TOO BIG: FRANK GEHRY ON THE SUNSET STRIP by Elizabeth Sobieski
It’s like entering an elephant into a horse show. As much as I may admire its pachydermian dimensions, its towering height, its girth and trunk, and its intelligent eyes, it just doesn’t belong in the horse show. The scale is wrong.
And the planned massive complex designed by Frank Gehry and his team does not belong on the Sunset Strip. The scale is wrong.
And Frank Gehry should know better.
He is one of the master architects of our era, perhaps the most esteemed in the world, one that I have long admired, even collecting two handsome books about him: The Houses by Mildred Friedman and Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry by Paul Goldberger. I do not discount his genius, just his present sense of proportion. Although the 90-year-old Gehry claims not to favor the term ‘starchitect’, in designing the gargantuan five building mixed-use complex planned to take up residence on the corner of Crescent Heights and Sunset Boulevard, he is engaged in a hubristic act, befitting an indulged star. I can’t imagine that he is unaware that this proposal is overscale, aesthetically incongruous, and bound to create an unfortunate traffic quagmire at an already busy intersection. Plans call for two towers, 229 housing units and 65,000 square feet of commercial space. I wonder if the busy corner leading into Laurel Canyon will eventually…
