Frank Gehry, the acclaimed Canadian-American architect recognized for his groundbreaking deconstructivist works such as the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, has passed away at the age of 96.
Gehry’s death was confirmed by his chief of staff, Meaghan Lloyd, to the New York Times. Over nearly eight decades, Gehry became one of the most influential architects of the modern era, leaving an indelible mark on post-war architecture both in the United States and internationally.
Throughout his illustrious career, Gehry received numerous prestigious awards, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1989—the highest honor in architecture—as well as the AIA Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In awarding him the Medal of Freedom, former US president Barack Obama praised Gehry for “rethinking shapes and mediums, seemingly the force of gravity itself.”
Obama remarked, “The idea of what architecture could be, he decided to upend, constantly repurposing every material available from titanium to paper towel tubes.”
“Frank’s work teaches us that while buildings may be sturdy and fixed to the ground, like all great art they can lift our spirits – they can soar and broaden our horizons.”
The Pritzker Prize jury likened Gehry’s creativity to that of Picasso, stating: “Always open to experimentation, he has as well a sureness and maturity that resists, in the same way that Picasso did, being bound either by critical acceptance or his successes.”
“His buildings are juxtaposed collages of spaces and materials that make users appreciative of both the theatre and the backstage, simultaneously revealed.”
Gehry’s firm—now known as Gehry Partners—was responsible for numerous significant buildings. His transformative work in Bilbao is credited with revitalizing the city’s economy, a phenomenon often referred to as the “Bilbao Effect.”
Philip Johnson, at the opening of the Guggenheim Bilbao, declared it “the greatest building of our time” and called Gehry “the greatest architect we have today.”
While frequently labeled both a “starchitect” and a leading figure in deconstructivist architecture, Gehry often rejected these classifications. Despite distancing himself from the deconstructivist movement, his work was featured in the landmark 1988 MoMA deconstructivist exhibition alongside architects such as Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Wolf Prix.
