It turns out none.
He was giving a private tour of his Lewis Library at Princeton University to a group of scientists from the Institute of Advanced Study. It's a library for integrated sciences but I'm not sure what good a tour of the building was to them or why Gehry would make an appearance for them. I was not part of this tour but managed to get myself cordially invited to come along by someone. Happily, I followed the group into an elevator, in which Gehry promptly looked at me and asked "Who are you?" in a somewhat accusing tone. I said I was an architecture student and was invited to join. He didn't respond. Miffed, but still hopeful, I continued along on the tour. Gehry didn't say much as he led us from one floor to the other. He would comment that the light in the space would change as the day went on, and that was about the most enlightening thing he said (no pun or irony intended). I know my architecture education may be incomplete, but I believe the light in every space with a window changes as the day goes on. Rising and setting of the sun, it happens. By this point I was rather disappointed with the Great Gehry, but the cherry on top was when he hadn't a clue where he was going in his own building. It was like a child finding out his hero was really a bum, but less dramatic because I'm not a child and Gehry isn't my hero. You get the point. Gehry is too big to design his own stuff, he has underlings and his name is a label, he doesn't need to know the details of his work. And he's just old. Old. I hope I never get old.
The only Gehry work I could even begin to say I like is his jewelry line with Tiffany's. It doesn't look like something messily collapsing in on itself.
 |
| "The Simpsons" seems to share a similar opinion. |
Enjoyed reading this piece! :D
ReplyDelete