Brand-New Cities: Frank Gehry's Bilbao Effect Looks a Lot Like 1960S-Style Urban Renewal Author(S): Wayne Curtis Source: the American Scholar, Vol

Home , Starchitect

Architecture: Brand-New Cities: Frank Gehry's Bilbao Effect looks a lot like 1960s-style urban renewal Author(s): Wayne Curtis Source: The American Scholar, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Winter 2006), pp. 113-116 Published by: The Phi Beta Kappa Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41222543 . Accessed: 23/07/2013 16:07

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The American Scholar.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:07:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Arts

Architecture Brand-New Cities

FrankGehry's Bilbao Effect looks a lotlike lgßOs-style urban renewal

By Wayne Curtis

he was eightyears old, the It's evidentlyno longerenough for a cityto futurearchitect Frank Gehry and havea definingsingle icon or a richlytextured hismother paid a visitto the Art Gal- andcomplex history. Itnow must have a brand, leryof Ontario in Toronto. It was within these completewith a strategyto implementit. hushedhalls thatGehry made a discovery: TheToronto Branding Project spent tens of somethingcalled art existed, and art was some- thousandsof dollarsdeveloping and promot- thinghe shouldstrive to ingBrand Toronto (this makepart of his life. includedcreating its own Weknow this because Iťs evidentlyno retro-futuristictypeface), a brief, handwritten longer enough fora cityto and thecity took out its account of his visit have a icon Gehryad tolet the world appearedin a full-pagead definingsingle knowthat it hadjoined in TheNew YorkTimes last or a richlytextured and theranks of The City Envi- summer.It wasaccompa- complexhistory. It able. Like a mall devel- nied by a long,loosely nowmust have a brand, opercrowing that it had renderedsketch on yel- signedNeiman Marcus as low-linedpaper, which completewith a strategyto an anchorstore, Toronto lookedlike a seismograph implementit. wantedthe word out that chartof a fairlysignificant Gehrywas bringinghis earthquake.Just above pixiedust to thecity. thiswas a photorealisticillustration ofGehry's Sameyear, another place: It's the ground- newfaçade for the gallery, its roofline roughly breakingof theArt Museum of Western Vir- trackingthe tremorsbelow. The revamped giniain Roanoke.The $46-millionbuilding galleryis slatedto openin 2008. featuresa daringdesign of stainless-steel rib- The ad wasn'ttaken out to promote Gehry bingand zincshingles. It's thework of Ran- Partners,LLP, or even the Art Galleryof dall Stout,who was employedby Gehryfor Ontario.It was paid for by the city of Toronto, sevenyears before heading off on hisown in whichhas been busily re-branding itself of late. 1996.Stout was told by the local Medicithat theydidn't wanta conventionalbuilding ""^ WayneCurtis's new book, a cultural, eco- beholdento context(the contextbeing the nomic,and politicalbiography of rum from1640 roughedge of downtown) , but something that to thepresent, will be published in 2OO6. wouldstand apart. Something, perhaps, that из

This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:07:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR wouldgive passersby a sharp (but playful) slap has been attachedto the$3.5-billion Atlantic on thebottom. He delivered,exploding a tra- RailYards project occupying six blocks of Brook- ditionalbox, not unlike the work of hisfor- lyn,which will include four residential towers, a merboss. "This city has had thecourage to be professionalbasketball arena, and somezesty bold,"said Virginia'sgovernor at the cere- retail- allpending the successful navigation of mony."This city is on thatpath to greatness." theshoal- and shark-filledwaters of New York Thatpath, as manyknow, began in Bilbao. real-estatepolitics. In Boston,Gehry has teamed Andthe route has provento havebeen stun- up withCooper Robertson Partners on Har- ninglyshort and steep.In 1992the hard-luck vard'splans for an expandedcampus across the Spanishindustrial port of Bilbao lured then-lit- Charles River from Cambridge. tle-knownGehry to design Guggenheim Andit's not just the big cites that are trying MuseumBilbao. He produceda fantastical, tonab some ofthat Bilbao Effect for themselves. swirlingpalace of titanium, and throngssoon Celebrityarchitecture, like floodwaters, hasover- pouredin by oxcart and airbus to ogle the stun- flowedthe urban channels and is nowpooling ningnew building.The worldtook notice. and eddyingeverywhere, including many Everycity suddenly wanted to be Bilbao.Muse- smallercities. This includes S0nderborg, Den- ums,performance halls, universities, and real- mark,which has 30,000 residents and, in a cou- estatedevelopers scrambled for Gehry's affec- ple ofyears, a newGehry-designed hotel. Local tions;then the otherhigh-profile architects backershave said they hope thenew structure werepulled into the vacuum left by his sudden willcause tourists to flockhere. Perhaps more unavailability- Santiago Calatrava, Zaha Hadid, notably,a second splashy Gehry is goingup in DanielLibeskind, Richard Meier, Norman Fos- anotherbackwater Basque town, in theform of ter,and ThomasMayne, among others. a five-starhotel attached to a winerythat will Much of thisis good. The new breed of offerepicurean adventures and "vinotherapy." "starchitect"has putlarge-scale urban archi- A Scottishnewspaper recently described this tectureback in thelimelight after some years newapparition: "Towering above the 18th-cen- oflingering in thealley, still smelling of the turychapel outside the little Basque town of sour milkof the 1960s-eraurban renewal. Elciego,deep in thearid hills of Rioja territory, Starchitects(and theirdesigns) attract glow- shimmeringswathes of double-sidedtitanium ingmedia coverage; tickets are at a premium and sweepingcurves of steel in pink,gold and wheneverthey lecture; and theyhave pro- silverare taking shape." vokedsmall runs on interestinglyshaped eye- Brightshiny objects. Just the sorts of things glasses.The PritzkerPrize has become the thatattract the attention of crows and infants. new MTVAwards - with Hadid as Sheryl Crow,and RemKoolhaas as Moby.Gehry, of a newmidpriced chain hotel not far course,is Bono. There'sfrom my house in Portland,Maine. Set It'snow all but essential to land a name-brandamid the brick downtown, it's a plainhatbox, architectto proda majorproject from board- albeitone cladin titaniumpanels. The panels roomto backhoe.As LosAngeles Times archi- are slightlypuckered along the seams,as if tecturecritic Christopher Hawthorne has craftedby an ineptquilter. It bringsto mind written,celebrity architects are nowregarded thefate that befell high-minded modernists reverentlyas "urban alchemists," wizards who whosaw their glass curtain walls and ornament- canmake downtown magic with a waveof their free exteriorshijacked and bastardizedby wandin a wayno comprehensivemaster plan officepark developers. Titanium has become couldever hope. He reportedthat the developer thespray-on sun tan of contemporary architec- ofa new$1.8-billion project in downtownLos ture.It goes up quicklyand sendsa message Angeles"begged" Gehry to come on board. thatthe developer has signedon to thepro- (Gehrywill be designingan iconic 50-story tower gram,that the backers have that vision thing. to risedirectly across from his iconic Walt Dis- Allcities need iconic architecture; a city with- neyConceit Hall.) On theopposite coast, Gehry outan iconisn't a city,it's a suburb.We've seen

114

This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:07:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Brand-New Cities | Arts

The GuggenheimMuseum in Bilbao, bpain, designedby Frank Gehry all kindsof iconsover the decades, as trends adjectives.We're now in themiddle of such a haveebbed and flowed:Greek Revival court- time.The emphasis ison big, muscular, German- houses,Gothic churches, Olmsted-esque city likenouns, and little interest has been shown in parks,Roman Empire banks bedecked with rich thesoftening conjunctions or prepositions. Corinthiancolumns, art-deco movie palaces, We'vebeen here before.This is old-style brutalistsports stadiums. Iconic buildings are urbanrenewal, clad in titanium. thefootprint a city leaves behind, the landmarks thatprovide anchors on whichthe rest of a city isn'tjust the home of Frank can be moored,both spatially and spiritually.Toronto Gehry. Since 1968 it's also been the Andof course they carry a message to later gen- adoptedhome of Jane Jacobs, the author of erations:this is what we valued during our time the massivelyinfluential 1961 manifestoof on earth.We loveindividuals above the com- urban life,The Death and Lifeof Great American munity,and, among individuals, we love celebri- Cities.She's been among the fiercestadvo- tiesthe most. (Of course, in this, starchitecture cates for nurturingthe intricatelylayered is a perfectlytruthful message.) Our visionof ecologyof neighborhoodlife: mixing retail a cityis nota collectionof functioning neigh- withresidential, mixing income levels of all borhoods,but a collectionof what amounts to sorts,mixing ethnicities and socialclasses. verylarge and shinyHummel figurines. The It'sno wondershe felt at homein Toronto cityis nota livingorganism but a lifelesscurio aftershe leftNew York's West Village. (She shelfof willfully stylish buildings. It's as ifthe didn'tagree with America's policy on Vietnam.) city'secosystem was failing, and the response was Torontohas longbeen definedby its vibrant totruck in large and exotic royal palms and line and distinctneighborhoods, places with mem- theavenues with them. orable names like Cabbagetownand the Everygeneration or two, it seems that society Beaches,where nearly half the city was born managesto forget the grammar of the city - how abroad,and where there's a strong sense of place to connectnouns with verbs and whento use in theseleafy streets off the commercial strips.

115

This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:07:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR

ownpath, and it'sone of the fewthese days that didn'tstart in Bilbao.For the past decade, Com- merceDesign Montreal has been activelypromot- ing designon the storefront level. It hasn't agitated for gleaming celebrity-linkededifices, butit has looked at ways to make life on the street more enticing,thereby adding to the qualityof hiddenplaces. Part of the programis a well-publi- cizedpeople's choice con- testfor design excellence. Each yearsome 20 busi- Montrealstreetscape: design on the storefront level nessesattentive to good interiordesign or archi- Lifehappens here. Of course,this sort of life tectureare selected, and residentsand visitors doesn'tfit neatly on postcards, nor does it attract are encouragedto spendsome time in these theattention of benefactors with robust check- locationsand vote for their favorites. The cho- books.But they define Toronto in a waythat sen placesaren't concentrated downtown but celebritybuildings can't ever hope. arescattered across the city, in neighborhoods "Asusual, the master planners and archi- wellknown and not. (The program currendy is tecturaltheorists forget that a city'senergy and on hiatus,reassessing where it should go next.) vitalityisgenerated on its streets and in its neigh- The businesses,ranging from convenience borhoods,not by 'a skylinefraught with visual storesto oxygenbars, benefit from increased tension,'"writes Aaron Naparstek inhis New York traffic,the design teams get a measureof street Presscriticism of Gehry'sBrooklyn project. cred,and neighborhood architecture migrates "Gehry'sattempt to createan energeticurban slowlyto dinnertable discussion. Above all, metropolisfrom scratch ends up looking like the neighborhoodsare strengthenedwith nur- NewYork New York Hotel & Casinoin Las Vegas, turingcoming from the streetsthemselves. a cartoonversion of a realcity. Our city." Montreal is thus quietly marketingits In the end, the definingunit of the city brand- as Canada'sdesign metropolis. Or as isn'tits buildings. It's the neighborhoods. Yet JaneJacobs has notedmore generally, "Cities fewcity boosters or backersof culturalinsti- havethe capability of providing something for tutionswant to be sous-chefsto the and X greater everybody,only because, onlywhen, they и geniusof the city. They all want their own sig- are createdby everybody." _) naturedish. The pressclamors for free-range Whenneighborhoods work, tourists will be Z crown-of-prairiehoofstock with a peach-gin- drawnin to experience these small miracles of z< In whatthe cities need is urbanlife. their in local gercompote. fact, They'llspend money 03 morechowder, made with a bitof thisand a shops ratherthan at souvenirstands or оX H UJ bit of that, far from museum The citieswill flourish йй nothingstanding apart giftshops. qui- <л nutritiousthan the and withouta lot of ьй the rest.It's farmore etly braggartposturing. Z confections. The brandreveals itself. Q higher-calorie Z - < Montreal Toronto'srival down the St. Andthe ordinary becomes the new extraor- z ui LawrenceRiver - has latelytrekked along its dinary. ♦ eu II6

This content downloaded from 132.206.27.24 on Tue, 23 Jul 2013 16:07:48 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions