Frank O. Gehry | Raising Heads, Eyebrows & Questions

Because you know he’s all about the brick, bout the brick,
No metal,
Frank’s all about the brick, bout the brick,
No metal,
All about the brick, bout the brick,
No metal,
All about the brick, bout the brick,
Yeah, Mr. O. Gehry says don’t worry about the price,
He says being round n’ curvy is what is nice,
Yeah those other archi firms pump plans that’s flat like Mies,
So if that’s what you’re into, then go ahead and move along…

- In the style of Meghan Trainor, All About the Bass.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us give a warm hand to Sydney’s newest celebrity! More controversial than Utzon and certainly more talked about than the demise of James Barnet’s sandstone monuments, it seems certain that everyone in Sydney has an opinion on Mr. Frank O. Gehry’s brown paper bag. Indeed, no woman but the dame of Sydney’s architectural criticism circuit Elizabeth Farrelly could have expressed more eloquently the status of Gehry’s structure: “But if, like me, you suspect there's more to life than unbridled market-forces, more to literature than Fifty Shades, more to architecture than the whackiest curves your software can spew up, more to beauty than two oiled and opulent orbs [of Kim Kardashian] – this "more", surely, is something our houses of higher learning should pursue.” (Farrelly, 2015).

The Chau Chak Wing Building - UTS's Frank Gehry addition. Photograph: Hugo Chan, 2015 — The Chau Chak Wing Building - UTS's Frank Gehry addition.
Photograph: Hugo Chan, 2015

Approaching the building from the Powerhouse Museum. Photograph: Hugo Chan, 2015 — Approaching the building from the Powerhouse Museum.
Photograph: Hugo Chan, 2015

Within a wonderful series of commentaries penned by Farrelly (all referenced below), she has outlined the core issue at stake: that we simply do not care about our cities any more. Indeed whilst in discussion within my own circles of late, what I have found is that architectural complacency in this city has reached the tipping point. Gone are the days when students of architecture would picket and protest at the state of education, at the degenerates tearing at the seams of our sandstone history and at the sacking of the architect who gave Sydney its crowning jewel. I profess I am not an anarchist. I am a monarchist and would consider my agenda conservative, but even here, I believe that doing anything must be better than doing nothing.

I have been fortunate, in my time as a student at UNSW to have been taught by the likes of Ken Maher (Hassell), Richard Johnson (JPW) and Genn Murcutt. These are icons of Sydney architecture, people who stood up to establishment and the political status quo. People who believe architecture is a the core of social change, social progress and social betterment. Do architects still care for these values now, or would we prefer seeing positive profit margins?

In Le Corbusier’s own words, “Architecture or revolution”, and in Sydney, the time is right. With a government intent on selling our history left right and centre, collaborating with multinationals to further worsen our skyline, who is left to defend beauty and morality? My fond hope is that not only architects, but the inhabitants of this fair city will rise to save the city from its assured destruction. Architects must lead the way. Design must lead the way. Jahn Gehl is paving the way for a pedestrianized European tram vision for George Street. Clover Moore has instigated one of the largest and best city art projects seen in the world. The developers have swallowed the Darling Quarter, but what will become of Bridge Street and Powerhouse, sadly remains to be seen…

It has taken a man, who’s argument for form has led to the expression of the complete nature of brickwork and a price tag of AUD$180 million for the city to become somewhat engaged about the state of its architecture. These are our public spaces; of course it should not have come to this! Having undergone a costly exercise, what it has nevertheless done is it has raised the issue of what buildings and architects more generally should aim to achieve for our cities. Despite the criticism, which I, to a certain extent agree with, I must thank Gehry for having become a martyr to the cause of architectural discussion for the city. Now perhaps more people will be swayed and we can turn our attention away from Sydney’s brick folly and return to the tragedy of our doomed sandstone history…