The Comparison Frank Gehry and Rafael Moneo

There are different types of people and perceptions in the world and when these concepts unit that can create abstract forms of art mix with architecture or work under constraints to preserve what is original. Architecture can take these two forms form creating something completely original or to preserving an architectural structure for the next generations. Frank Gehry and Rafael Moneo exemplify these concepts in their bodies of works; one being a free-flowing artist and the other using an academic point of view to architecture.

Frank Gehry creates free flowing structures that defy any basic architectural rules on structure and materials. He designs buildings as if they were drawings or sculptures that don’t need to have straight lines or box shapes. In the documentary sketches of Frank Gehry there is a moment where Gehry is creating a building and his is taping together scrapes of paper and you can see his though process. You can see he doesn’t like flat walls. Instead, he would add curves, crinkles and, height differences to achieve a unique look. Compare to architects that are not necessarily artist he’s bodies of work take on a different meaning. For example, his house is a basic experiment of mixing artistic concepts like cubism and architecture. The director of the documentary says, “Frank’s got his own original and sort of perverse way of doing things” (Pollack, 2006). This is true when you look at buildings like the Guggenheim Museum or the Dancing House. He redefines the look of architecture and brings modern art elements like abstraction into his structural designs.

On the opposite side of the coin Rafael Moneo concerns him self with preserving and enhancing already made foundations. His buildings attest to the traditional forms of architecture drawing from roman inspiration. He tends to use flat walls, arches, columns, and other typical building techniques. One of his most iconic buildings is the National Museum of Roman Art where he faces the challenge of constructing a building onto of old roman ruins. This main task when building the museum was to “give to the city a testimony of what was rescued and completing its history” (Colegio de Arquitectos de Nuevo Leon, 2021) In many ways what Moneo does is extremely challenging when it comes to deciding on a design. In comparison with Frank Gehry, Moneo has to create keeping in mind the archeological constraints some of his projects propose. Rafael Moneo describes “The Museum is a construction that permits you to penetrate it and is not a museum in which movement is what describes it.” (Colegio Arquitectos de Nuevo Leon, 2021) as opposed to the buildings Frank Gehry creates that are full of different lines intersecting every which way, Moneo creates a symmetrical aesthetic. In his building Kursaal in San Sebastian he uses the architectural technic of scaling down or reducing a building a creating a copy of it. A limitation he faces during the designing of this structure was that he and to keep the original foundation and that provide a plethora of challenges to what designs can possibly be done there.

When comparing these two architects we can see their different ways they look at architecture one with a artistic eye and the other is a academic point of view. Each has made extraordinary contributions of architecture by either changing the original conception of what architecture is and the other using architectural techniques to preserve ancient ruins. Both have their own perceptions of what architecture should be, this allows us the view to experience different perception through architecture.

References:

Blackwood, M. (2017, March 21). Frank Genhry: The Formative Years. Michael Blackwood Productions Inc. [video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/gehry/292392401

Colegio de Arquitectos de Nuevo León. (2020). Conferencia Magistral de Rafael Moneo en al XX Bienal de Arquitectura de Nuevo León. [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bhut01ulC5A

Martin de Blas, J. M. (2010, March 8). Elogio a la Luz – Rafael Moneo. [video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/10023892?embedded=true&source=vimeo_logo&owner=3236972

Pollock, S. (2006). Sketches of Frank Gehry. [Documentary]. Prime Video. https://www.amazon.com/Sketches-Frank-Gehry-Barry-Diller/dp/B0085FP0Y8