If you're serious about being an architect, you've got to learn how to take responsibility. Frank Gehry More Quotes by Frank Gehry More Quotes From Frank Gehry Many people put a green button on their collar and feel good, just like a lot of people put an American flag on their lapels and feel patriotic. It's not enough. Frank Gehry patrioticfeel-goodpeople Here we are surrounded by material that's being manufactured in unimaginable quantities worldwide and is used everywhere. I don't like it, no one likes it, and yet it's pervasive. We don't even see it. Frank Gehry materialslikesused With computers we can work everything out from the beginning. Frank Gehry computer You have to do every detail on every bloody piece of the building. You have to know how the engineering works. You have to know how the fittings go together. You have to master the mechanical, electrical, acoustical - everything. Frank Gehry engineeringdetailstogether It should begin much earlier with arts education in the American school system, which is sadly deficient. Frank Gehry shouldartschool I attended a lecture by a gray-haired old man from Finland, who later I discovered was the architect Alvar Aalto. I was very moved. I wasn't interested in architecture, but it was a moving thing I've never forgotten. Frank Gehry lecturesmenmoving Generally in our world, whether in architecture or almost anywhere else, we devalue the artist, and schools at whatever level shut people down. Frank Gehry our-worldartistschool When I was a child I could do math and art, so I had left- and right-brain capabilities. But I've seen my children, who are more right-brained, struggling. My son was told he wouldn't make it to college, but he dogged it through and ended up being accepted by 10 major art schools after the high school advisor said, "Please don't apply. You're going to be disappointed." That kid's an artist now. Frank Gehry strugglechildrenart The culture of France is unique because it's a culture that has a high priority on the arts, more than any other place in the world in our time since Greece. So as a practicing artist, if you will, this is home ground. They love us, so music, literature, art continues to be the center. Frank Gehry uniquehomeart I don't know how to overcome this perception that I'm extravagant. Frank Gehry know-howperceptionovercoming Your work may be great and not make its way into the big picture... like Van Gogh... so who's to say what's good and bad? Frank Gehry bigsmayway Some people may say my curved panels look like sails. Well, I am a sailor, so I guess I probably do use that metaphor in my work - though not consciously. Frank Gehry usepeoplelooks Green issues have been used as a marketing tool. Sometimes these green claims are completely meaningless. Frank Gehry issuesmarketingtools I can't just decide myself what's being built. Someone decides what they want, then I work for them. Frank Gehry builti-canwant Look, architecture has a lot of places to hide behind, a lot of excuses. "The client made me do this." "The city made me do this." "Oh, the budget." I don't believe that anymore. Frank Gehry citiesbelievelooks I don't make things with my hands, although I studied woodworking and made furniture. Frank Gehry woodworkingfurniturehands In an ideal world, pressure should come from below and from the top. Frank Gehry shouldpressureworld I don't want to do architecture that's dry and dull. Frank Gehry drywantdull I have always thought that L.A. is a motor city that developed linear downtowns. Frank Gehry downtownlinearcities I make a model of the site. There are some obvious things: where the entrance should be, where the cars have to go in. You start to get the scale of it. You understand the client's needs, and what the client is hoping for and yearning for. Frank Gehry obvious-thingscarclients
