Frank Gehry’s Serpentine Gallery Pavilion
I don’t get why everyone loves Frank Gehry so much. He has designed what is widely considered one of the most successful museums in recent memory. It’s so revered that it coined its own phrase: the Bilbao effect. Of course I’m talking about the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. It’s the metal cladded, fish-like, undulating museum that launched Gehry onto a very short list of premier architects. He quickly followed this with a similar and also successful Disney Concert Hall in L.A..
What I don’t understand is why Gehry’s seeming randomness is so beloved. A lot of Gehry’s critics have accused the architect of simply attaching any shape he wants to all of his buildings, resulting in abstract sculptural forms that really serve no architectural purpose. I tend to agree. Still, I’ve always found Gehry’s forms interesting, as unnecessary as they are. However, Gehry’s new Serpentine Galley Pavilion is beyond comprehension.
My first reaction was, Did Frank Gehry just glue a bunch of random trash together and call it architecture? Seriously, it looks like a pile of junk. And maybe this is what Gehry intended, but I don’t see why you would want this. Reading some early reviews, everybody is marveling at the engineering aspects of the pavilion. But what about how ugly this looks?
My dislike for Gehry’s design is strengthened when I look at the previous Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designs, all designed by other big name architects. They’re all so much more elegant, more explorative, more interesting. They make me want to enter the pavilion, instead of wondering what the hell happened from afar. Of course, maybe I just need to be there to get it.
By Toyo Ito:
By Rem Koolhaas & Cecil Balmond:
By Olafur Eliasson & Kjetil Thorsen:
i love frank Gehry’s work ..as u said : there’s sth interesting about his forms and shapes..i don’t believe every form must have an obvious architectural purpose..maybe it’s just made so u can wonder about it if u know what i mean..i don’t get the pavilion though..there’s really nothing interesting about it .. i donno , i’m still studying architecture ..maybe one day i will get it !!
I disagree, I don’t think EVERYONE loves Gehry. People who aren’t architects are those who like his work. They see that it’s sculptural and not a box, so they remember it. However, most architects HATE his work (at least the ones I know). Frank Gehry falls into the same trap that many artists do. They make one outstanding building, and it becomes the fad, and then everyone wants one. So instead of keeping the creative integrity to that one project, he ended up mass-producing these projects. Commercializing I do agree somewhat with absolutesardonics, not every form must have an obvious purpose. “Architecture as art?” It’s an eternal question in architectural theory. Designers will fall on either side of the fence, with a few right on it.