The Significance of Frank O. Gehry’s Museums in Contemporary Museum Design Methodology
Mohammad Arar1, Mohammed Sherzad1, Nahla Al Qassimi1, Chuloh Jung1*
1 Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Art and Design, Ajman University, United Arab Emirates
*Corresponding Author: [email protected] Accepted: 15 February 2023 | Published: 1 March 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijarei.2023.5.1.2
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Abstract: Modern museums were born because of the spatial composition program, exhibition techniques, and the diversification of architectural styles. Frank Gehry is an architect pursuing extreme forms and thinks modern box-shaped architecture is bland and lacks feeling/passion/love. This paper aims to examine the characteristics and meaning of the museums designed by Gehry, Gehry's unique architectural view, and the elements of his museum designs. As a methodology, the classification of modern museums in Newhouse's
"Towards a New Museum “and trends in modern museum architecture are classified into six categories in Montaner's book "Museums for the 21st Century," which are used as a framework for comparative analysis to point out the characteristics of the Gary Museum and derive the location and meaning in modern museum architecture. The result shows that his architectural tendencies of fragmentation and duality are applied to the Gary Museum, revealing complex characteristics in terms of composition by contrasting combinations of formality and irregularity in materials and forms. The intricate design of the Gary Museum reveals its strong presence by creating a sculptural museum that encourages a four- dimensional experience both inside and outside. It was statistically proven that the above characteristics of the Gary Museum represent an aspect of the modern museum that is becoming a popular entertainment medium. A relaxed and comfortable exhibition environment was promoted by weakening the excessive rigidity in the exhibition space through the changeable ceiling treatment. Gary's museums were born between radical experimentalism and a pragmatic professional temperament.
Keywords: Frank O. Gehry, Duality, Fragmentation, Sculptural Form, Entertainment Medium __________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
Modern museum architecture appears in many ways, from the highly restrained and straightforward form as much as the diversity of architecture today to the museum showing off its structure and aesthetics to its fullest (Jung et al., 2021; Fischer, 2012; Corona, 2011). Among architectural types, museum architecture in particular often functions as a work of art, a monument, a cultural object, and a landmark in the city, along with its mission of preserving and exhibiting works as a public building (Charitonidou, 2021; Giegold, 2021). Considering the artistic properties, it is also because of the attractiveness of the museum's architecture (Isenberg, 2012). The museum, a house for exhibitions, stimulates the architect's creative/intellectual temperament, allowing them to attempt theoretical investigations and architectural experiments (). Frank Gehry, who designed the museums, which is the subject of
this study, is an architect located at the extreme in pursuit of form beauty, as is well known (Iwamoto, 2013; Celani, 2012). Gary, who says that modern box-shaped architecture is bland and lacks feeling/passion/love, does not stand still but is passionate like a woman's body (Bottazzi, 2018; Bridge, 2015).
As a result of Gehry's firm will and unique formative tendencies, this study examines the position of the museums he designed, which are deeply connected with Gehry's view of architecture, in light of various trends in contemporary museum architecture, and its architectural characteristics (Bodo, 2018; Lin, 2013). After passing through the classical museum era, where the museums were temples for exhibits, through modern museums after the 1930s, and from the end of the 1970s, modern museums were born as a result of the museum's spatial composition program, exhibition techniques, and the diversification of architectural styles themselves (Okwudili, 2016).
2. Literature Review
2.1. Los Angeles Architects
Rafael Moneo asserts that anyone talking about Gary must first mention LA, the city where he has worked and built. Although not all architects working in LA work like Gehry, it is clear that his unique urban environment influenced his work style (Peters & Olabode, 2018). Moneo saw that the city's racial pluralism and the constant change brought about by the urban gratuitousness made LA a world of non-standards freed from norms (Pauker, 2013). In a town of diversity without any fixed standards in a state of permanent transformation, Gary expresses temporality and impermanence beyond the typological category without being confined within the frame of the surrounding environment (Mohamed, 2014; Lee & Lee, 2011).
The pluralistic tendency of developing a post-modern complex space using late-modern industrial materials and the temporary nature of attaching primitive and unfamiliar materials while rejecting the coherent finality became characteristic of Gehry's architecture (Dimendberg, 2021).
Gary himself acknowledges the influence the city of LA has had on him (Gilbert-Rolfe &
Gehry, 2002). L.A. is a city where you can enjoy bright light, mild climate, vast space, the hasty, noisy, and full of pioneer spirit at the time Gary settled down, overflowing energy and flying ideas, and overflowing will to do something and a sense of freedom that you have never felt in Canada (Gehry, 2013). It was a romantic city without a history of bitterness (Charalambides, 2019).
Gary's face, which rejects the unification of the traditional and single style and reflects the individualism that the United States believes in architecture, is featured on Apple Computer's
"Think Different" billboard (Fujita, 2019; Galenson, 2008). Thus, Gehry's museums are not easily distinguished from the other types of buildings he has designed (Foster, 2013). However, unlike Richard Meier, who took advantage of the nature of the museum, which presupposes the visitation of visitors, to place a ramp in front of the museum that expresses the concept of an 'architectural walk' as the purpose of the museum is not revealed from the outside (Fixsen, 2014).
There is a risk of making a caricature of one's work (Filler, 2007). Still, I don't mind putting a sphere symbolizing the planet or space on the roof of the California Air and Space Museum and hanging a fighter plane in front of the main entrance of a chiat/day museum (Venice, CA,
1985-91) (Figure 1). In response to the client's question of how to make it, Gary's boldness and improvisation, who decided to do so immediately after placing the red binoculars placed next to it on the model as a work of Claes Oldenburg, had nothing to do with the company's products and commissioned it to Oldenburg (Balboa & Scaroni, 2017; Waldrep, 2012). Gehry's architecture, a development of such unconstrained urban vibrancy and freedom, is reflected in the museum architecture, creating unique museums (Ping & Lu, 2013).
Figure 1: Chiat/Day Main Street Headquarters Façade
2.2. Sculptural Architecture
As a philosophical background for Gehry's work, which is evaluated as sculptural architecture emphasizing informativeness, the theory of the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze, who had a considerable influence on modern architecture, is often mentioned (Samdanis & Lee, 2017;
Mitrache, 2012). Among them, the concept of pli is particularly true (Steele, 2012). It is regarded as one of the efforts made by modern architects to focus on philosophical ideas that can be comprehensively and implicitly explained to sensitively capture the rapidly changing world perception and reflect it in reality and draw various inspirations from it (Vitale, 2010).
The concept of wrinkles, which attempts to grasp this world from the perspective of difference and creation rather than from the perspective of identity, is the most suitable for landscape architecture that rejects the traditional dichotomy of shape and background, interior and exterior, site and building and integrates them into one corrugated surface (Theodore, 2014).
Although well combined, the pleated drapery, Gary's favorite use as a medium of sexual metaphor for form and meaning, is also considered virtually identical to the concept of Baroque in Deleuze's writings (Ping & Lu, 2013; Picon, 2010).
However, Gehry easily explains the source of the inspiration behind his work, not in such an esoteric philosophical theory, but in his connection to art such as sculpture and painting (Alaily- Mattar et al., 2022). The folds on the garments of Our Lady in the Madonna were painted by Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), the founder of the Venetian school, and the face of a mourner from the tomb of Philip the Great, sculpted by Dutch sculptor Claus Sluter (1340-1406). Gary notes that he was inspired by the pleated shawl of the draped cloth and the pleats of a long robe, and a pleated shawl worn by Jan Vermeer (1632-75) in 1662, The Woman in a Young Woman Holding a Jug (Cohen, 2013). In addition, he maintains a close relationship with many artists according to his knowledge, paying attention to the materiality and spatiality of their works and reflecting them in his work (Bae & Cho, 2011) (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Giovanni Bellini (Left) and Claus Sluter (Right)
The two contradictory situations of fragmentation and unity, characteristic of Gehry's work, are revealed in the materials used and the resulting form (Caetano & Leitão, 2020). As seen in Gary’s house (Santa Monica, 1978), which is representative of his early works, he left a coherent and complete form by exposing the materials still under construction, such as wire mesh, corrugated slab, and pine plywood showing industrial naiveness at an angle (Goldberger, 2015). The temporary nature of the progressive form was highlighted (Figure 3). Although the body is a single piece, these materials' heterogeneity and structural unfamiliarity rely on kitsch- like fragments like collages (Harris, 2013). On the other hand, Tract House (1982) or Winton, who gave each geometric shape to each program, used to explore the prototype of a dwelling and created a tension-inducing conflict by collecting them (Hoteit, 2015).
Figure 3: Gehry House (Left) and Winton Guest House (Right)
The idea of fragmenting the volume divided in Winton Guest House (1982-87) etc. creates an unexpected space by making a difference by capturing the specificity of each place (Hanson &
Herz, 2011). The fragmented nature of these Gehry buildings is regarded as a spiritual/social critique of modern culture or as a concrete example of individual singularity (Junaidy et al., 2017). Despite his unusual appearance due to fragmentation, Gary is recognized as an architect faithful to his program for reasons that will be discussed later. This is because fragmentation
is not limited to aesthetic issues, but through it, it freely analyzes the program, strives to be faithful to the budget, and responds to the client's wishes (Zipf, 2019). When dividing the program into small units, his architectural language is reflected, and a concept is formed, showing that the simple division is not the goal (Westfall, 2011).
Figure 4: California Air and Space Museum (Left) and Vitra Design Museum (Right)
Among Gary's museums, the California Air and Space Museum and Vitra Design Museum, designed as an integrated image of several volumes in the 1980s, when they were interested in the segmentation of such volumes, show the transition from fragmentation to unity (Ouroussoff, 2010) (Figure 4). These two museums seem to be, at first glance, related to a series of housing plans in which different types of rooms are conceived as separate geometric volumes, as the externally inclined, heterogeneous, or polygonal volumes are arranged in consideration of the relationship with the internal use (Patterson, 2012). However, the Air and Space Museum has an integrated interior exhibition space like a vast hangar (Martin, 2011).
Vitra Design Museum removed the diversity of materials, and after masonry construction, the exterior was covered with white stucco to reveal unity (Lee, 2018). This museum, which emphasizes continuous movement, expresses pure spatial reality in its form (Gehry, 2013).
Gehry worked hard to express exposed structures and construction processes but became interested in abstract architectural objects like the two museums mentioned above (Hartoonian, 2002). Since 1991, he has actively introduced digital technology. He has experimented with various organic and wrinkled curved surfaces, going one step further from the work method he used to make with repeated modeling following sketches (Johnson, 2013). In response to the program, he began to cover the scattered or aggregated volumes with a warped, three- dimensional curved surface that was fragmented but made one feel unity with a single material (Gehry et al., 2020). At this point, Gary’s intuition, concerned with how things are made, emerges (Joye, 2011).
This experimental attempt with a metal plate as an exterior material began with the Vitra International Headquarters Building (Basel, 1988-94), which was an early example of an innovative and sculptural design idea used in many buildings after that, and continued with the Weissman Museum of Art, which was designed in 1990 (Ockman, 2011) (Figure 5). It reached its apex at the planned Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, opening a new formative possibility to integrate various masses (Mitrache, 2012). Although recognized as a single large volume by the metal plate of the single material, the curved surface, the gradually subdivided waving
fragments of the elevation create a continuous movement in the car's joint, expressing pluralism in LA (Kauffman, 2012). It embodies Gary's desire to contain movement within. The heterogeneous and varied interior space, a product of this unusual shape, also stimulates curiosity and includes a dynamic that can cause controversy over its appropriateness in the exhibition space (Katz, 2018).
Figure 5: Vitra International Headquarters Building
2.3. Duality
Most of Gehry's works, which seem to be atypical due to their highlighted morphological singularity, are surprisingly often accompanied by overall grid-like formality on the plane and partial formality on the exterior (CBC, 2015). This work also contributes to the strong impression of fragmentation mentioned earlier, although it is a single building (Forbes, 2015).
Looking at the planar characteristics of Gehry's work, even though curved, moving skins surround it, most of the flats are composed of ordinary right-angled spaces. Such an appearance is insignificant (Joye, 2011). This result is derived from Gehry's work method of “progressing from the inside out,” stacking several rectangular cubes of various sizes and proportions according to the purpose and then covering the sloping and undulating shell on top of it (Karaca, 2021). Step-by-step models of progress and Gary's comments confirm this point (Katz, 2018).
First, Gary draws inspiration from the earth and removes it at once with a sketch of tangled lines, having his employees make several models and refining them. Although it was mentioned before that Gehry's buildings have a distorted and sometimes distorted appearance, they have overall formality on the plane. Because it sticks, nevertheless, it isn’t easy to recognize the regularity of the aircraft even from the inside because the shape of the ceiling or the twisted movement of the top extends to the wall, and the form of the inclined or curved wall approaches visually strongly. It is intended to satisfy the desire for formative expression while fulfilling the function.
3. Methodology
Table 1 shows the museums designed by Gehry and completed so far. Among these museums are the Cabrillo Maritime Museum, an early work unrelated to Gehry's unique sculptural architecture, and the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art (A. Five museums are analyzed except for Temporary Contemporary, where Gary says, “All I did was clean the floor,” which
hastily converted two large warehouses into contemporary art exhibition spaces. Gehry also led the renovation of the Norton Simon Museum of Art, the underground expansion of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the renovation of the building, leaving behind several unrealized museum plans.
Table 1: Museums, Designed by Frank Gehry
Museum Location Completion Year
Cabrillo Marine Museum San Pedro, CA 1977-1979
California Aerospace Museum Los Angeles, CA 1981-1984
Temporary Contemporary Los Angeles, CA 1983-1984
Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein, Germany 1987-1989
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum Minneapolis, MN 1990-1993
Bilbao Guggenheim Bilbao, Spain 1991-1997
Experience Music Project Seattle, WA 1995-2000
To examine the characteristics and meaning of the museums designed by Gehry, we first illuminate Gehry's unique architectural view and summarize the resulting attributes of museum architecture. Most outstanding architects have an idea of architecture that they consistently adhere to in their work, regardless of the type of architecture. It is to find a way to satisfy the specific needs presented in the assigned task with the principles learned. Therefore, it is helpful to understand individual works by looking at the common vein that flows through the foundations of the results. This is because, if it is a valuable work, the applied alterations and shocks and the intentional distortions are in balance with the theme that reveals the perception and character of the work.
As a framework for pointing out the characteristics of the Gary Museum and deriving the location and meaning it has in modern museum architecture, this study is based on Newhouse's book "Towards a New Museum" and the classification of modern museums into eight trends.
By comparing/analyzing Montaner's book "Museums for the 21st Century", trends in contemporary museum architecture are classified into six categories, and Table 2, which summarizes the negative aspects of each class, is used.
In this study, among the trends in contemporary museum architecture summarized in Table 2, the remaining four categories are used as the framework for content development, excluding the discussion of extensibility and existence unrelated to Gehry's museum and the outwardly prominent morphological characteristics in Gehry's museum. In addition, I would like to look into the social, environmental, and spatial meanings.
Table 2: Trends in Contemporary Museum Design Composition Clear The evolution of the box or white cube
Complicated Collage museum
Form Emphasis Museum as environmental Art / Museum as an extraordinary organism/museum as a work of art
Denial Minimalist object / Museum that rejects form
Environment Public Museum as entertainment / The evolution of the role of the museum Private Monographic museum/custom museum
Spatiality Divine Museum as sacred space / The minimalist object
Humane Museum as environmental art / Museum as entertainment / Museum as an extraordinary organism
Scalability Success Wings that fly Failure Wings that don't fly
Existence Transition Museum as subject matter: Artist's alternative spaces Non-existence Virtual museum
4. Analysis
4.1. Complex Composition of the Collage Museum
Let's look at the structural trend of modern museum architecture. We can see the neutral and rational merits of the white box based on the pure aesthetics of the contemporary spirit while at the same time preparing for flexibility and growth potential and aiming for a light and transparent museum that harmonizes technology and information. In contrast, some museums show a complex tendency to add symbolic/metaphorical/rhetorical/explanatory techniques that promote autonomy/individuality/decorativeness/friendliness under the influence of postmodernism.
As a collage of fragments like this, the museum, which is more indulgent, popular, and chatty than before, announces the triumph of popular culture and symbolizes that the museum is no longer a fortress of high-class culture but an influential force in the popular culture industry.
The characteristics of this collage museum are consistent with the fragmentation and duality of Gehry's architecture discussed in the previous chapter. The compositional tendency of the Gary Museum is most conspicuous in the contrasting combination of formality and irregularity in materials and forms, as shown in Table 3.
Table 3: Regularity and Irregularity in Materials and Forms
Form Contrast Material Contrast Characteristics
Typical Stucco (Air and Space Museum) Guaranteed stability rooted in the ground
Redbrick (Weissman)
Limestone (Guggenheim, Bilbao)
Atypical Tin Plate (Air and Space Museum) Light and agile, increased mobility embedded in atypicality
Stainless Steel (Weissman) Titanium (Guggenheim, Bilbao)
The selection of materials suitable for the shape naturally revealed the complex nature of the Gary Museum. At this time, the morphological heterogeneity of the compositional volume highlighted in the Gary Museum further promotes the aspect of the college museum, which is slightly different, as shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Morphological Heterogeneity of Compositional Volumes in Gehry's Museum
Museums Characteristics
Air and Space Museum Deliberate instability due to volumes appearing separately to such an extent that the structural rigidity of the building is concealed.
Vitra Design Museum The play of volumes in unity due to the single material and color of the exterior wall Weissman / Guggenheim, Bilbao Distinguishing between formal and atypical volumes in form and material and
dynamic fragmentation of metal shells
EMP Changes in volume of six pieces in shape, skin material, and color with their respective uses
4.2. Sculpture Form
Suppose you look at the morphological trend of modern museum architecture, like Moderna and Arkitektur Museet in Stockholm (1991-98). In that case, it maintains a nearby factory-like atmosphere and fragmented patterns to seep into its surroundings and reduce its presence or visit Lake Constance’s site for the first time. When I saw the haze on the water surface made the light visible, paying attention to the change in the quality of the light coming down from the mountain. Some museums reject the form, such as Kunsthaus Bregenz (1990-97), who made the museum transcendent or sought the inevitable state to transcend the passage of time and technological origins.
On the other hand, some museums boldly reveal themselves inform and attract attention. These expressive museums, which show off their forms, mainly assert the justification of the chosen state about the site environment or the exhibition program. Founded by the Guggenheim Museum in New York (1943-59), the museum as an active container is not satisfied with the background for the exhibits, but rather the architecture responds to the works of art to form a whole. In addition, the reason for its existence as an architecture made for a specific place, that is, environmental architecture, is also explored. This attempt to expand the museum into a three-dimensional work of art places importance on the spectacle effect within the urban context. It serves as a landmark in the city. Museums of architects who value the structural beauty of architecture, such as Daniel Libeskind, Zaha Hadid, and Santiago Calatrava, have these characteristics in common.
Gary's museums can be seen closer to the concept of 'museum as a special organism' in Montaner's modern classification of museums than these museums that emphasize structural beauty. As an independent organism, we pray for the museum as a unique phenomenon, an exceptional occurrence, and a non-repeatable case. As a result, in a well-established urban context, it exists in a fundamentally different form from its surroundings, aiming for a shock effect. It will become a unique object. Gary is often told that many artists want their work to be placed in an important place. He believes that museums should be necessary within the community, at least on the same level as city courts, libraries, and concert halls. Even if the building becomes an idol, it does not make art insignificant but enhances its value. This controversial idea as an opinion underlying the museum as a particular organism is based on Gehry's architectural intention to evoke emotion through movement instead of decoration. He downplays minimalism, a trend that goes against his tendencies, as very cold and that it is also just a way of decoration.
Table 5: Formativeness increasingly emphasized at the Gary Museum
Museums Form Characteristics
Air and Space Museum - Taking ‘partial symbolism’ with the fighter in the front and the sphere on the roof.
- Exploring the sky and expressing the desire to fly with the contrast between the minimal box of the main body and the exaggerated geometric solid, which is the background of these
Vitra Design Museum - Start warping the body using the skylight, revolving stairs, and ramp
Weissman Museum - Moderation to counter the order of existing university campuses in three respects.
Concentrate on the dazzling informativeness of the entrance bridge to the university and the western facade facing the river
Guggenheim, Bilbao - By reinforcing the morphological image in the Vitra Design Museum and submitting the structure to the process of making the form
- It presents an irregular shape and a continuous surface with solid movement.
EMP - Extreme diversity in shape, material, and color. Minimal formality is omitted. - Enjoy the freedom allowed by the use of the building
As shown in Table 5, Gary's museums gradually emphasized informativeness as they moved backward in time. A rectangular box is still the standard at the California Air and Space Museum. The brown metal-finished polygon symbolizes the universe’s chaos and creates a visual effect like a suspended schematic model. Although the morphological imaging of the museum building started in earnest at the Vitra Design Museum, this desire for form play was restrained from the east, south, and north sides of the Weissman Museum, which was formally processed because it required contextual harmony with the surrounding environment. Instead, by intensively highlighting the western facade, it serves as the face of the University of Minnesota. It faithfully fulfills the role of a landmark desired by the client, overlooking the Mississippi River and the city skyline beyond (Figure 6).
Figure 6: West Elevation of the Weissman Museum
4.3. Changing Role of Museums
Modern museum architecture's interior/exterior environment has a public and personal character. A museum in a shared environment is spatially open and draws attention in form, and is closely related to a museum as environmental art. Conversely, the private setting is much more intimate than the public environment and maintains a calm atmosphere.
The entertainment medium of the museum is to break away from the traditional viewing behavior of concentrating on the appreciation of works in a solemn atmosphere and enjoy the sensual pleasure of objects as a part of daily life by visiting the museum. Even if it is not for the noble purpose of learning or cultivating, it is to tear down the psychological wall to be used as a place for a short break, a light family outing, or a short meeting.
The view is that museums can only fully develop their potential when they are involved in the significant problems of modern society and that they can continue to exist and continue to play their role only when they function as an institution that serves humanity. The view is that the museums that have changed through this gradual and inevitable change process will be able to make a more appropriate contribution to our society. Signs of a change in the role of a museum focused on its relationship with the community, such as pointing out that it is the center, have long been predicted.
Whereas typical 19th-century museums, which emphasized objects and plant and animal specimens, were static and sometimes forbidden to the public. In the 20th century, museums with colorful education and programs had attracted large groups of visitors, including many lively young people. The museum began to turn its attention to its internal resources, especially its collection, to its visitors. This is the reason why research on museums of change is prosperous today. This interest in visitor absorption is also shown to actively move sales facilities into museums or expand profitable education and convenience facilities to alleviate the pain experienced by most museums of chronic deficits. Many examples show that appearance and spatiality can be a motivator to move people to a museum.
Table 6: Formativeness increasingly emphasized at the Gary Museum
Museum Expression target Methods
Air and Space Museum Aviation industry Add sculptures such as fighters and spheres Vitra Design Museum The high level of design of its products Eye-catching informativeness of the building
itself Weissman Museum University of Minnesota
On the other hand, how did the public attraction of Gary's small museums come about? As shown in Table 6, it starts from the museum's program or the client's advertising intention. As a method, it is also leaning on the addition of direct entertainment elements that can easily attract attention to the architecture or the emphasis on the form of the building itself.
In this way, Gary's works are at the forefront of the modern museum's tendency to become a medium of entertainment. Rather than relying on particular locational advantages or expansion of education or convenience facilities, it considers the program or the client's wishes and leads mainly to the appeal of morphological singularity.
4.4. Characteristics of Public Space and Exhibition Space
When looking at modern museum architecture in terms of spatiality, the past museums exist as temples for works of art. There is a tendency to maintain the spatiality that feels sacred. On the contrary, it shows spatiality as a public place that many visitors enjoy without hesitation. The latter belongs to the spatial characteristics of environmental art and a museum as a pleasure.
In the former case, as the museum took over the cathedral’s role in the past after the 20th century, the spatial treatment of brightness and color is even, and attention is paid to the scale for a neutral and anonymous space. However, as we have seen so far, Gary's museum is not satisfied with the museum as a background for these works in terms of form and space. Even if we do not revisit the history of tedious debates, where it is difficult to expect a consensus on what kind of spatiality is good for exhibitions of works, Gehry's exhibition space is far from the intention of hiding the existence of architecture behind the results.
It is the result of Gary's clear conviction about the nature of the exhibition space. Gehry is aware of the divided opinions on the appropriate exhibition space for the exhibition. He considered that all attempts to create a neutral space failed because he did not know how to do it. His eyes saw that the exhibits were instead suppressed because he used excessive detail to kill the presence of walls and lights, floors, and doors for neutrality. For him, the art looks different depending on where it is placed, so creating an exhibition environment was a significant deal.
Figure 7: Exhibition Space of Air and Space Museum
To consider the exhibition space, which is the core of the interior space in Gehry's museum, the California Air and Space Museum and EMP must be treated separately from the other three museums with traditional exhibition spaces. Unlike the fragmented exterior, the California Air and Space Museum was integrated into one ample room to secure a universal exhibition space in aviation museums, where airplanes are hung using space inside (Figure 7). This internal- external collision reminds us that outer space does not reveal secrets to us at once. There was a reason that the budget was insufficient, but the interior, like an armory of the past, fits well with the nature of wartime. The visitor glances at the whole or concentrates on a part in an open space like an expanse that is not intermittent or limited.
Figure 8: Exhibition Space of EMP
EMP is a place that delivers American popular music, so it isn’t easy to compare it with other museums in terms of time and space. Because of the nature of the exhibition, there was no friction between the area and the exhibits, so Gary was able to be free. Even if the plane is irregular, and the ceiling follows the meandering exterior like a musical tune, it does not impair the exhibition atmosphere but encourages it (Figure 8).
The characteristic of the exhibits, which has nothing to do with the stillness, is that they do not have to be bound by the task of securing the minimum stability for viewing. Various sounds and artificial lighting harmonize, and it is more like a lively party venue than an exhibition space. The public spatiality required by the program is expressed as it is.
On the other hand, common attributes are captured in the remaining three museums with public exhibition spaces even though the programs and scales are different. Despite the appearance emphasizing informativeness, the floor and walls of the exhibition space adhere to the correct angle and flatness in the plane and cross-section, and the stability necessary for the exhibition space is secured.
Figure 9: Exhibition Space of Vitra Design Museum
In the case of Vitra Design Museum, the exhibition spaces directly connected and with four corners adhering to right angles are mutually intrusive and click volumes, colored by a roof chaotically perforated with skylights of different angles and shapes. It should be treated separately from the other three museums with an exhibition space with a concept of continuity to be exchanged between them (Figure 9). Unlike the fragmented exterior, the California Air and Space Museum was integrated into one ample space to secure a universal exhibition space in aviation museums, where airplanes are hung using space inside. This internal-external collision reminds us that outer space does not reveal secrets to us at once.
Figure 10: Exhibition Space of Weissman Museum
The same is true of the exhibition space of the Weissman Museum. In the most straightforward rectangular volume, the unusual opening in the ceiling allows light to enter, and the trusses exposed on the upper part of some of the exhibition walls turn the eye upwards. Unlike in Vitra, in a place where paintings on the wall are mainly displayed, the appearance of such a ceiling may cause more distraction. It is unified in white, so the degree of confusion is reduced (Figure 10).
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao looks intuitive and quirky in shape, but it is evaluated that it is closely related to the spatial requirements of the exhibition program. As a 54-meter-high circulation hall, each spatial form is displayed in the atrium, the museum’s central space, with the works of art and an associatively designed stretch of three exhibition volumes containing 19 galleries spread over three floors. The familiar and customary areas of the South and West are for permanent collections and selected surviving artists. Special exhibitions are accommodated in a large flexible room extending to the east. In this large-scale art museum of 28,000 square meters, Gehry allocated permanent collections such as Cubism, Expressionism, Surrealism, and Geometric Abstraction to a right-angled white space divided into appropriate sizes of their size and nature. For this purpose, the square exhibition rooms on the south and west sides are classic as an exhibition environment, with light entering through the skylight located in the center of each room.
5. Conclusion
Individual likes or dislikes for Gary's architecture, which is evaluated as revealing the cultural depth of the instantaneous culture that occurred in the United States after World War II, may differ from person to person. Still, it is unacceptable that he went towards his essence through immersion in an architectural trend. There is. As a result of examining the museums designed by Gehry in light of the four directions of modern museum architecture, the characteristics and meanings of the museums are summarized as follows.
First, his architectural tendencies of fragmentation and duality are applied to the Gary Museum, revealing complex characteristics in terms of composition by contrasting combinations of formality and irregularity in materials and forms, or emphasizing the morphological heterogeneity of the compositional volume. Like the museums belonging to this trend, which postmodern architects led in the 1970s and 1980s, the starting point is different from those that mainly rely on the hierarchical combination of various geometric volumes while using the collage technique of form, material, and color. In Gehry's museum, the dynamics of the curvature of the epidermis and the diagonal lines are linked to the internal structure that supports it and the treatment of the endothelium, thereby extending the complexity of the unique interior through the creation of unexpected space.
Second, the complex composition of the Gary Museum reveals its strong presence by creating a sculptural museum that encourages a four-dimensional experience both inside and outside.
His museum, which is not easy to realize due to his unique identity, when built, plays the role of a landmark as a particular object that is an environmental vitality.
Third, these characteristics of the Gary Museum represent an aspect of the modern museum that is becoming a popular entertainment medium. It is achieved through the influence of architecture, which has a personality different from others, without relying on location advantages or expansion of education or convenience facilities. It shows that the museum should now be visitor-centered and that it should and can contribute architecturally as much as a change in the museum's composition program.
Fourth, when Gehry devised a typical exhibition space with the goal of public spatiality, on the one hand, he maintained the perpendicularity and flatness of the white walls and the floor as much as possible on the plane and cross-section, giving the exhibition space the minimum stability necessary to appreciate the exhibits. On the other hand, it can be seen that a relaxed
and comfortable exhibition environment was promoted by weakening the excessive rigidity in the exhibition space through the changeable ceiling treatment.
Gehry sees the role of an architect as “to inspire people, enrich their lives, and give them hope that they can get better.” He is interested in how objects are perceived or experienced, and he must have seen his museum as meaningful in fulfilling this role. Gary’s museums were born between radical experimentalism and a pragmatic professional temperament, as we have seen so far. Now is a time when various theories about museum architecture coexist so much that it is impossible to assert the objective ideal of a museum designed by a single architect, but the public appeal of the Gary Museum makes the museum feel its social role of 'popularization of culture.’
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