Frank Gehry, in full name Frank Owen Gehry born in 28th February in 1929. He is famous Canadian American architect and designer. He studied at the University of Southern California and Harvard University. His structures are often characterized by unconventional or distorted shapes that have a sculptural, fragmented quality.
He has designed spectacular buildings for instance, Guggenheim Bilbao , Olympic Fish Pavilion, Weisman Art Museum and my favourite one Walt Disney Concert Hall.
As I am going to design a theatre by using expressionist theme, Frank Gehry is the architect that would help me to understand the meaning of expressionism and help me to improve my design ideas. So I am going to talk about his works that I really impressed and also I will mention how his designs will help me to design my theatre.
The first design that I would like to talk about is Walt Disney Concert Hall, I have chose this building for my research because the concept of the building is similar with mine.
The difference between concert hall and theatre is; A concert hall is a cultural building which serves as performance venue, chiefly for classical instrumental music and theatre is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage.
This is the interior of the Walt Disney Concert Hall
So it can easily seen able, they have both stages and seats but the place of the stages are different.
So lets start talking about the design of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in his incredible building Frank Gehry seems like to defy any rules of harmony and symmetry. As he said the forms are external inspired by a boat with sails drenched. The building actually look like a shell which is the similar idea of expressionism and also it includes a series of interconnected volumes, some of them coated stone and other forms of organic. Also, the surface of the building is covered with a corrugated metal skin of steel.
The centrepiece of the interior of the building was designed to represent the hull of boat as I mentioned before. Frank Gehry’s idea was to design a room with an evocative sculptural forms of music, achieving an intimate connection between the orchestra and audience.
Lastly this is the floor plan of the Walt Disney Hall that I found from internet, this floor plan might help me to analyse the size of the building and design.
Also I have watch some Youtube videos about this building to get the idea of the building, they have used a pattern that can be easily projected onto facades of Walt Disney Concert Hall. Also Displayed every half hour during the evening, the projections include text, photos and patterns generated using artificial intelligence (AI) and the orchestra's digital archive. I might add these projections to my theatre.
For the second design that I found It would be good inspiration for my project, Guggenheim Bilbao. Of course this huge museum designed by Frank Gehry and located in Spain. I have picked this building because this building has expressionist design.
Frank Gehry, played a key role in urban revitalisation and transformation of the area, in addition to becoming the symbol of the city of Bilbao, Spain.
The design is the building is of course from Frank Gehry, he inspired by the shapes and textures of a fish. Also it can be considered a sculpture, a work of art in itself. It is easily observed the forms that he made do not have any reason and does not obey the rules of geometry. Again the museum is like shell that evokes the past industrial life and port of Bilbao. Some of forms is coated stone and others from a titanium skeleton covered by an organic skin.
The sinuous curves were designed using a three dimensional design software called Catia which allowed design and calculations. Lastly I would like to talk about the materials that used for this museum, the museum built of limestone, glass and titanium. To make a perfect curves the pieces must be so thin. Also the glass has a special treatment to let in the sun’s light but not its heat.
Furthermore Gehry altering finishing his project he contributed a lot to the city, attracted everyone's attention and increased the number of tourists. As Frank Gehry said "People are always telling me how I changed the city,"."I didn't mean to change the city, I just meant to be part of the city."
Lastly, I would like to say, this building definitely help my theatre project because the building is all about using expressionist architectural design. I really like the idea and concept of the his buildings because Frank didn't design this building for nothing, all of his buildings have meanings. Furthermore I want to design my theatre in meaningful reason. I believe Frank Gehry is the best architect that I could choose for my project.
References:
Walt Disney Concert Hall (2018) WikiArquitectura. Available at: https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/walt-disney-concert-hall/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).
Alyn Griffiths |18 May 2022 Leave a comment (2022) Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is "The greatest building of our time", Dezeen. Available at: https://www.dezeen.com/2022/05/18/frank-gehry-guggenheim-museum-bilbao-deconstructivism/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).
Guggenheim Bilbao (2020) WikiArquitectura. Available at: https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/guggenheim-bilbao/ (Accessed: April 27, 2023).
Good post, Behzat, well directed research and it is clear why you chose this building to feature on the blog and how it links to your post. Keep this level up! I particularly like the research into the floor plan/footprint of the building and how you might use this as inspiration for your project. The important thing now is to show a connection from this research to your development drawings - how do you think you can translate this research into your own work? Well done.
ReplyDelete