Frank Gehry, Visionary Architect Who Redefined Modern   

• Design, Dies at 96 Frank Gehry, one of the most influential architects of modern times, has died at his home in Santa Monica, California. He was 96. Bold and experimental, Gehry challenged traditional architecture ideas and reshaped skylines around the world. His best-known work, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain, opened in 1997. Crafted from titanium, limestone, and glass, the whimsical building helped revive the struggling industrial city and inspired what became known as the “Bilbao Effect,” in which striking architecture attracts global attention and investment. Gehry’s other major projects include the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, and the Louis Vuitton Maison Seoul. Gehry was born Ephraim Owen Goldberg in Toronto, Canada, in 1929. After moving to Los Angeles, he changed his name, citing antisemitism and career concerns. He studied architecture at the University of Southern California, drawing inspiration from childhood memories of handling materials in his grandfather’s hardware store. He won every top honor in architecture, including the Pritzker Architecture Prize, for work praised as original and distinctly American. Though critics sometimes questioned his sculptural designs, Gehry believed buildings should express emotion and reflect the complexity of human life. Blair For The Junior Times junior/1768462299/1613367801