Architect Frank Gehry gives the middle finger to journalist Every artist has their own way of dealing with their critics, but it seems that architect Frank Gehry's is more direct than most. When asked at a press conference how he felt about people calling his buildings a 'spectacle', he stared silently for a few moments before raising his middle finger. He then went on to rant about how 98 per cent of the world's buildings are 'pure sh*t' saying the designers had 'no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else'. Gehry, the man behind the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, was speaking to reporters after unveiling his latest construction, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the Bois de Boulogne park, Paris. After making the crude gesture early on, he was then asked if he thought 'emblematic buildings' had a place in modern cities. He replied: 'Let me tell you one thing. In this world we are living in, 98 per cent of everything that is built and designed today is pure sh*t. 'There’s no sense of design, no respect for humanity or for anything else. They are damn buildings and that’s it. 'Once in a while, however, a group of people do something special. Very few, but God, leave us alone. We are dedicated to our work. 'I don’t ask for work … I work with clients who respect the art of architecture. Therefore, please don’t ask questions as stupid as that one.' He then went on to praise his own buildings, saying that Bilbao was an example of how good architecture could turn a town from an industrial waste ground and into a cultural hub. There he made a name for himself designing Easy Edge furniture, made from cardboard, and before taking on his first building by remodeling a house for his family in Santa Monica. The design, which involved cladding the property with corrugated iron and splitting the roof with a huge skylight, caught the attention of the design world, and he soon moved on to bigger projects. The Exhibit Center, Merriweather Post Pavilion, and Rouse Company Headquarters was his first large building project in 1974. His most famous work, The Guggenheim Museum, was inaugurated on October 18, 1997. Works since include the twisted Gehry Tower and the Dancing Building, in Prague. Critics of Gehry have accused his buildings of being a distracting spectacle for corporate backers keen to improve their image. Hal Foster was particularly scathing about his Walt Disney Concert Hall, in LA, saying it was nothing more than a 'media logo'. Gehry is currently working on an 800-apartment complex to be built next to Battersea Power Station in central London - his first buildings in England.

• published: 25 Oct 2014
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