It has been acclaimed as one of the finest buildings in the United States, possibly anywhere. Its billowing stainless-steel walls, wrote one critic, are ”harmonious and incomparably beautiful, the colours changing depending on where the sun is”.
It’s a pity the neighbours don’t see it that way.
The shiny surface of the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, designed by Frank Gehry and opened last year at a cost of $274-million, is, it appears, too shiny.
Following complaints from neighbours and an investigation by the city government, the gleaming surface of the hall is to be sandblasted to remove some of its sheen.
”We’d prefer not to have to do it,” said Terry Bell, an associate of Gehry. ”But we are absolutely dealing with it.”
The sandblasting will cost $180 000 and will affect 370sq metres of a total surface area of 19 000sq metres.
Even before the building opened in October 2003, residents and businesses complained of blinding glare. They also claimed that sunlight reflected from the building had caused temperatures in the vicinity to rise to 59C (138F).
”You couldn’t even see and then the furniture would get really hot,” said Jacqueline Lagrone (42) who lives in a neighbouring apartment block. ”You would have to literally close the drapes and you’d still feel warmth in the house.”
The setback is not the first for Gehry, who is renowned for taking aesthetic risks in his designs. His best-known building, the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, northern Spain, also ran into problems with its surface covering. A similar design to the Disney Hall, the Bilbao building was clad in titanium. But three years after its opening in 1997, the exterior had dark stains on its surface.
Last winter the stainless steel surface at another Gehry building, the Case Western University in Cleveland, had problems as snow and ice fell from the roof to the pavement.
Gehry has attributed the problem with the Disney Hall to an error in construction rather than a failing in his original plan. Some of the curving sheets of metal were installed at a slightly different angle than specified in the plans. Accordingly, they threw out unanticipated reflections.
The proposed sandblasting of the Disney Hall’s walls is the latest setback for the project.
Gehry, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1947, was originally commissioned to design the building in 1988, before he became a dominant figure in international architecture.
The budget for his design, which he described as ”a strange kind of sailing ship sitting in a box”, went from $50-million to $274-million. The money for the project came from the Disney family, who gave $100-million, the Walt Disney Company, with $25-million, and the city of Los Angeles, which owns the building.
The delays with the project enabled the architect to continually refine his design. His original plan called for the building to be clad in limestone. This was scrapped because of budgetary constraints and fears of earthquakes, and the limestone was replaced with stainless steel.
Receiving architecture’s prestigious Pritzker prize in 1989, Gehry acknowledged some of the problems facing contemporary urban architecture.
”Architecture must solve complex problems. We must understand and use technology, we must create buildings which are safe and dry, respectful of context and neighbours, and face all the myriad of issues of social responsibility, and even please the client.” – Guardian Unlimited Â