A look at the best and worst of Frank Gehry’s past mega-projects
A look at the best and worst of Frank Gehry’s past mega-projects
When David Mirvish and Frank Gehry announced their major King West redevelopment plans earlier this month, Mirvish said the pair weren’t building three condo towers—they were creating “sculptures for people to live in.” However, the poetics didn’t quash concerns about whether the Theatre District’s infrastructure can sustain the 2,600 new condo units or whether anyone will buy the apartments in an already saturated market. For Gehry, though, those issues aren’t new. Over the past decade, the Harvard-educated architect has proposed similarly grand designs in New York, his hometown of L.A., and overseas—all of which have been met with a certain degree of trepidation. Some ultimately lived up to their promise, becoming iconic, landmark buildings, while a tough economy and high costs have delayed others (a track record that has raised questions about whether his Toronto project will ever even happen). Here, we examine five of the starchitect’s past residential projects, and see how his Mirvish plans compare.
Check out Gehry’s triumphs and flops »
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- <strong>What:</strong> Three 80-storey condo towers with an art gallery in the base to display David Mirvish’s <a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/1267876--david-mirvish-offers-glimpse-of-hidden-art-gems">private collection.</a> <strong>Where:</strong> Downtown Toronto, in the area where the Princess of Wales Theatre currently stands.<br /> <strong>When:</strong> The initial designs were unveiled two weeks ago and are expected to take <a href="http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/theatre/article/1264364--david-mirvish-and-frank-gehry-to-transform-king-st-strip-into-culture-and-condo-complex">four to seven years to complete</a>—at which time Gehry will be between 87 and 90 years old.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> This will be the first time Gehry builds a stand-alone creation for his native city (the AGO was an addition to an existing structure).<br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> It’s been decried as “a vanity project of gobsmacking arrogance” and criticized for its indifference to the Princess of Wales Theatre and several other <a href="http://www.vancouversun.com/business/commercial-real-estate/Toronto+massive+facelift+from+Frank+Gehry/7327783/story.html">heritage</a> <a href="http://www.torontomike.com/2012/10/the_real_tragedy_if_david_mirv.html">buildings in the vicinity.</a>
- (Image: Gehry International, Inc.)
- King Street West
- King Street West
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- <strong>What:</strong> Two high-rise towers containing a mix of condos, rental apartments and hotel suites.<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Downtown Los Angeles, across the street from Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall (pictured here).<br /> <strong>When:</strong> The initial design was <a href="http://www.arcspace.com/architects/gehry/grand_avenue1/grand_avenue1.html">unveiled in 2006,</a> but the $750-million scheme was shelved, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-grand-ave-20120603,0,2699642,full.story">possibly indefinitely,</a> due to the recession.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> The buildings were the centre of an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/arts/25gran.html">ambitious proposal</a> to create a proper, walkable downtown core in a city known for car-centric sprawl.<br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> The Related Companies said their project would make L.A. more Paris, less parking lot, but critics called the scheme an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/arts/25gran.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1350321178-hT57uY0Pjg/teOX1HUm6Ow">ersatz Champs Élysées</a> and suggested the investment money would be better used where Angelenos actually live and work—in the burbs.
- (Image: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Entertainment)
- Grand Avenue
- Grand Avenue
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- <strong>What:</strong> One commercial tower, 15 residential towers and an 18,000-seat NBA basketball stadium (for the Nets).<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> A 22-acre site in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn.<br /> <strong>When:</strong> Developer Forest City Ratner announced the project in 2003, abandoned <a href="http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-06-04/local/17926381_1_atlantic-yards-design-developer-forest-city-ratner">Gehry’s original, overly expensive design</a> in 2009 and opened a completely different arena late last month. The residential buildings are supposed to roll out over the next 25 years, but there’s skepticism about whether they’ll even get built.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> The stadium signalled the return of professional sports to Brooklyn, which hasn’t had a major team since the Dodgers left in 1957.<br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> The project has been dubbed a bait and switch, where the developer used Gehry’s name to garner support for the project, only to turn around after it was approved and say that Gehry’s designs were too costly (and sub in inferior designs).
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- Atlantic Yards
- Atlantic Yards
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- <strong>What:</strong> An 85-acre mixed-use development with a 12,000-seat basketball arena, a Jenga-esque skyscraper and a man-made wakeboarding lake.<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Lehi, Utah.<br /> <strong>When:</strong> It was proposed in 2007 but <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/52420859-90/project-development-utah-lehi.html.csp">pegged as dead</a> a few years later thanks to the recession.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> The 450-foot tower (a high-end hotel) would have been the tallest building in Utah, <a href="http://www.deseretnews.com/article/660191622/Proposed-Frank-Gehry-designed-megaproject-will-include-tallest-building-in-Utah.html?pg=all">besting</a> the Latter Day Saints Church Office building by over 10 feet.<br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> Although Lehi is about one per cent the size of Toronto, both places have cited worries that massive new development would strain <a href="http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6579589">already-stressed infrastructure.</a>
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- The Point
- The Point
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- <strong>What:</strong> An $875-million, 76-storey, 900-unit luxury <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/29/realestate/big-deal-sky-high-as-in-the-rent-check.html?pagewanted=all">rental</a> apartment tower clad in undulating stainless steel.<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> Lower Manhattan.<br /> <strong>When:</strong> Construction started in 2006, and the building opened in 2011.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> It’s the <a href="http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/December-2011/Whats-the-Hemispheres-Tallest-Residential-Building-Hint-Its-Not-Here/http://www.chicagomag.com/Radar/Deal-Estate/December-2011/Whats-the-Hemispheres-Tallest-Residential-Building-Hint-Its-Not-Here/">tallest residential tower</a> in the western hemisphere.<br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> The tower’s graceful form has received plenty of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/arts/design/10beekman.html">love,</a> but the base—a five-storey brick podium that will house a public school—has been not-so-politely described as <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-11/gehry-s-875-million-tower-ripples-over-lower-manhattan-james-s-russell.html">“utter blandness.”</a>
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- 8 Spruce Street
- 8 Spruce Street
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- <strong>What:</strong> A 12-storey, 12-unit apartment tower in which the smallest unit is over 6,000 square feet.<br /> <strong>Where:</strong> On a mountainside overlooking Hong Kong (a city where the average home is about 600 square feet).<br /> <strong>When:</strong> Opened in 2012.<br /> <strong>The fame:</strong> It’s Hong Kong’s first <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/business/global/frank-gehrys-bid-for-hong-kong-renters.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1&">starchitect-designed residence,</a> Gehry’s first major Asian project, and the first time we’ve ever truly gone weak-kneed for a <a href="http://www.opushongkong.com/media/z360/day/en.html">view.</a><br /> <strong>The shame:</strong> The irony that a self-described <a href="http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.ca/2011/08/gehry-in-summer-2004-quotes-ratner-you.html">“lefty do-gooder”</a> like Gehry is now designing condos for the ultra-ultra-ultra-rich (one of the units in Opus <a href="http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/27/hong-kong-opus-building-apartment-fetches-cool-61m-but-its-still-only-the-second-most-expensive-in-the-world/">sold</a> for about $60 million) hasn’t gone <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-12/gehry-luxury-tower-boasts-hong-kong-s-priciest-view-interview">unnoticed.</a>
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- Opus Hong Kong
- Opus Hong Kong
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(Images: Frank Gehry, Larry Marano/Getty Images Entertainment; rendering of King Street East proposal, Gehry International, Inc.)
. Here, we examine five of the starchitect’s past residential projects, and see how his Mirvish plans compare.
Check out Gehry’s triumphs and flops »
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(Images: Frank Gehry, Larry Marano/Getty Images Entertainment; rendering of King Street East proposal, Gehry International, Inc.)){kind=link}
Gehry doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Toronto. He designs buildings as statements about his enormous ego — hence their size. That he and Mirvish teamed together to suggest yet more condos in Toronto shows that they both are unbelievably out of touch in a city where there a glut of the monstrosities. Keep Gehry out of the city. No more characterless condos please — we can leave that to Brad Lamb. If Mirvish requires some place to display his personal art collection — the result of money he made on his father’s coattails — then let him buy one of the empty downtown condos.