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Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry
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.
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.
538 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2015
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577 people want to read
About the author
Paul Goldberger
130 books43 followersPaul Goldberger, who the Huffington Post has called “the leading figure in architecture criticism,” is now a Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair. From 1997 through 2011 he served as the Architecture Critic for The New Yorker, where he wrote the magazine’s celebrated “Sky Line” column. He also holds the Joseph Urban Chair in Design and Architecture at The New School in New York City. He was formerly Dean of the Parsons school of design, a division of The New School. He began his career at The New York Times, where in 1984 his architecture criticism was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Criticism, the highest award in journalism.
He is the author of several books, most recently Why Architecture Matters, published in 2009 by Yale University Press; Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, a collection of his architecture essays published in 2009 by Monacelli Press, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude, published in 2010 by Taschen. He is now at work on a full-length biography of the architect Frank Gehry, to be published by Alfred A. Knopf. In 2008 Monacelli published Beyond the Dunes: A Portrait of the Hamptons, which he produced in association with the photographer Jake Rajs. Paul Goldberger’s chronicle of the process of rebuilding Ground Zero, entitled UP FROM ZERO: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York, which was published by Random House in the fall of 2004, and brought out in a new, updated paperback edition in 2005, was named one of The New York Times Notable Books for 2004. Paul Goldberger has also written The City Observed: New York, The Skyscraper, On the Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post-Modern Age, Above New York, and The World Trade Center Remembered.
He lectures widely around the country on the subject of architecture, design, historic preservation and cities, and he has taught at both the Yale School of Architecture and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley in addition to The New School. His writing has received numerous awards in addition to the Pulitzer, including the President’s Medal of the Municipal Art Society of New York, the medal of the American Institute of Architects and the Medal of Honor of the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation, awarded in recognition of what the Foundation called “the nation’s most balanced, penetrating and poetic analyses of architecture and design.” In May 1996, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani presented him with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Preservation Achievement Award in recognition of the impact of his writing on historic preservation in New York. In 1993, he was named a Literary Lion, the New York Public Library’s tribute to distinguished writers. In 2007, he was presented with the Ed Bacon Foundation’s Award for Professional Excellence, named in honor of Philadelphia’s legendary planner, and in 2009 he received the Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award from the Urban Communication Foundation.
He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees by Pratt Institute, the University of Miami, Kenyon College, the College of Creative Studies and the New York School of Interior Design for his work as a critic and cultural commentator on design. He appears frequently on film and television to discuss art, architecture, and cities, and recently served as host of a PBS program on the architect Benjamin Latrobe. He has also served as a special consultant and advisor on architecture and planning matters to several major cultural and educational institutions, including the Morgan Library in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, the New York Public Library, the Glenstone Foundation and Cornell and Harvard universities. He serves as special advisor to the jury for the Richard A. Driehaus Prize, a $200,000 prize awarded annually for traditional architecture and urbanism. He is a graduate of Yale Universi
He is the author of several books, most recently Why Architecture Matters, published in 2009 by Yale University Press; Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture, a collection of his architecture essays published in 2009 by Monacelli Press, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude, published in 2010 by Taschen. He is now at work on a full-length biography of the architect Frank Gehry, to be published by Alfred A. Knopf. In 2008 Monacelli published Beyond the Dunes: A Portrait of the Hamptons, which he produced in association with the photographer Jake Rajs. Paul Goldberger’s chronicle of the process of rebuilding Ground Zero, entitled UP FROM ZERO: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York, which was published by Random House in the fall of 2004, and brought out in a new, updated paperback edition in 2005, was named one of The New York Times Notable Books for 2004. Paul Goldberger has also written The City Observed: New York, The Skyscraper, On the Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post-Modern Age, Above New York, and The World Trade Center Remembered.
He lectures widely around the country on the subject of architecture, design, historic preservation and cities, and he has taught at both the Yale School of Architecture and the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley in addition to The New School. His writing has received numerous awards in addition to the Pulitzer, including the President’s Medal of the Municipal Art Society of New York, the medal of the American Institute of Architects and the Medal of Honor of the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation, awarded in recognition of what the Foundation called “the nation’s most balanced, penetrating and poetic analyses of architecture and design.” In May 1996, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani presented him with the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Preservation Achievement Award in recognition of the impact of his writing on historic preservation in New York. In 1993, he was named a Literary Lion, the New York Public Library’s tribute to distinguished writers. In 2007, he was presented with the Ed Bacon Foundation’s Award for Professional Excellence, named in honor of Philadelphia’s legendary planner, and in 2009 he received the Gene Burd Urban Journalism Award from the Urban Communication Foundation.
He has been awarded honorary doctoral degrees by Pratt Institute, the University of Miami, Kenyon College, the College of Creative Studies and the New York School of Interior Design for his work as a critic and cultural commentator on design. He appears frequently on film and television to discuss art, architecture, and cities, and recently served as host of a PBS program on the architect Benjamin Latrobe. He has also served as a special consultant and advisor on architecture and planning matters to several major cultural and educational institutions, including the Morgan Library in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, the New York Public Library, the Glenstone Foundation and Cornell and Harvard universities. He serves as special advisor to the jury for the Richard A. Driehaus Prize, a $200,000 prize awarded annually for traditional architecture and urbanism. He is a graduate of Yale Universi
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 27, 2017
For the first haft 300 pages, this book is about to learn soft skills from Frank Gehry rather than technical skills. Frank Gehry has given up some of good opportunities to pursue what he is good at and talent about. It's about his inspiration from living in Europe, his former professors, artists in Los Angeles for his works. His family live, love, and found company are also included in the book. The last several chapters are so good for architects to learn from him, it's about the design of his house, Bilbao Museum, Louis Vuitton Foundation, etc.
I like how the author describes in chapter 14:
I like how the author describes in chapter 14:
August 27, 2016
a little too much name dropping.
January 15, 2016
It's a lively read for a biography, and the author threads the changes to Gehry's personal life, the growth of his professional life and the evolution of his artistic approach in a way that never bogs down in any one aspect. All that helps keeps the book moving, and the constant mix is probably fitting to the subject.
However, I noticed a couple glaring mistakes in the first 30 pages (that there was a Canadian national requirement that all signs be in French and English; that the Art Gallery of Toronto was located on Bloor St., blocks away from his grandparents' place on Beverly). For a moment I wondered if I should continue on, as these seemed so off that I'd wonder how loose with the facts was any further statement in the book. That feeling mostly faded, but it did drop the book back a notch for me, right from the start.
However, I noticed a couple glaring mistakes in the first 30 pages (that there was a Canadian national requirement that all signs be in French and English; that the Art Gallery of Toronto was located on Bloor St., blocks away from his grandparents' place on Beverly). For a moment I wondered if I should continue on, as these seemed so off that I'd wonder how loose with the facts was any further statement in the book. That feeling mostly faded, but it did drop the book back a notch for me, right from the start.
September 26, 2020
The book elaborately describes the making of Frank Gehry as one of the most pioneering architects of the time. It is a long but worthwhile read for anyone generally interested in architecture. In this book, Goldberger portrays an authentic Gehry: projects not completed, collaborations falling apart for various reasons, and the challenging process to bring some of his most renowned buildings into being - beneath the tip of the iceberg of his gleaming, incredibly imaginative accomplished architectures. Those behind-the-scenes difficulties are anyone whose profession involves serious creation or making can relate to.
As the book attempts to offer an as comprehensive view of Frank's work as the author can, a large volume of architecture works was referred to as Frank's life trajectory develops in the book. It is fairly easy to get lost without having a visual image of these works beforehand when encountering them in the texts. I find the reading experience strongly enhanced by looking up these works online during reading - which inevitably took me long to finish each chapter. I wonder if more images could be included among the ocean of texts, which could serve as a compass for readers and facilitate a better understanding of Frank's works.
As the book attempts to offer an as comprehensive view of Frank's work as the author can, a large volume of architecture works was referred to as Frank's life trajectory develops in the book. It is fairly easy to get lost without having a visual image of these works beforehand when encountering them in the texts. I find the reading experience strongly enhanced by looking up these works online during reading - which inevitably took me long to finish each chapter. I wonder if more images could be included among the ocean of texts, which could serve as a compass for readers and facilitate a better understanding of Frank's works.
June 29, 2019
The early exploration of Gehry’s life was interesting. Yet, there were past episodes that remained unreported. The book carries too few images and scant detail about life in the studio. It would have been fascinating to read about one project from start to finish. Instead there was too much on his battle with celebrity and all of the celebrities he knows and who love him; blah blah blah.
September 8, 2021
A truly captivating Chronicle of Gehry's life and passion. It's obvious the author has a good relationship with the subjects, both architecture and Gehry. Gehry is a risk-taker, but this book doesn't glamorize the decisions and shows the ups and downs of being a part of something great. Truly inspirational.
June 29, 2017
Paul Goldberger is an excellent writer with a discerning eye for the proper amount of detail. This book is rich in facts, anecdotes and critiques. It moves at a steady pace throughout. As any good books should do, I left this one enlightened and inspired.
January 29, 2019
I loved this book! I knew Frank Gehry's architecture but didn't know the details behind his life and work. Fascinating and now I want to visit cities with Gehry's projects.
December 8, 2019
Frank Gehry and I share a birthday.
March 18, 2021
A favorite architect and a favorite writer/critic, providing a thorough examination of the most imaginative, innovative architect of our time. "An intimate look at a creative genius." 4.5 Stars.
January 26, 2016
Goldberger, Paul. Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry, Alfred A. Knopf,
New York, 2015 (511pp.$35).
In his new book “Building Art”, author Paul Goldberger writes that world famous Los Angeles architect and designer Frank Gehry “almost never started a design with a predetermined shape.” Instead, Gehry began by “playing” (as he called it), with wooden blocks of different sizes, “each representing a portion” of a building’s functional program. “He would then stack or array the blocks in what he felt was both a practical and an aesthetically pleasing composition.” At full staff during the early 2000’s, Gehry’s Los Angeles office consisted of 150 or so architects, designers, and CATIA specialists (CIATA: specialized software programs for design), a staff that produced models from Gehry’s ideas. Gehry would review the models in the model shop, suggest tweaks, after which staff would produce a new model that incorporated his changes and the process would begin again. If this procedure sounds like the atelier of Titian or Rubens, then so be it. The title of Goldberger’s book suggests the truth of Gehry’s view: He was creating functional works of art--museums, apartment buildings, furniture, lamps, and homes that were intended to exhibit emotional depth through signature treatment.
Gehry’s public projects are justly famous: The Walt Disney Concert Center in Los Angeles; the Fisher Center at Bard College; the ethereal and lionized Guggenhiem Bilbao on the Nervion River in Spain; the uniquely geometrical Museum of Biodiversity in Panama City; and most recently the ship-like and marginally controversial Fondation Louis Vuitton at the Jardin d’Acclimitation in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, where rank commercial motives intersect with both art and its ultra-rich patrons—in all these projects Gehry had to walk the hot coals of public controversy hand-in-hand with wealthy guardians and sponsors. Early on, his work in Los Angeles tended more toward homes (Ron Davis House, 1972) or smaller public projects (Loyola Law School campus and central square (1979-94), and included his own Santa Monica home that upset his neighbors but has since become something of a landmark.
Goldberger, formerly architecture critic at the New York Times (where he won a Pulitzer Prize for architecture criticism), is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of many books, including “Why Architecture Matters”, “Reflections on the Age of Architecture” and “Up From Zero”. He also teaches at the New School and lectures widely on architecture, design, historic preservation and cities. “Building Art” is a densely structured work given over largely to the personal struggles and accomplishments of Gehry, who was born Frank Goldberg to middle class parents in Canada. When the family moved to Los Angeles in 1947, Gehry worked odd jobs, attended college, and found himself drawn to the artistic circles of Billy Al Bengston and Ed Ruscha. He was, for a long time, poor. And then he was rich and famous.
“Building Art” is highly readable, concentrating as it does on the celebrity of the architect and his struggles in the halls of power. Goldberger crams into his book all the “associations” Gehry built up over time—it reads like a compendium of movie stars, business moguls and government power brokers. Heads of State even make appearances front and center. And, for the first time, Gehry’s personal life spreads out before us like smog over Los Angeles—how he came to change his name, his ugly first divorce, and a maddening affair with the wife of a friend. To some extent, missing are the guts of the design struggle and the “hows” and “how-tos” of design itself, a lack that makes way for a popular biography accessible to a wide public.
Nevertheless, “Building Art” is a comprehensive and honest book, adroitly rendered and entertaining. Gehry himself has many champions and not a few detractors. This book gives them their due. Besides being beautifully made (it could use a few more photos and drawings), it will please readers everywhere who want to know what it is like to be a rich artist in the fast lane.
New York, 2015 (511pp.$35).
In his new book “Building Art”, author Paul Goldberger writes that world famous Los Angeles architect and designer Frank Gehry “almost never started a design with a predetermined shape.” Instead, Gehry began by “playing” (as he called it), with wooden blocks of different sizes, “each representing a portion” of a building’s functional program. “He would then stack or array the blocks in what he felt was both a practical and an aesthetically pleasing composition.” At full staff during the early 2000’s, Gehry’s Los Angeles office consisted of 150 or so architects, designers, and CATIA specialists (CIATA: specialized software programs for design), a staff that produced models from Gehry’s ideas. Gehry would review the models in the model shop, suggest tweaks, after which staff would produce a new model that incorporated his changes and the process would begin again. If this procedure sounds like the atelier of Titian or Rubens, then so be it. The title of Goldberger’s book suggests the truth of Gehry’s view: He was creating functional works of art--museums, apartment buildings, furniture, lamps, and homes that were intended to exhibit emotional depth through signature treatment.
Gehry’s public projects are justly famous: The Walt Disney Concert Center in Los Angeles; the Fisher Center at Bard College; the ethereal and lionized Guggenhiem Bilbao on the Nervion River in Spain; the uniquely geometrical Museum of Biodiversity in Panama City; and most recently the ship-like and marginally controversial Fondation Louis Vuitton at the Jardin d’Acclimitation in Paris’ Bois de Boulogne, where rank commercial motives intersect with both art and its ultra-rich patrons—in all these projects Gehry had to walk the hot coals of public controversy hand-in-hand with wealthy guardians and sponsors. Early on, his work in Los Angeles tended more toward homes (Ron Davis House, 1972) or smaller public projects (Loyola Law School campus and central square (1979-94), and included his own Santa Monica home that upset his neighbors but has since become something of a landmark.
Goldberger, formerly architecture critic at the New York Times (where he won a Pulitzer Prize for architecture criticism), is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and the author of many books, including “Why Architecture Matters”, “Reflections on the Age of Architecture” and “Up From Zero”. He also teaches at the New School and lectures widely on architecture, design, historic preservation and cities. “Building Art” is a densely structured work given over largely to the personal struggles and accomplishments of Gehry, who was born Frank Goldberg to middle class parents in Canada. When the family moved to Los Angeles in 1947, Gehry worked odd jobs, attended college, and found himself drawn to the artistic circles of Billy Al Bengston and Ed Ruscha. He was, for a long time, poor. And then he was rich and famous.
“Building Art” is highly readable, concentrating as it does on the celebrity of the architect and his struggles in the halls of power. Goldberger crams into his book all the “associations” Gehry built up over time—it reads like a compendium of movie stars, business moguls and government power brokers. Heads of State even make appearances front and center. And, for the first time, Gehry’s personal life spreads out before us like smog over Los Angeles—how he came to change his name, his ugly first divorce, and a maddening affair with the wife of a friend. To some extent, missing are the guts of the design struggle and the “hows” and “how-tos” of design itself, a lack that makes way for a popular biography accessible to a wide public.
Nevertheless, “Building Art” is a comprehensive and honest book, adroitly rendered and entertaining. Gehry himself has many champions and not a few detractors. This book gives them their due. Besides being beautifully made (it could use a few more photos and drawings), it will please readers everywhere who want to know what it is like to be a rich artist in the fast lane.
April 29, 2016
I want to start my review by saying that I'm not particularly a fan of Frank Gehry's work, but I certainly find him amazing for his influence on modern architecture and his years of contributions to society. I was anxious to read critic Paul Goldberger's biography of Gehry, "Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry". The book, which was written with the cooperation of Gehry and his friends and family and clients, is very even handed. It's clear that Goldberger admires Frank Gehry, but his fondness for his subject doesn't blind him to Gehry's lesser points.
Frank Gehry, by now in his mid-80's, is still hard at work. A man who is uncompromising in his architectural principles, he is known for his buildings all over the world. As an architect, the Canadian-born Gehry - he changed his last name from "Goldberg" to "Gehry" - began his practice in Los Angeles in the early 1950's. He was sought out to design commercial buildings and public buildings, but he gained worldwide fame with his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain in the 1990's. Suddenly everyone wanted a Frank Gehry-building, but his type of architecture must go through many levels of approval by both financial and artist groups, and many a design never left the drawing boards in Gehry's Los Angeles office. But he has built grand buildings from Berlin to Paris to Los Angeles to parts of Asia.
Paul Goldberger gives as complete a picture of Frank Gehry on a personal level as he does on a professional one. Twice married and the father of four children, Goldberger makes no secret of Gehry's failings as a parent, particularly of the two daughters from his first marriage. Of course, Gehry was building his career, which is often the case.
All in all, Paul Goldberger's biography of Frank Gehry is outstanding. Whether you like Gehry's work or not. The only complaint I have about the book, which I read in e-book form, was that it had a lot of typos. I also wish there were more photographs, but by reading it on my iPad, I was able to switch over to Wikipedia when I wanted to see a building whose picture was not included in the book.
Frank Gehry, by now in his mid-80's, is still hard at work. A man who is uncompromising in his architectural principles, he is known for his buildings all over the world. As an architect, the Canadian-born Gehry - he changed his last name from "Goldberg" to "Gehry" - began his practice in Los Angeles in the early 1950's. He was sought out to design commercial buildings and public buildings, but he gained worldwide fame with his Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain in the 1990's. Suddenly everyone wanted a Frank Gehry-building, but his type of architecture must go through many levels of approval by both financial and artist groups, and many a design never left the drawing boards in Gehry's Los Angeles office. But he has built grand buildings from Berlin to Paris to Los Angeles to parts of Asia.
Paul Goldberger gives as complete a picture of Frank Gehry on a personal level as he does on a professional one. Twice married and the father of four children, Goldberger makes no secret of Gehry's failings as a parent, particularly of the two daughters from his first marriage. Of course, Gehry was building his career, which is often the case.
All in all, Paul Goldberger's biography of Frank Gehry is outstanding. Whether you like Gehry's work or not. The only complaint I have about the book, which I read in e-book form, was that it had a lot of typos. I also wish there were more photographs, but by reading it on my iPad, I was able to switch over to Wikipedia when I wanted to see a building whose picture was not included in the book.
July 11, 2016
The book's detailed record of Ghery's growth is motivating to young architectural professionals like me - Gehry had such a humble start as a junior practionist, the shy boy basically had nothing. Through struggling and thriving for decades,he eventually became successful and legendary in the field . He is inspirational in providing many unique ways of thinking, re-creating architecture as an expression of art of new order. It is indeed an optimistic read.
Many are arguing that Ghery's buildings bring no social value to the practical society. But he really pushed forward the industry by developing technologies that enable endless possibility in construction while helping control cost of buildings. In the few decades of an architect's life, it is a huge achievement. I appreciate that the book records the technological break through of his.
Many are arguing that Ghery's buildings bring no social value to the practical society. But he really pushed forward the industry by developing technologies that enable endless possibility in construction while helping control cost of buildings. In the few decades of an architect's life, it is a huge achievement. I appreciate that the book records the technological break through of his.
February 7, 2016
For someone who has spent a considerable amount of time viewing and reading about architecture albeit with a much narrow focus than this book, I learned a lot about Frank Gehry and recent architecture in Goldberger's book. It was a great experience. Goldberger with his lifelong experience as an architecture critic for the New York Times enhanced and nuanced the career of Gehry. I can't imagine that someone without Goldberger's background and attention to detail could have written this tomb of information.
March 14, 2016
An excellent overview of architect Frank Gehry, his work, and a look inside his personal anxieties and creative approach. Most interesting are the glimpses inside his upbringing, personal life and the machinations of his office, Gehry Partners.
April 3, 2018
Knowing his story helps to understand the evolution of his creations. I visit places where I know his work is available - such as Bilbao for the amazing Guggenheim museum, and a "glass house" in Prague. Well written, will read more from the author.
Want to read
September 14, 2015L.A. Times, September 13, 2015
December 23, 2015
Somewhat repetitive when making his points about Gehry's life and personality, but nonetheless an important read for me because I am very interested in Gehry's work.
April 29, 2016
A really good authorized biography of Gehry that looks at his work and his life.
August 29, 2016
I thought I knew plenty about Frank Gehry, I was wrong. Goldberger did a great job creating an enjoyable read on one of America's most well-known architects.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews