Frank Gehry: The Houses [Hardcover]

Mildred Friedman (Author), Sylvia Lavin (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 22, 2009

One of the great architects of our time, Frank Gehry has revolutionized the use of materials in design and redefined how architects use computers as a design tool to advance form-making as we know it. He has achieved worldwide fame for such large-scale public projects as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California, but it was in private houses that Gehry first explored and interrogated the principles of modern architecture. In these houses—most notably his own, in Santa Monica, California—Gehry distorted, expanded, and collapsed the modernist box, exploring everyday materials (corrugated metal, unfinished plywood, and chain link), experimenting with color, and challenging accepted notions about geometry and structure. In houses such as the Schnabel House in Brentwood, California, and the Winton Guest House in Wayzata, Minnesota, he experimented with collage and assemblage. More recently, Gehry’s work has taken on sculptural forms, aided by new structural and geometric potentials of digital design, as in the near-legendary Lewis House in Lyndhurst, Ohio. Color photographs, sketches, and plans create an illuminating visual record of some of the most groundbreaking, seminal projects of Gehry’s oeuvre.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The first book of the seminal residential works of Frank Gehry, from his earliest architectural ideas to today.

"Fans of Frank Gehry, FAIA—as well as anyone who primarily thinks of him as an institutional architect—will savor this unorthodox new book... By including homeowners' and collaborators' voices, Friedman provides a rich and candid look inside 23 of the starchitect's startlingly original midcareer houses." ~Residential Architect Online

About the Author

Frank Gehry has received widespread recognition for his work, including the Pritzker Prize, and many awards from the American Institute of Architects. Mildred Friedman is the editor of Rizzoli’s The Architecture of Frank Gehry (1986) and Gehry Talks: Architecture + Process (1999). Sylvia Lavin is professor of architectural history and theory at UCLA, where she was chairperson from 1996 to 2006.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Rizzoli; 1St Edition edition (October 22, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847830608
• ISBN-13: 978-0847830602
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 1.3 x 12.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank Gehry Does Domestic Architecture, March 27, 2011

By 

Old Saratoga Books "The Book Trout" (Upstate New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Frank Gehry: The Houses (Hardcover)

Gehry's a world-class architect renowned for his curvilinear buildings
and splashy, dramatic museums and concert halls. Early in his career
he designed many private one and two-family residences, and it is
these smaller projects that are the subject of Friedman's book.

The author does not merely produce plans, photos and analysis of these
residential works, but includes interviews with homeowners (including
the maestro architect himself about his ideas for his own house) and
Gehry's associate, Greg Walsh. One gains insight into how Gehry would
envision and change his architectural ideas and experiments with
various materials during construction. The projects sometimes
involved quite ordinary building materials, like chain link fencing,
asphalt shingles and plywood, used as decorative elements, and it is
intriguing to read how homeowners react to Gehry's design and
materials suggestions before and after their implementation.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A gift I'm glad I gave!, January 23, 2012

By 

Judith Kristen West "Judy" (Pennsauken, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frank Gehry: The Houses (Hardcover)

This book about Frank Gehry was a Christmas gift to a dear old friend who is a great admirer of the man. Well, I cannot tell you how thrilled and overjoyed he was to receive this amazing book!
Well-written, perfectly detailed, and beautifully presented... what more could you ask for!