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THESIS
Frank Gehry broke away from the ideals of modernism
and changed from the use of composition into an
“assemblage of different fragments” (Curtis 662),
known as deconstruction, to form unconventional
spaces using fragmentation and metaphors to form the
Walt Disney Concert Hall into a “living room for the
city.”

BACKGROUND
Frank Gehry was born in Toronto, Ontario to parents
who did not really appreciate his creative side.
Encouraged by his grandmother he pursued his dreams,
went to school to get a degree in architecture and moved
on to set up his own practice in Los Angeles in 1962
that eventually became Gehry partnership.

COMMUNICATION IDEA
The traditional starting point for a designer is to begin
sketching until a clear idea forms and then to move on
to modeling and finally create any documents that will
be needed to build the piece. Gehry’s approach is very
similar to the conventional method but he has a twist to
it. Like all designers he begins with a sketch. These
sketches are often very crude line drawings that look
like a lot of scribbling to anyone other than Gehry. He
works with them until his idea forms and then moves
straight into model building where all of the kinks are
worked out with three dimensional shapes instead of on
paper or on a computer. Gehry’s designs are often so
complicated that it is impossible to create on a computer
so he and his team developed a special software with a
light pen that would be touched to the corner of the
model and automatically transfered onto the computer
software, making the process much smoother.
As part of the after modern movement Frank Gehry is
generalized as a post modern architect who, after further
analysis, is more accurately categorized as a
deconstructionist. Architects in the deconstruction
movement use a method of fragmentation to create their
buildings. Fragmentation is taking different volumes
and shapes or pieces of volumes and shapes and putting
them together in unrecognizable fashions.
Curtis describes this approach to architecture by saying
“They did not rely on ‘composition’ but were rather
assemblage of different fragments held together by
force.” (Curtis 663). Instead of taking conventional
shapes and rooms and composing them in new and more
interesting ways, he takes new shapes and assembles
them so that the spaces are made out of the resulting
shapes formed by the collision of the volumes.
Along with the fragmentation of his buildings Gehry is
most known for his use of metaphor in his works. The
most common theme throughout his designs is the
metaphor of a fish. The fish metaphor is shown in very
visible ways in some cases like the fish lamp and in less
visable ways in cases where he uses titanium scales or
fluid fish like shapes. In special cases like the Walt
Disney Concert Hall a building may hold a different
metaphor but all seem to be water related. In the Walt
Disney Concert Hall he uses a sail metaphor that is most

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apparent in the exterior but actually originated on the Exterior: The iconic shapes known to the Walt Disney
interior of the building and moved to the exterior. Concert Hall display Gehry’s use of metaphor in this
building. The metal peaks are reconstructed sail like
OVERVIEW shapes that are put together to form an entirely new
The Walt Disney Concert Hall was built as a shape that is chaotic and calm at the same time. ney
commemoration to the famous Walt Disney to house
the LA Philharmonic. The building was commissioned
by Walt’s wife Lillian Disney who donated $50 million
dollars to fund the building. Construction began in 1987
and lasted 16 years until its grand opening on October
24, 2003. To decide who would be in charge of the
design of the building there was a competition from
which Gehry was picked out the four finalists.

FRAGMENTATION
Fragmentation is a part of the Deconstruction
movement of Post modernism. The idea of this
movement is to take different shapes and volumes and
put them together in unconventional ways so that they
collide to form different shapes that in turn make the
spaces of the buildings. In contrast to modernism that
uses composition of spaces Frank Gehry uses a
technique refereed to as “assemblage”. (Curtis 605)
Assemblage gives his buildings a design language of
“...angles and tilted volumes introduced visual tension
and ambiguities.” (Curtis 663) The idea behind using
the forms was to “let the forms be the thing and to
replace decoration, to get passion and feeling into the
building without resorting to 1900th century models”
(Gehry - Bringing Movement to Architecture).

Unlike other architects Gehry begins his buildings on

the inside and works his way out. “Forget the exterior,
it starts with the inside. That inside is the key issue.”
(Gehry on Architecture of Walt Disney Concert Hall).
The Walt Disney Concert Hall follows the same pattern.
Since this building was to be used as a concert hall as
well as the home of the Los Anglos Phil Harmonic there
were certain acoustical requirements that needed to be
followed to make the space a success. “Inside of the hall
follows the acoustical requirements and it started to
become sail like, I wanted to make the outside look the
same.”
Interior: The idea behind the interior of the Walt Dis
Concert Hall is that there is “a box and on either side of
the box you have toilets and stairs with a foyer” (Frank
Gehry on Architecture of the Disney Concert Hall). To
make up these spaces there are a variety of shapes that
Gehry cleverly crammed together. The circular spaces
run into the rectangular wooden pieces to create interest
no matter where a person looks. All of this is covered in
natural Los Anglos light that Gehry took advantage of
by adding skylights to the building.

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Object: One of the major attractions to the main water was rough. The slight curve up to the tip of each
performance space is the very large unconventional peak is very smooth and fluid very reminiscent of water.
looking organ. The pipes of this organ are wooden
rectangles instead of the traditional circular metal ones.In some of his more famous pieces the fish is also very
Each pipe is strategically placed to give the instrument prominent. Gehry designed a teapot for a well known
a chaotic look that when all put together works well. website and situated on the end of the kettle’s spout was
his signature fish. This was the most straight forward
USE OF METAPHOR approach to the metaphor that can be seen in Gehry’s
Gehry’s work is commonly known for having a fish work. Most of the time there are smaller that Gehry may
metaphor throughout and even though this is not the use. The idea of the use of metaphor along with
main metaphor for the Walt Disney Concert deconstruction and fragmentation is to take the object
Hall it is still visible in some aspects of the building. of inspiration and translate it into an abstract form onto
the project. In the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao,
The idea behind the metaphor came when some of Spain Gehry took the idea of the fish and translated it
Gehry’s colleagues began to look back to the Greek
temples for inspiration. To Gehry this idea was not
acceptable. He said “if you’re gonna go back, why not
go back to fish?” and the idea stuck. From there he
applied the theory of deconstruction and began to
distort the shape as far as he could before he lost the
sense of it.

“From there I learned to work

with those kinds of forms and
capture that feeling”
- Frank Gehry
In different designs there are different elements of the
fish. In the museum he built in Spain the metal sheets
on the exterior are put together in a way that look like
titanium fish scales. This idea is mimicked in the ceiling
of the Concert Hall performance space. The ceiling tiles
are layered together to look like the actual scales on a
fish.

Aside from the obvious elements of the fish in his

designs there is a constant feeling of fluidity and water
like movement. In the curves of the stair cases of the
Walt Disney Concert Hall a person almost gets the
sense of the circular tornado motion that water gets as it
rushes down the drain. In the peaks of the exterior rood
on the concert hall one can see the sail metaphor and
also waves like you would see in the ocean when the
less obvious hints to the fish or any other metaphor

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with the fluid curves and movements of the exterior and the exterior fell into shape. The white of the spaces in
the use of the titanium “scales”. In the foyer resemble the white of a sail and the wood
seems to allude to the wood of a boat. Not only is the
SAIL METAPHOR sail reference apparent but the fluid movement of the
shapes in the foyer alludes to the fluidity of the
The Walt Disney Concert Hall is said to be “capable of music meant to be performed in this building.
evoking multiple associations, musical and nautical” Here Gehry’s love for
(Curtis 664). These are the two major themes of the hall.
When designing the inside based on the requirements “Inside the hall follows the
for the acoustics Gehry began to see sail like features
form. He took that idea and translated it throughout the acoustical requirements
rest of the building to keep to look and feel uniform.
Gehry enjoyed sailing and had a good knowledge of the
and it started to become
sport so he took his knowledge and translated it into the sail like, I wanted to make
building.
the outside look the same.”
Exterior: The exterior was originally supposed to be
- Frank
made of stone so that it would absorb the light better
and look more appealing at night be after the titanium Gehry
sheets were used on the Guggenheim Museum it was
requested that the same material be used on the Walt
Disney Concert Hall. The shape of the peaks are Object: The organ in the performance space of the hall
fashioned after a sailing term “wing-on-wing” which encompasses all of the metaphors like the rest of the
“‘In sailing terminology, when a sailboat opens both the space. The wooden pipes of the organ resemble masts
foresail and the main sail to a 180-degree angle to or other poles that exist on the structure of a boat while
produce the maximum amount of sail area.” (Esa-Pekka the idea of music is clearly carried out in the fact that
Salonen) the object itself is a musical instrument. While the organ
doesn’t retain the fluidity of the rest of the space the
Interior: The interior is where the sail metaphor in this idea of deconstruction and assemblage are accurately
building began. As the interior took shape the idea for
sailing and music combine to make a beautiful space. intersect and create unconventional combinations.

the Walt Disney Concert Hall Gehry took the idea of

the sail and made sail like shapes on the exterior as
well as references to it on the interior of the building.

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displayed in the chaotic yet structured set up of the
pipes.

In this building there is not one specific metaphor but a

combination of ideas that have different prevalences in
the design. The sail metaphor is the major idea followed
by smaller accompanying ideas of music, water, the
fish, and fluidity. All of these ideas are assembled just
like the rest of the building so that they
“LIVING ROOM FOR THE CITY”
Los Anglos is one of the most diverse cities in America
when it comes to entertainment and things to do.
Adding the Walt Disney Concert Hall just added one
more thing to this list of attractions so Frank Gehry had
to find a way to make this attraction more appealing to
more groups. His way of doing this was the idea of
creating a “living room for the city”. This meant that he
wanted a place that was inviting on all levels possible
to as many different groups as possible. The regular
patrons to the LA Phil Harmonic would still come but
the idea was to now attract more people and expose
more groups to the art of music, mainly the younger
generation. He wanted “an iconic destination people
would identify with and feel like it was theirs.” (WDCH Object: The organ in the auditorium was a very
10th Anniversary) All levels of the building had to be
carefully planned so that they would reach out to all
groups and could foster a connection with each person
one way or another.

Exterior: The exterior of the building is the most iconic

element of the design. The shapes created would not
easily be forgotten and a person would know exactly
what building they were looking at as soon as they saw
them. Besides being easily recognizable they had to be intriguing piece in this building. At first glance it may
easy to relate to . If a person could not relate to the not be apparent what they giant mass of wooden pipes
building they were at least intrigued by the shapes and is so a person may want to venture closer for a better
might make their way into the building out of curiosity. look. In the act of getting a closer look the person would
have to enter the auditorium and be exposed to the main
Interior: The interior of the concert hall is a very purpose of this building.
inviting environment. There is elegance and class to the
space that one would expect out of a concert hall but it When Lillian Disney had this project commissioned she
does not hold any of the elaborate ,and sometimes wanted a place that would commemorate her husband
gaudy, ornamentations that similar buildings from older while also giving back to the community. Gehry
movements would have had. The shapes flowed freely accomplished this by making a classically post modern
and guided you through the space inviting you in. building that was easily relatable to all. The older

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generation would come to this building to see the music
they already love as well as see the advancements that
were made in the design. The younger generation would
feel more comfortable in this space because it was not
as old an dated as some other concert halls are. The
more up to date feel of the Walt Disney Concert Hall
SUMMARY
makes it feel more welcoming to a younger generation
because it seemed to be built more towards them. The
overall idea was to bring the city together and make
music more accessible to all which Gehry
accomplished.
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 EXTERIOR INTERIOR OBJECT
• Abstracted sail • Collision of • Pipes are
• shapes 3-dimensional fragmented and
Shapes and forms • assembled
FRAGMENTATION volumes Chaotic but
“assembled” to structured
make composition
• • Sail metaphor • Fluid like water • Sense of
Scales like in the and music structured chaos
USE OF • fish • Sail like shapes
METAPHOR metaphor began to form
Fluidity like water

• Wing-on-wing • White and wood • Wooden pipes

styled peaks point to boat mimmick masts
• Translated from • materials Fluid
SAIL METAPHOR interior shapes movements relate
looking sail • to water
like Began to look sail
like
• Creates curiosity • Fluid movement • Creates curiosity
• Welcoming to all guides you through and invites you in
“LIVING ROOM groups the space to look closer
• Elegant and classic
FOR THE CITY” while still being
post
modern
Through the use of deconstruction, fragmentation, and metaphors he assembled an inviting space that would serve
the community for years to come. The post modern look appealed to the younger generation while still keeping
some elements very classic and elegant to continue to attract an older generation as well. “Assemblage” works
very well in this building to create interest that the older idea of composition could not achieve.

Text

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Curtis, William J. R. (2009). Modern Architecture since 1900. New York; Phaidon Press
Limited.

Esa-Pekka Salonen: Wing on Wing. Retrieved November 21, 2013 from,

http://www.esapekkasalonen.com/compositions/wing-on-wing

Jone, Rennie. (October 23, 2013). AD Classics: Walt Disney Concert Hall / Frank
Gehry. Retrieved November 21, 2013, http://www.archdaily.com/441358/

Walt Disney Concert Hall 10th anniversary. Retrieved November 21, 2013. http://www.
laphil.com/wdch10/wdch/vision.html

Video
Miguel Andrade, 2008. Frank Gehry on Walt Disney Concert Hall. Retrieved from http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NdrsbBu6as

Geekroller, 2007. Frank Gehry on the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Retrieved from http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht6lqFfhk1M

ForaTV, 2009. Frank Gehry on the Architecture of LA’s Disney Concert Hall. Retrieved
From http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZoR6SpmqSQ

ForaTV, 2009. Frank Gehry - Bringing Movement to Architecture. Retrieved from http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eBOV1JiWao

Image

Concert Hall night scene (page 1)

The top 10 must sees and hidden gems of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Copyright 2013.
Retrieved December 3, 2013. http://www.discoverlosangeles.com/blog/top-10-must-seeshidden-
gems-walt-disney-concert-hall

Sail Diagram (page 5) yachtworld. com. Wing Sail Cup Winner. Retrieved
December 4th, 2013. http://www.
yachtworld.com/boat-content/2010/05/wingsail-cup-winner/
Image (continued)

Interior of ceiling and stairs (pages 1-3)

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The Walt Disney Concert Hall. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
http://wideworldofgeometry.
pbworks.com/w/page/14141562/CEOs%205

Organ and auditorium (pages 1,2,3,5)

A forest of pipes: The story of the Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ. Retrieved December
4, 2013. http://aforestofpipes.com/

Foyer and Dining Spaces (1 and 5)

The Guide: Walt Disney Concert Hall. Hopscoth press INC. Copyright 1995-2013.
Retrieved December 4, 2013. http://www.herecomestheguide.com/southern-
california/wedding-venues/walt-disney-concert-hall/

Concept Sketch (page 1, 2, amd 6)

Jeremiasz Siezkco (ARCH1390). October 8th, 2010. Retrieved December 4th, 2013. http://
jeremiaszsieczkoarch1390-2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-11-more-on-walt-
disneyconcert.html

Digital Drawing (page 1, 2, and 6)

Jeremiasz Siezkco (ARCH1390). October 8th, 2010. Retrieved December 4th, 2013. http://
jeremiaszsieczkoarch1390-2010.blogspot.com/2010/10/week-11-more-on-walt-
disneyconcert.html

Sketch (page 1 and 6)

Walt Disney Concert Hall. Arcspace.com. September 9th, 2002. Retrieved December 4th,
2013 . http://www.arcspace.com/features/gehry-partners-llp/walt-disney-concert-hall/

Teapot (page 4)
20 Stainless Steel Kettles you should whistle at! Retrieved December 4th, 2013.
http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2008/12/stainless-steel-tea-kettles-you-should.html