica, California, on Friday, December 5, at the age of 96.

Gehry founded his Los Angeles-based architectural practice in 1962 and continuously experimented with style and materials throughout his career. His 1970s furniture collections, Easy Edges and Experimental Edges, crafted from cardboard and fiberboard, brought him national recognition by exploring affordable, sustainable, and mass-produced furniture during the environmental movement in the United States.

His reputation as an avant-garde architect was cemented with the renovation of his own Santa Monica bungalow, transforming it into a sculptural, fragmented structure. This project positioned him as an early figure in the Deconstructivist movement and led to his Pritzker Architecture Prize win in 1989, following the completion of the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.

Gehry later collaborated with his son, Sam Gehry, to design a Santa Monica residence tailored to his evolving needs. Over the years, Gehry became globally renowned for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. The museums flowing titanium and limestone forms not only defined his architectural style but also revitalized the struggling city economically and culturally. The term Bilbao Effect, coined in 2001, describes the dramatic social and financial transformation triggered by this landmark project.

In 2001, Gehry expanded his firm into a partnership, continuing to create distinctive architecture worldwide. Notable works include:

• Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles (2003)
• Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Chicago (2004)
• 8 Spruce Street skyscraper, New York (2011)
• Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris (2014)
• Meta campus, Menlo Park (2015)
• LUMA Arles Museum, France (2021)

Gehry approached architecture as sculptural art, emphasizing the interplay of light, space, and context. While inspired by artists like Constantin Brncui, he acknowledged the practical needs of occupants, describing his buildings as spatial containers interacting with those who use them.

Born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto in 1929, Gehry moved with his family to Los Angeles in 1947. After working as a truck driver and taking night classes, he studied architecture at the University of Southern California and earned a masters in city planning from Harvard. He briefly worked in Paris before establishing his own firm in Los Angeles.

Throughout his career, Gehry received numerous accolades, including the Praemium Imperiale (1992), the National Medal of the Arts (1998), the AIA Gold Medal (1999), the American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal (2002), and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2016).

He is survived by his wife, Berta Isabel Aguilera, and three children: Alejandro, Samuel, and Brina.

Author: Jackson Miller