Frank Gehry

Following a tough battle with the Portuguese Álvaro Siza and the Dutch Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry has capped the gold medal annually awarded by the Royal Institute of British Architects, one of the most veteran trophies among those devoted to architecture. A jury formed by professionals in theory not akin to Gehry’s sculptural inclinations, finally chose the Canadian candidate, confronted with the popularity he obtained since he successfully made the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao a mass phenomenon. With the Pritzker in 1989, the Praemium Imperiale in 1992 or the AIA Gold Medal in 1999, the most prized living architect is, at 71, at his finest moment: he has inaugurated the Experience Music Project in Seattle, and in his city of adoption, Los Angeles, he is finally building one of his dearest and most-postponed projects: the Disney Concert Hall. In Europe, the recently completed DG Bank offices in Berlin, or the wine cellars for Marqués de Riscal in Elciego (Álava province) are proof of Gehry’s continued fresh approach to his works, which still have that characteristic unfinished air that gave him fame.