Gehry on Starchitecture (He doesn't like it.)

Has New York Lost Its Great Chance With Frank Gehry?

“Starchitecture” is a glib neologism that reduces hard-won reputations and decadelong undertakings to little dabs of glitz. Gehry can hardly bring himself to utter the word, but the mere mention triggers a tirade revealing deep wells of grandiosity and resentment. “It suggests an egomaniac trying to flaunt his wares at the expense of the public. It’s an opportunistic journalistic trick. There’s so much bad stuff being built that people don’t address, so they fasten on the half of one percent that gets into uncharted territory for humanistic and idealistic reasons. There is ego involved; everyone has to have that, or they don’t do much. But architecture has always been a very idealistic profession. It’s about making the world a better place, and it works over the generations, because people go on vacation and they look for it. When I go to Bilbao, they want to touch me. If I were an egomaniac, I’d just move there.” (italics added)

"...humanistic and idealistic reasons." Giving Gehry the benefit of the doubt, we humans have such power of self-deception. 

Comments

[ian]

Yeah, big architects are humble beings: http://klaustoon.wordpress.com/2009/04/23/on-starchitecture/