But that is not always easy. Take the proposed New Jersey Nets complex in Brooklyn, N.Y. The $2.5 billion plan for commercial and residential development, which includes 2.1 million square feet of office space and 4,500 apartments, will also require the destruction of several area businesses and apartment buildings. That has residents in the area in an uproar. Gehry is working on revisions to the plan to address residents’ concerns. But he and developer Bruce Ratner, who owns the basketball team, still have a long way to go before the project is approved. In the meantime, his firm, Frank Gehry & Associates, is working on a new theater in Brooklyn, a hospital wing in Scotland and a museum extension in Gehry’s birthplace of Toronto, among other projects. His new SuperLight chair, made from aluminum and weighing just 6.5 pounds, just debuted at Milan’s Internazionale del Mobile and a new line of Polish vodka was just released in bottles and cases that he designed. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett spoke with Gehry about how he decides which projects to pursue–whether they’re bottles or buildings–and what he’s got planned next. Excerpts:
NEWSWEEK: You recently designed watches for Fossil and a bottle for vodka. What’s the appeal for an architect in designing consumer products?
Frank Gehry: I am always attracted to things that are a challenge. It’s a quick fix. Architecture takes so long. That’s why you do the small stuff–instant gratification. And [in the case of Wyborowa vodka], my son, Alejandro, who is an illustrator artist, asked me if I would work with him … And my mother was born in Poland, and sometimes she spoke Polish in the house. So I found there was an emotional hook, as well, which I didn’t expect. I worked with Alejandro and we did many designs. I did an office building in Hanover where I used the twisted form, and it was the beginning of a study of those types of forms. And after all the interviews and meetings, this design [based on the Hanover building] was the design that everybody liked. When you look through the bottle, it plays with the light and creates illusory image. The Fossil watches were something I resisted at first … I said I’d do it, finally, if I could invent. The analog one is out. We are still playing with the other design; I don’t know where it will go.
Are you trying to create products that are more accessible to people or is it the creative challenge that attracts you to doing these products?
I am happy when I see someone wearing the watch … But it’s more the challenge. I did a teapot, too. But I can’t do the decoration. I can only play with invention forms. I’m not going to compete with Michael [Graves] in Target.
We shouldn’t expect a line of Gehry-designed house wares at Target anytime soon?
No, but they have already talked to me.
You’ve got plenty of architectural projects you’re working on, too–the most controversial of which might be the proposed New Jersey Nets complex in Brooklyn. Did you expect such a strong reaction to the proposal?
Since I am not a Brooklynite, I didn’t expect it–especially since it [the land] was mostly over railroad tracks. But I am leaving that part up to Bruce Ratner. If it becomes an important fight, we won’t do it.
How are you dealing with residents’ complaints that the arena will mean more traffic and the loss of existing businesses and residential buildings?
Bruce Ratner and his team are mostly talking to the neighbors. We’re taking our direction from them. There are concerns and it is complicated … Bruce is asking me to design a new apartment building for them [neighbors whose apartments might be destroyed for the complex]. He’s got a specific site nearby.
How did you get involved in this project? It’s a little different than designing a museum or a concert hall.
Bruce is a good guy. The kind of work they’ve done isn’t startling architecture, but he’s said he wants to change that now. That’s why I’m there. They asked if it could be an intimate space like the Disney Concert Hall. That was the right thing to ask for. We want to create a feeling of togetherness. That’s what we are trying to do. And it’s not easy to do. Our latest design has people 20 feet closer to the court than any other arena. You can make it appear more intimate. But a lot of them [sports arenas] feel the opposite.
You’ve also got projects in Canada–an extension to the Art Gallery of Ontario–and a hospital wing in Scotland. How many projects does your firm take on at one time?
The hospital wing is a 2,000-square-foot area for cancer patients. The building in Canada is already designed; they are just waiting for the funding. I can only do four to five projects at a time. The projects go through different stages. It is usually a year and a half before they start construction after the design. We have maybe 20 projects now, but only four or five are in the early stages.
You are also involved in designing a satellite museum for the Guggenheim in New York. I understand the Guggenheim is now considering a site across 11th Avenue from the proposed New York Jets stadium in Manhattan. Where does that stand?
They’ve asked me to come on if they get this going, and I said yes. But until you actually start–until someone starts paying you, well …
The Guggenheim you designed in Bilbao, Spain, sparked strong reactions among those who’ve seen it. Are you surprised by the response the museum got?
It’s not going to be for everybody because it is a democracy where people have different opinions. I don’t think anything I have done is up to offending the world. I try to be a good neighbor. To do other than what I am doing, I would be talking down to them. I don’t want to do that. I’m used to people liking it or not liking it. That happens to everything. I think there’s architecture and there are buildings. Some aspire to architecture and hopefully some of us get there.
What do you think of the state of architecture now?
I think it’s more exciting now. If you go back to the ’50s, when I first came out of school, there were only four or five known architects of any stature. And now there are about 50. People are more interested in architecture now than they were. And I think more people are getting to do things. There are more opportunities. There are more women in architecture. I hope that will grow. I think it will. There are a lot of talented women.
You’ve gone from designing minimalist cardboard furniture to modern titanium structures, designed with the help of computers.
I’m not that interested in repeating myself. Minimalist things seem antithetical now. It’s as pastiche as postmodernism was. It’s become a simple one-liner in this time, in this context. I never liked the idea of a simple room where all the furniture had to be set up a certain way, and you couldn’t throw your clothes on the floor or the furniture–it was more about posing. I love minimal artists. But I don’t think it applies to architecture, as well.
How would you describe your style now?
It’s personal, and it’s the experience I have at the time. I am looking for a sense of movement, which I got into in the vodka bottle with the glass. The reason I like it is that it creates this feeling without resorting to 19th-century decoration.
Many people tend to associate you with the Disney concert hall in L.A. or the Bilbao. Which one of your designs do you think best represents you and why?
That’s like asking which kid is your best. I love doing the urban thing, though. The Brooklyn project is closer to the stuff I am really interested in. The single building in one place is the reality, but I really enjoy getting involved at the urban scale with the community. I would love to do more urban housing, for middle- and lower-income residents. I started doing that in 1962, and there’s no real call for it now. People seem only interested in the “Bilbao effect” thing. I hate that. I’m only an architect, no matter what anybody says–a humble architect.
