Frank Gehry, one of the most influential architects of the past century, has died at the age of 96.
Gehry garnered acclaim for his avant-garde and experimental architectural style. His titanium-clad design for the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, propelled him to international fame in 1997.
He established his reputation for daring design years prior, with the redesign of his own Santa Monica, California residence, employing materials such as chain-link fencing, plywood, and corrugated steel.
His death was confirmed by his chief of staff, Meaghan Lloyd. He is survived by two daughters, Leslie and Brina, from his first marriage; his wife, Berta Isabel Aguilera; and their two sons, Alejandro and Samuel.
Born in Toronto in 1929, Gehry relocated to Los Angeles as a teenager, pursuing architectural studies at the University of Southern California before undertaking further study at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in 1956 and 1957.
After establishing his own firm, he departed from traditional architectural conventions of symmetry, utilizing unconventional geometric forms and unfinished materials in a style that became known as deconstructivism.
“I was rebelling against everything,” Gehry stated in a 2012 interview with The New York Times.
The Bilbao project significantly elevated his profile, leading to commissions for iconic structures worldwide, including the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, the Gehry Tower in Germany, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris.
“He bestowed upon Paris and upon France his greatest masterpiece,” remarked Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, the world’s foremost luxury goods conglomerate and owner of Louis Vuitton.
Characterized by an unpredictable style, Gehry’s designs are uniquely distinct. Prague’s Dancing House, completed in 1996, presents the illusion of a glass building collapsing in on itself, while his Hotel Marques in Spain, built in 2006, features undulating sheets of multicolored metal. His design for a business school in Sydney has been likened to a brown paper bag.
Gehry was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize for lifetime achievement in 1989, at the age of 60, with his work described as possessing a “highly refined, sophisticated and adventurous aesthetic.”
“His designs, if compared to American music, could best be likened to Jazz, replete with improvisation and a lively unpredictable spirit,” the Pritzker jury noted at the time.
Gehry was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2002 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in 2016.