Shame on You!
Breaking down the Bilbao: A graphic look at why Frank Gehry's buildings fail as public spaces.
This month "Shame on You" sets its sights on the world's best-known architect, Frank Gehry. No project did more to catapult Gehry into the public consciousness than the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain. After the Guggenheim debuted in 1997, images of Gehry's fluid metallic forms appeared everywhere--newspapers, magazines, even car commercials. A string of high-profile commissions followed, and soon it seemed like every city felt it needed a Gehry design to appear culturally relevant.
Conspicuously absent from most media representation of Gehry's buildings was any acknowledgement of his treatment of public space. Though the novelty of Gehry's style has worked well in attracting visitors and tourists, most of his buildings lack attention to human-scale detail and eschew the kind of activity that will keep people coming back again and again. In order to compensate for the way Gehry's objects deaden surrounding areas, future developments that are built around them will have to treat public space much more imaginatively.
Registered users of the PPS Image Database can view a slide show with more examples of Gehry's work.
We often see pictures of Gehry's signature sweeping curves, but seldom recognized are the unfortunate consequences: blank walls that are havens for negative activity. In this case, it's a literal crime. Seconds after taking this photo, we witnessed this solitary figure lurking by the Guggenheim Bilbao snatch a camera from a museum-goer. Continue slide show.
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