Gehry Draws

Everyone knows what the distinctive curves and lines of Frank Gehry's buildings look like. But where do they come from? Gehry has described drawing as his way of "thinking aloud"; Gehry Draws traces that thinking through 32 major projects (both built and unbuilt) with more than 500 drawings (many of which have never before been published) and more than 400 additional illustrations—providing a privileged view of the creative practice of a master architect. Horst Bredekamp's introduction relates Gehry's drawing methods to the concept of "disegno," as practiced by Leonardo and Durer—not only the act of drawing and modeling but also the dynamics of creative thinking—and shows how Gehry thinks through the curving movements of his hand on paper. Gehry himself describes for Bredekamp his method in several explanatory sketches, and Bredekamp applies this to a study of drawings made for specific Gehry commissions.

Gehry Draws is produced in collaboration with Frank Gehry and his team at Gehry Partners. Project synopses and commentary by Gehry and two of his Partners and Project Designers, Edwin Chan and Craig Webb, guide us through the full range of Gehry production, from the small details of furniture design to such large-scale undertakings as the Disney Concert Hall and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The drawings, illustrations, and text in Gehry Draws definitively place drawing at the heart of Frank Gehry's creative process.

This book is published by The MIT Press in association with Violette Editions.

Mark Rappolt is a freelance writer, Senior Editor of Contemporary magazine, and former editor of AA Files, the journal of the Architectural Association in London.