Frank O. Gehry: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao [Import] [Paperback]

Coosje Van Bruggen (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 207 pages
• Publisher: Solomon R Guggenheim Museum (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892071923
• ISBN-13: 978-0892071920
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,083,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Gehry's Enthusiasts, November 11, 2000

By 

Ping Lim (Christchurch) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frank O. Gehry: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Hardcover)

I rather enjoyed this offering. Because I was such a great fan of his, I bought the book anyway despite the reviews written by other readers that it didn't contain much insight. In fact, this book was rather insightful. It was realised after the involvement of the author with the maestro himself over a period of 7 years. It's amazing to read about Gehry's inspiration from his favourite items, the 'fish' & the 'snake', & how it gradually evolves into something else completely different. The book explores his previous realised & unrealised projects, & their corelations with the Bilbao Museum. After exploring his subconscious & conscious minds thru random sketches mostly done in the plane or in hotel room, he would have his colleague, Chan built the models which they would constantly refine. I also learnt here that Gehry isn't a great fan of both computer & drawing plan. The blessing by Gehry of the usage of the computer program, Catia is a God sent because the other Principal understood that without its usage, it would be almost impossible to finish the project on time, on budget, or at all. The part about why he chose titanium instead of copper despite that it costs more is interesting to read. Here, we also learnt that Gehry is a team player & he credits other people's contribution to his project. One of them is Krens, the Guggenheim Foundation Director who assisted Gehry in forming spaces to display arts. He's the person who urged Gehry to trust his intuition to come out with huge spaces & yet, sculptural in nature. In other words, Gehry is fortunate to work with professionals who remain objective in their judgements & never steer him away from his vision. This book oozes with beautiful pictures, taken from all angles imaginable, in different lighting, & even pictures of the Museum under construction. There's also Appendix at the rear of the book mentioning all you need to know about this iconalistic project of our time. Highly recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No big insights but a decent picture book., August 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Frank O. Gehry: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Hardcover)

This book does not provide any exceptionally insights into the Gehry's thinking and the use of computer modeling is no big surprise to anyone. The best book on Gehry, that I know about, is the monograph by El Croquis (which was published before the Guggenheim's realization). That said, I visited the museum shortly after it opened (bought book there) and it's a wonderful design. Although photos are never as good as the experience of being there, if you can't afford to visit Spain, a decent picture book will show you what you missed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent discussion of Gehry's Design Process, April 25, 1998

By 

Glenn Lym ([e-mail]) (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frank O. Gehry: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Hardcover)

The collaborator and wife of Clas Olenburgh has written a very clear depiction of the series of events and creative process by which Gehry arrived arrived at his design. This book covers his working relationships with subordinates, his various modes of sketching, the form ideas he struggled with, the history of some of the forms he worked with within his own opus and the evolution of the overall design from early site visits through computer modelling.