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Frank Gehry

Frank Gehry Quotes

Architect

Frank Gehry, born on February 28, 1929, is a renowned architect from Canada. Known for his unique architectural style characterized by irregular, flowing lines and curves, Gehry is hailed as an innovator in the modern architectural world. His works are scattered across the globe, including the United States, Europe, and Asia, with some of his most famous projects being the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

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Famous Frank Gehry Quotes

“I think my best skill as an architect is the achievement of hand-to-eye coordination. I am able to transfer a sketch into a model into the building.”

Thinking Hands Eye Able Building Skills Achievement Models Construction Architect Transfers Coordination

Author:Frank Gehry

“I know I draw without taking my pen off the page. I just keep going, and that my drawings I think of them as scribbles. I don't think they mean anything to anybody except to me, and then at the end of the day, the end of the project, they wheel out these little drawings and they're damn close to what the finished building is and it's the drawing.”

Thinking Knows Mean Littles Ends Building Projects Pages Draws Finished Drawing Damn Wheels The End Of The Day Keep Going Pens Scribbles

Author:Frank Gehry

“I never said I was opposed to the LEED program or to green building - I'm not.”

Said Building Program Green Leeds

Author:Frank Gehry

“I would like to make a building as intellectually driven as it is sculptural and as positive as it would be acceptable to hope.”

Would Be Building Driven Acceptable

Author:Frank Gehry

“My buildings are all on budget.”

Building Budgets

Author:Frank Gehry

“There are people who design buildings that are not technically and financially good, and there are those who do. Two categories - simple.”

People Two Simple Design Building Categories

Author:Frank Gehry

“I don't think all buildings have to be iconic, but the history of the world has shown us that cultures build iconic buildings for their major public buildings.”

Thinking World Culture Building Majors World History Iconic

Author:Frank Gehry

“You have freedom, so you have to make choices - and at the point when I make a choice, the building starts to look like a Frank Gehry building. It's a signature.”

Looks Choices Building Frank Signatures

Author:Frank Gehry

“Anybody I talk to agrees that maybe 2 percent of the building environment since the war, we could call architecture.”

War Environment Building Percent Agree Architecture

Author:Frank Gehry

“Ninety percent of the buildings we live in and around aren't architecture. No, that's not right - 98 percent.”

Building Percent Architecture Ninety

Author:Frank Gehry

“When you were a kid, if you went to the Montreal Forum or a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens, which I did, there was a great feeling. The new stadiums don't have it. Why don't they have it? Building codes.”

Ifs Feelings Kids Games Building Garden Code Hockey Leafs Stadiums Forums Montreal Great Feelings Maple

Author:Frank Gehry

“You have to do every detail on every bloody piece of the building. You have to know how the engineering works. You have to know how the fittings go together. You have to master the mechanical, electrical, acoustical - everything.”

Knows Together Know How Pieces Building Masters Details Engineering Bloody Electrical

Author:Frank Gehry

“When people condemn me for designing iconic buildings in cities and not having an idea what a city is, they haven't done their homework. I started in urban design and city planning. It's just that when I got out of school there wasn't much of a market for that. There still isn't.”

People Stills Ideas Done School Cities Havens Design Building Planning Urban Homework Iconic City Planning Urban Design

Author:Frank Gehry

“China is building cities for a 20 to 40 percent increase in population. India is quickly growing. The carbon footprints of that and other development around the world are overwhelming.”

World Cities Growing Building Development Percent India Increase Population China Around The World Overwhelming Carbon Footprint Carbon Footprint

Author:Frank Gehry

“Just because you are an architect and make decent buildings does not mean that you can suddenly become a set designer for one of the best avant-garde dancers in the world.”

World Mean Doe Building Designer Decent Dancer Architect Avant Garde

Author:Frank Gehry

“I used to read more when I was a kid than I do now. It was all sort of fuel for the fire to teach you how to think and how to make things and it informed the architecture that I was doing. It's better coming in with that history and that kind of knowledge and depth of understanding of humanity that is very important for building buildings - for understanding people and how they should live and how you could make your lives better and stuff like that.”

People Thinking Should Kind Important Kids Used Humanity Stuff Understanding Teach Fire Building Depth Architecture Fuel

Author:Frank Gehry

“What I have learned about museum buildings is that buildings have to have iconic presentations. The position of the art museum vis-a-vis other civic buildings needs to be hierarchal in the community. It has to be equal to the library and the courthouse.”

Art Community Building Equal Library I Have Learned Iconic

Author:Frank Gehry

“If you're serious about being an architect, you've got to learn how to take responsibility. It's not fluff. You have to do every detail on every bloody piece of the building. You have to know how the engineering works. You have to know how the fittings go together. You have to master the mechanical, electrical, acoustical - everything.”

Together Responsibility Building Serious Architect Bloody Taking Responsibility Electrical

Author:Frank Gehry

“You never build the perfect building. Only Allah is perfect. Life is such. You make decisions on conclusions, then some guy invents something else and the world changes. That's comforting. There's no one way to use museums, no one way to do art. That also means there is no one way to build museums.”

World Mean Art Guy Decision Perfect Building Conclusion Comforting Perfect Life

Author:Frank Gehry

“There is a backlash against me and everyone who has done buildings that have movement and feeling.”

Done Feelings Movement Building Backlash

Author:Frank Gehry

About the Author

Born: February 28, 1929
Known for: Architect
Quotes: 170

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Books & Sources

Frank O. Gehry: Selected Works : 1969 to TodayRelated source material

Dancing buildingRelated source material

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