Wonders of the World

March 22, 2007

While I am on the topic of Frank Gehry, I should write something about the experience of his buildings. The two photo in this blog are from our last trip to downtown LA. I wanted Emily to experience a Gehry building. It really is something to see these silver billowing sails set amidst the smog-silver skies of LA. The entrance stuns you, however, with a sudden switch away from silver abstraction. The carpet has a bright floral motif and wooden columns rise tree-like from the floor. I may be attacking Gehry, but I want to make clear how much I enjoy his buildings.

For some time I have wanted to develop a taxonomy of place experience. Many places get their emotional tug by being associated with some level of identity.. it might be the house in which I grew up (personal identity) or a battlefield like Gettysburg that holds national historical significance (national identity). These identity associations explain why we travel long distances to experience certain places.. which we commonly call a pilgrimage.

Another reason we travel long distances to see a certain place is because of its perceived value as a "wonder". This is the tallest building in the world! This is the biggest airplane ever built! This is a house built out of bottles! The status of "wonder" is a powerful draw. It hardly counts as a pilgrimage though.. it is a wonder-trip.

Gehry's buildings gain their popularity from their status as "wonders".. that is to say, they are not buildings that have gained cultural status by linkage to a landscape and gradual assimilation into visual symbol. Instead they shortcut that process and because of their amazing structural qualities take their place as destinations in and of themselves.

Some cities seek the virtuoso architectural coup.. of course. Any city looking to regenerate or recreate itself will embrace the chance to instantly become a destination. (Think Bilbao.) The traditional route to urban significance is the growth of a culture.. and the sites that mark the common life of a culture inevitably gain the importance of associations. Cities like New York or London are rich in these kinds of meanings.. and it is no accident that they are often hostile to Gehry's style of architecture.

I don't grudge cities the opportunity to recreate themselves.. or jumpstart their cultural life through the addition of a Gehry building (or a building by some other superstar architect). But I sense that this modern demand for architectural wonders masks insecurity about meaning and identity. No doubt globalization brings with it some anxieties. One of these may be a general loss of faith in the ability of local places to generate strong associations.. and that will leave people longing for an architectural deus ex machina.

Having framed the issue like this, it is clear that Old Roads must part company with Frank Gehry.. no matter how beautifully the light bounces off the silver panels. One of our strong missions is to encourage the local associations that go into the creation of places.. to look for the old roads and not the big new highway. Gehry most certainly represents the big new highway.. just note how he is patronized by entrepreneurs from Microsoft and Disney!