The Vitra Design Museum is the first building that Star Architect and Prizker Prize-winner Frank O. Gehry realized in Europe. In total there are four buildings by Frank Gehry in the Basel region: the Vitra furniture factory and the Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Vitra headquarters in Birsfelden, and the building on the Novartis campus in Basel. Thus the Design Museum is the perfect location for an overview of Gehry’s most important projects since 1997.
On display are 12 projects, displayed in the form of large competition models, original drawings by the architect, and developmental models from the Gehry Partners archive. Among the projects shown are the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, the DZ Bank Building in Berlin, the Neue Zollhof in Düsseldorf, the AGO Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, the IAC Building in New York, and the Beekman Street Housing skyscraper in New York.
On the occasion of the exhibition, VernissageTV met with Jochen Eisenbrand (Curator, Vitra Design Museum). In the above video (excerpt, complete interview after the jump), Jochen Eisenbrand talks about the concept of the exhibition, the importance of Frank Gehry’s work for architecture, how he got the commission to build the furniture factory and the Design Museum for Vitra, and the “starchitect” phenomenon and the “Bilbao Effect”.
Frank O. Gehry Since 1997 at Vitra Design Museum. Interview with curator Jochen Eisenbrand, November 9, 2011.
For the full-length version of this episode and photo galleries hit the jump.
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Frank O. Gehry Since 1997 at Vitra Design Museum. Interview with Jochen Hildebrand (Curator, Vitra Design Museum). Full-length version:
Frank Owen Gehry was born in 1929 in Toronto, Ontario. The Canadian-American Pritzker Prize-winning architect lives and works in Los Angeles, California. His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions, such as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
By the mid ’80s, his work had attracted international attention and he was commissioned to build the Vitra furniture factory in Basel, Switzerland, as well as the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. These projects established him as a major presence on the international architecture scene.
A catalogue has been published to coincide with the exhibition and familiarizing readers with all of Frank O. Gehry’s and Gehry Partners’ projects since 1997. The exhibition is organized and produced by La Triennale di Milano. It is conceived by Germano Celant in collaboration with Frank O. Gehry and Gehry Partners, LLP. The exhibition design is by Studio Cerri & Associati.
Photos of the exhibition Frank O. Gehry Since 1997 at Vitra Design Museum:
Photos of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Walt Disney Concert Hall by Frank Gehry: