To my surprise, I found out today that the "Disney ICE" skating rink a few blocks away from our house was designed by world-famous architect Frank Gehry. It certainly doesn't give any clues that it was designed by a prominent world architect; it has all of the visual appeal of a pair of quonset huts, looking like something you'd order from a prefab-structures catalog, right there on page 23 next to the pole barns, one page away from the all-aluminum garages.
It could be worse, though -- we could have Gehry as a next-door neighbor. I love the inside of the house -- especially that kitchen! -- but the outside looks like a collision between a bungalow and a batting cage.
(Anaheim's "Art in Public Places Tour" also showcases these "Video Trees" -- "Video Trees show actual freeway conditions, public meeting and event information." But typical of many attempted fusions of high technology and art that I've seen, in the time that we've lived here, I've never ever ever spied one of these things actually working. "The Video Trees may prompt appreciation for the wonders of the technology." Or not.)
Posted by Kevin at May 26, 2005 11:22 PMI can't imagine why you didn't know that the Ice Rink was designed by Gehry! :-) I have to disagree with you on your summary of his work though - I will grant you that his work can be very difficult to appreciate and/or understand, however, he was a genius when it comes to designing buildings.
Posted by: Mary at May 31, 2005 01:52 PMHey Mary! Glad that you stopped by ...
I'm not condemning the entire body of Gehry's work -- I find many of his buildings to be visually stunning.
But do I think that the extra money that Disney undoubtedly spent to hire a 'name' architect was well-spent, in terms of benefit to my neighborhood over what a not-Frank-Gehry might have produced? I have my doubts.
Would I be dismayed if my next-door neighbor or someone down the street started to rebuild his house in the style of Gehry's personal residence? Absolutely. To drop something like that into the context of a typical Southern California residential neighborhood just seems like a fundamentally antagonistic act (I have to wonder how well the guy gets along with his neighbors ...)
Posted by: Kevin at June 1, 2005 06:21 PM