COMMUNITY PROFILES FRANK GEHRY
As a world-renowned architect with a reputation for incorporating free-flowing,artistic expression with the unforgiving rules of physics, Frank Gehry has been the target of both immense praise and even more intense criticism.
His buildings, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, and a private residence in Santa Monica, have been characterized as stunning works of art and outrageous spectacles that do more for the architect’s ego than they do for the communities in which they reside, with fellow architects questioning the form and function.
While the nay sayers have been harsh, no one is a more intense critic of his work than Gehry himself, at least when it comes to one of his earliest works, Santa Monica Place mall, which shows signs of his artistic flare, but is for the most part, a boxy relic of Reagan-era capitalism. The building is almost imperialistic and imposing, more of a fortress than a welcoming shopping center – not something the “Starchitect” envisioned when he designed the project.
In the way Gehry speaks about the mall, it seems he would love to see it demolished so that it becomes even more of a distant memory for him and his detractors.
Well, Gehry might just be getting his wish. Current owners Macerich Co. have submitted plans with City Hall to remodel the outdated shopping complex by ripping the roof off to create an open-air retail village that makes use of the cool ocean breezes and the foot traffic of the Third Street Promenade. Renderings of the proposed project show grand boulevards with open space for people to gather. There are warm colors and aesthetically appealing glass structures with an expanded food court on the third floor, providing shoppers with stunning views of the ocean.
“And I’m afraid what we ended up with was a shopping mall … I thought I could do something special … I feel that it was really a missed opportunity.” — Gehry said last week from his office in Los Angeles. I THOUGHT I COULD DO SOMETHING SPECIAL … I FEEL THAT IT WAS REALLY A MISSED OPPORTUNITY.” Frank Gehry on Santa Monica Place architect
“We tried to make it a piece of the city (and) create a real urban feel,”
It’s a scaled-down version of what Gehry envisioned.
“I like the idea of taking the roof off, taking all that stuff off and make it as a city street” he said.
Another part of Gehry’s original vision, he wanted to connect the mall’s two parking structures by going underground. Like the mixed use he also envisioned, the developers and city staff were not in favor of the idea, Gehry said. With the future remodel, he hopes Macerich will unite the two so that they can be more maneuverable.
“I would also like to see more uses, like maybe a hotel or something,” Gehry said. “That would make it more like a city.”
While building Santa Monica Place was a major pain for the architect, Gehry does have some fond memories. In the documentary, “Sketches of Frank Gehry,” directed by friend Sidney Pollack, Gehry talks about how his career changed dramatically after building the mall. No longer would he build projects simply for the money.
“It was like jumping off a cliff,” said Gehry, who immediately dropped every project his firm was working on following the mall and started from scratch. “It was scary because I didn’t know what I was going to do … (But) I was so happy from then on.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 12, 2007. Read the original PDF.