Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/380083
"In the French system, you do a sketch and you stick to it... But that's not how I work. I evolve over time." —Frank Gehry Remember the "Bilbao Effect"? That was the term coined to describe the civic transformation that occurred in the formerly depressed Spanish city of Bilbao when the Guggenheim Museum commissioned architect Frank Gehry to design a dazzling, titanium- covered branch there. The museum, which opened in 1997, is the project that cemented Gehry as the world's most famous architect. Paris, of course, doesn't need the Bilbao Effect. It has reigned as a seat of culture for hundreds of years and has numerous pristine examples of great architectural style. And yet, Gehry has done it again with his dramatic new 9,000-square-foot building for the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the nonprofit museum arm of French magnate Bernard Arnault's fashion and luxury empire, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. It's the jolt of energy the City of Light didn't know it needed. Opening at the end of October in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, the children's park at the northern end of the Bois de Boulogne, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is a striking and symphonic assemblage of the sail shapes for which Gehry is known, but this time, in shimmering glass. The sails are all canted to one side, as if a stiff wind has blown through the famous former hunting grounds, one of Paris' beloved green spaces, and tried to knock them over. The building—probably this year's most talked about architectural feat—will hold the foundation's permanent art collection as well as a host of temporary exhibitions. The Fondation Louis Vuitton was established in 2006 but hasn't had a permanent home until now, though it has vigorously been supporting the arts all over the world, as with its sponsorship of Museum of Modern Art shows of Richard Serra, among others. "I lived in Paris for a year in the 1960s and I spent a lot of time in the Bois de Boulogne," says Gehry, recounting a lesser-known chapter of his life well before he became a Pritzker Prize winner. Turns out, he's also a fan of Marcel Proust's epic novel "Remembrance of Things Past,"—who knew? "The Jardin d'Acclimatation has a big history, and probably Proust played there," he says. "I got a little weepy about it as we went through this project." That sentimental note reflects one of the strengths running through all of Gehry's work. For all of the technical brilliance, it produces an emotional effect. "When you are in front of it, you are overwhelmed by the sensitivity," says Jean-Paul Claverie, who serves as Arnault's top cultural advisor and was instrumental in bringing the Fondation Louis Vuitton to life. "It brings you up. You forget the technology that went into it. Only the top artists are able to do that." The space where the new Fondation Louis Vuitton stands was a derelict former bowling alley, which was torn down. But site restrictions meant that Gehry only had the original building's two-story height to work with. He couldn't rely on towering verticality to make an impact, so he thought about the building in two parts. "On the sides, the sails hang off the building to give a sense of movement, like a boat," says Gehry, who identifies himself as an avid sailor. "We call the solid white part inside 'the iceberg.'" That interior portion, made of layers of specially developed concrete, holds 11 galleries for art—though the architect says he's also "fascinated" with the space between the sails (which the French call barrières). "I'd like to see art in there," he says of the space that could become a cutting-edge sculpture park. "I've talked to Richard Prince and Jeff Koons and they are willing to play in that space." Although Gehry is not charged with any real programming duties, the idea of him leveraging his connections with two top artists is a demonstration of his level of dedication to the museum—and his endless creativity. Like many huge projects, the Fondation Louis Vuitton took years to get off the ground—13, to be exact. The courtship between the dapper, somewhat severe and thoroughly French Arnault and Los Angeles-based Gehry—creator of messy-looking sketches that turn into rule-breaking buildings—had its odd-couple moments. "We did some sketches and models, and he picked one of five," recalls Gehry. "But the French system is Beaux Arts: You do a sketch and you stick to it. That's how Bernard was trained. But that's not how I work… I evolve over time." Needless to say, they worked it out and arrived at a happy ending, with only a few elements scrapped from the original discussions. "He would tell me when he didn't like something," says Gehry. "He was clear in what he wanted and respectful of what I brought to the table. He never pushed me into a compromising position." He adds, "I get a lot of energy from clients, especially when they are clear about their goals and we know where we both draw the line." The intellectual common ground where the two men met was technology. "One of Frank's earliest plans we would not have been able to construct with the available technology," says Claverie. So they came up with new means. "For two years, Monsieur Arnault had a team of 200 engineers create the technology to respect Frank's vision." The 12 glass sails were among the most complicated elements of the building, since each one is unique. Gehry has been in the forefront of high-tech architecture for decades. "I started a company a long time ago called Gehry Technology," he says. "We work with the French airplane manufacturer Dassault. We took their software for airplanes and modified it for our purposes. It allows you to show the builder how to build it perfectly; usually with 2-D drawings you run into trouble with a pipe hitting a beam somewhere." It becomes clear that Gehry is really talking about how he has perfected the dissemination of information, rather than structural engineering itself. Again, he upends our expectations of what a "starchitect" is, and what one can do. "It's an enlightenment," he says of the software, and it's a good bet he intends an echo of the Enlightenment of the 18th century, when humanism and science met to transform man's vision of the world. They know a little something about the Enlightenment in France, and Gehry's Fondation Louis Vuitton is poised to fit right in. 130 CULTURED