An authoritative compendium on the main masterpieces of Frank Gehry, including 480 illustrations and photographs, produced in collaboration with Cahiers d’Art. Experimenting with a range of materials from cheap mass-produced items to space-age titanium, and using 3D computer modeling as an architectural tool, Frank Gehry’s buildings are remarkable and surprising, united by the sense of movement they convey. His projects flow, curve, bend, and crumple in novel and unexpected ways, subverting traditional building norms. From his own home in Santa Monica to the undu­lating Beekman Tower in New York, from the shining curves of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and his most recent construction, Luma Arles, Gehry has left his indelible mark on the history of architectural design. Forty of the renowned architect’s most remarkable works are presented by architect and critic Jean-Louis Cohen, alongside views of the interiors and exteriors of each building. This tour includes many of Gehry’s works throughout the United States and abroad, such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the one-of-a-kind “Binoc­ulars Building” in Los Angeles, and the beloved “Dancing House” in Prague.

"As a child, Frank Gehry liked to dream and play, eventually becoming an architect who created astounding buildings that attract millions of visitors worldwide"--

From Pulitzer Prize–winning architectural critic Paul Goldberger: an engaging, nuanced exploration of the life and work of Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the most famous architect of our time. This first full-fledged critical biography presents and evaluates the work of a man who has almost single-handedly transformed contemporary architecture in his innovative use of materials, design, and form, and who is among the very few architects in history to be both respected by critics as a creative, cutting-edge force and embraced by the general public as a popular figure. Building Art shows the full range of Gehry’s work, from early houses constructed of plywood and chain-link fencing to lamps made in the shape of fish to the triumphant success of such late projects as the spectacular art museum of glass in Paris. It tells the story behind Gehry’s own house, which upset his neighbors and excited the world with its mix of the traditional and the extraordinary, and recounts how Gehry came to design the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, his remarkable structure of swirling titanium that changed a declining city into a destination spot. Building Art also explains Gehry’s sixteen-year quest to complete Walt Disney Concert Hall, the beautiful, acoustically brilliant home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Although Gehry’s architecture has been written about widely, the story of his life has never been told in full detail. Here we come to know his Jewish immigrant family, his working-class Toronto childhood, his hours spent playing with blocks on his grandmother’s kitchen floor, his move to Los Angeles when he was still a teenager, and how he came, unexpectedly, to end up in architecture school. Most important, Building Art presents and evaluates Gehry’s lifetime of work in conjunction with his entire life story, including his time in the army and at Harvard, his long relationship with his psychiatrist and the impact it had on his work, and his two marriages and four children. It analyzes his carefully crafted persona, in which a casual, amiable “aw, shucks” surface masks a driving and intense ambition. And it explores his relationship to Los Angeles and how its position as home to outsider artists gave him the freedom in his formative years to make the innovations that characterize his genius. Finally, it discusses his interest in using technology not just to change the way a building looks but to change the way the whole profession of architecture is practiced. At once a sweeping view of a great architect and an intimate look at creative genius, Building Art is in many ways the saga of the architectural milieu of the twenty-first century. But most of all it is the compelling story of the man who first comes to mind when we think of the lasting possibilities of buildings as art.

The most comprehensive monograph of the world-famous architect Frank Gehry (b.1929) Revised and expanded to include his most recent projects including the New York residential tower (2011) Detailed presentation of approximately 250 buildings and projects from North America and Europe Features all Gehry's best-known projects including the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum (1997), the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles (2003) and the Experience Music Project in Seattle (2000) Includes essays by renowned critics Francesco Dal Co and Kurt W Forster

Here, from Pulitzer Prize–winning critic Paul Goldberger, is the first full-fledged critical biography of Frank Gehry, undoubtedly the most famous architect of our time. Goldberger follows Gehry from his humble origins—the son of working-class Jewish immigrants in Toronto—to the heights of his extraordinary career. He explores Gehry’s relationship to Los Angeles, a city that welcomed outsider artists and profoundly shaped him in his formative years. He surveys the full range of his work, from the Bilbao Guggenheim to the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. to the architect’s own home in Santa Monica, which galvanized his neighbors and astonished the world. He analyzes his carefully crafted persona, in which an amiable surface masks a driving ambition. And he discusses his use of technology, not just to change the way a building looks, but to revolutionize the very practice of the field. Comprehensive and incisive, Building Art is a sweeping view of a singular artist—and an essential story of architecture’s modern era.

Published on occasion of the exhibition at Princeton Univeristy Art Museum, Oct. 2008-Jan. 2009.