FRANK OWEN

GEHRY
Architecture should speak of its time
and place, but yearn for timelessness
 Life
• FRANK GEHRY WAS born in Toronto,
Canada, in 1929
• At the age of 17, he moved with his family
to Los Angeles, California and studied
architecture at the University of Southern
California.
• Later, he studied city Planning at Harvard
University. established his own firm in 1962 WALT DISNEY
in Los Angeles. DANCING GEHRY
CONCERT 2
HOUSE TOWER
HALL
 Work
HE HAS DESIGNED PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
BUILDINGS IN AMERICA, JAPAN AND
EUROPE. GEHRY’S WORK HAS EARNED
HIM SEVERAL OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT
AWARDS IN THE ARCHITECTURAL FIELD.
INCLUDING THE PRITZKER
ARCHITECTURAL PRIZE.SOME OF HIS
WORKS INCLUDETHE DANCING HOUSE,
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC GEHRY
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TOWER, HANOVER, GERMANY
 Influence
Every building is by its very nature a sculpture.
You can't help it. Sculpture is a three-
dimensional object and so is a building.“ I
approach each building as a sculptural object,
a spatial container, a space with light and air, a
response to context and appropriateness of
feeling and spirit. To this container, this
sculpture, the user begins his baggage, his
program, and interacts with it to
accommodate his needs. If he can’t do that,
I’ve failed.” In spite of changes in Gehry’s
design over the years, his approach to a
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building as a sculpture retains.
 Awards and 1989: Pritzker 1995: American Award description

recognition Architecture Prize Academy of

Achievement's Golden
Plate Award
His works are cited as being among the most important works
of contemporary architecture in the 2010 World Architecture
Survey, which led Vanity Fair to label him as "the most
important architect of our age".
Gehry's best-known works include the titanium-clad
Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; Walt Disney Concert
Hall in downtown Los Angeles; Louis Vuitton Foundation in
Paris, France; MIT Ray and Maria Stata Center in Cambridge,
Massachusetts; The Vontz Center for Molecular Studies on the
University of Cincinnati campus; Museum of Pop Culture in
Seattle; New World Center in Miami Beach; Weisman Art
Museum at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis;
Dancing House in Prague; the Vitra Design Museum and the 2000: Cooper–Hewitt 2018: HONORARY 1999: AIA Gold Medal,
MARTa Herford museum in Germany; the Art Gallery of Ontario
in Toronto; the Cinémathèque Française in Paris; and 8 Spruce
National Design Award CILO AWARD American Institute of
Street in New York City. Lifetime Achievement Architects
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 THE
GEHRY’S
HOUSE
Gehry's design wrapped around three sides of the
old house on the ground floor, extending the
house towards the street and leaving the exterior
of the existing home almost untouched. The
interior went through a considerable amount of
changes on both if its two levels. In some places it
was stripped to reveal the framing, exposing the
joists and wood studs. It was repaired according
to the addition, showing both old and new
elements. This is especially evident when walking
through the rooms of the house and passing by
both new doors placed by Gehry and older ones
originally in the house.

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 THE
GEHRY’S
HOUSE
The entrance is barely discernible
amidst the jutting angles of the
exterior, which Gehry created from
wood, glass, aluminum, and chain-
link fencing. The apex of the old
house peeks out from within this mix
of materials, giving the impression
that the house is consistently under
construction. 
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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
The building is found on Resslova Street
(Rašínovo nábřeží 80), on the right bank of
the Moldaba river (in Czech, Vltava) and close
the Karlovo Námestí metro station, in the
centre of Prague, Czech Republic.
During the Second World War, an American
bomb destroyed the house which was
originally where the Dancing House now
stands. The land was bought by the
insurance firm, Nationale- Nederlanden

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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
The principles adopted in the design
included the contrast between static
and dynamic figures (Yin and Yang).
In the first sketches, Gehry envisaged
the building as a panel with square
shapes similar to pillows, to which
Milunic added a tower in the form of
a geyser.
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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
The glass tower has a concrete structure with a conical shape
which is supported atop a series of inclined columns which rise
from ground level, creating a portico and continuing to the end
of the building. The tower is closed by a double curtain wall: an
interior one of retracted glass and the second an exterior skin,
also glass, supported on a steel frame which separates it from
the main body of the building. The supports of the steel
structure are fixed to the structure of the building. The vertical
profiles are T-sections connected to each other by hollow
profile sections.
The building which faces the river rises as a solid cylindrical
concrete volume on the corner, where it joins with the steel and
glass structure followed by a larger façade which faces the river
and is constructed on a base of 99 prefabricated concrete
panels and numerous windows.

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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
The buildings, with a surface of 5842m², were
constructed in steel, glass and prefabricated concrete
panels, finished with plaster characteristic of the local
architecture.
For the building parallel to the river, they used concrete
panels in 99 different shapes and dimensions. At the
inauguration, a sculpture, Medusa, was placed on top,
made of metal tubes and covered with stainless steel
wire mesh.
The architects, Gehry and Milunic, decided not to paint
the exposed materials, but to display their natural
colours: the glass is green, the concrete grey and the
steel structure silver.

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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
FLOOR PLAN

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 THE
DANCING
HOUSE
SECTION

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THANK YOU

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