Frank Gehry Page 2

Frank Gehry attended Los Angeles City College and was a part-time student at University of Southern California. When he became a full-time student. he realized architecture would be a field he would thrive in. After graduation, he joined the Army and his talent was recognized. He designed furniture that reflected his architecture. When he left the service, Frank studied city planning at Harvard University’s Graduate School of design. He only studied there for a year because of the vagueness of the major.

Frank worked for many firms. He went to Europe, and worked in Paris. He worked with artist Andre Remondet and after a year he left and returned to his family in California and created his own firm. Frank O. Gehry and Associates, Inc. was the name of his firm. Frank had 140 employees in eight countries. Little did he know, his main office in Manhattan would expand.

One of Frank’s early works was the pink house that he and his family bought. He redesigned the exterior and used a combination of metals, fencing, concrete, wood, and glass. He also exposed the wooden support beams in the interior. Frank then started to build his reputation slowly, and it began with furniture. Frank earned a name with an affordable furniture line named Easy Edges. Frank designed a second line named Rough Edges; this furniture was expensive because few pieces were made. Frank became more famous when his friend Ron Davis asked for his help. They worked together to build a house with an art studio and incorporated Ron’s art style in it. Frank also began to develop his own style by using natural materials.

Frank Gehry Page 1

Frank Owen Goldberg was born on February 28th 1929, in Toronto Canada. He then moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1950’s. Frank Goldberg was Jewish and Polish and his family was very into their heritage. Frank spent many nights in his Grandmother’s house that seemed like his best friend. Frank’s parents were Thelma and Irving Goldberg. Frank’s father who was born to Polish immigrants lived in Brooklyn. Irving moved to Canada and worked job to job which is when he met his first wife who then became Frank’s mother.

Franks father, Irving, fought for money on the streets and Frank picked that up at a later age. Frank was a boxer and participated in full contact Karate. Frank went to a Hebrew school and was a good student, where he enjoyed math. Frank worked at his grandfather’s hardware store and was amazed at the tools around him. His grandmother would let him take home scraps and they would build cities together. Frank’s family then relocated to Timmins, Ontario where he was bullied because of his religious faith in Judaism. They would call him “fish”, saying he smelled. This discouraged Frank so he decided to drop his religion and explore atheism. Although he was teased, “fish” became the inspiration for some of his creations.

Frank’s father became sick so his family moved to Los Angeles, California. His family was struggling to pay their bills. He worked as a delivery truck man. This way he met Anita Snyder who he married in 1952. This is when he changed his last name with his family’s permission to Gehry. He then had two daughters with his wife, Anita. He divorced Anita in 1966 and got remarried to Berta Isabel Aquilera, an immigrant from Panama in 1976, they then had two sons.

Lipstick Building

The Lipstick Building is brown and is 452 feet, and 138 meters. This building was completed in 1986 and has 34 floors. The building was designed by Johnson/Burgee Architects. The base of the building is on a colonade and the entrance is a postmodern hall. The exterior of it is a continuous wall of red enameled imperial granite, and steel. When I first saw this building I thought that it was nice outside and has a very professional look. It shouldn't be changed because it has a very modern look to it.

Citi Group Building

The Citi Group Building was designed so that there could be room for the ST. Peters church. This building is very sexy because the way it was made. It is very shiny silver and stood out to me alot because of the shape of the building. This buiding has 59 floors, 915ft. and is 279 meters. This building was built between 1974 -1977. Hugh Stubbins Jr. was the architect. He made it a 45 degree angle at the top and stilt like at the bottom. There are no ornaments on this building and just repeated squares. My first reaction to this building was "Wow that's a sexy building", it is tall and stands out. My favorite feature is it's shininess. I wouldn't change anything about this building. I like it just the way it is.

AT&T a.k.a Sony Building

The Sony Building is 37 stories high. The Architect of this building is Philip Johnson and John Burgee (who is less famous), they constucted this building in 1984. The ornament on the top is like a Chippendale Pendiment. It also has an arched entranceway. The architectual design is like Architectual Modernism but many think it is Postmodern Architecture. The building is 648 ft. The building is very nice inside with televisions and it has stores inside also.

My Architect Movie

Louis Kahn made buildings, but his Yale Art Gallery Building, and the British Art Center, which was finished after his death were the nicest buildings. As an architect, Kahn was a good person but didn't think women were equal to men. He would owe builders money because the building was over budget. Architects are artists and have to be good at english because they need to know how to talk well and in complete sentences. They have to be good at Math because you have to have every thing to scale so that a building won't fall over or be crooked. Workers of a well known Architect work at a office, have to listen and be accurate about the buildings the architect wants them to build. Architects have alot of money.

U.N Building

The United Nations Building was founded in 1950. It was built by architect Wallace K. Harrison. This building has 38 floors and is made of thermopane glass. The North and South walls are made up of Vermont Marble and the building has green glass. This building is 38 stories tall. When I saw this building in person for the first time I thought it was okay, it wasn't the greatest building. It should be because it is the United Nations building and it should be extravagant because alot of tourist come to see this building. This building needs to be changed alot. It should be the best looking building around.