Frank O. Gehry, known internationally for his architectural prowess but more locally for his work in bringing the Mississippi Gulf Coast’s Ohr O-Keefe Museum of Art to life, passed away Friday. He was 96.
Gehry died in his home in Santa Monica, Calif., after a brief respiratory illness, said Meaghan Lloyd, chief of staff at Gehry Partners LLP.
Considered a titan of the industry and arguably the best architect of his time, Gehry created distinctive, striking buildings that oftentimes seemed to defy gravity with swirling shapes that had never been mastered as such. Some link his style to deconstructivism – using aerospace software to achieve complex geometries by blending textures that often appeared unfinished in playful and graceful formations.
Gehry’s work includes the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; The Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles’ the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle; and the DZ Bank Building in Berlin.
He also was the mind behind the Ohr O-Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, designing the five buildings on site to appear to the naked eye as “dancing” with the ancient live oak trees on the four-acre site. The museum is dedicated to the ceramics of George E. Ohr, another creative who made waves with an unconventional style and was widely deemed the “Mad Potter of Biloxi.”
Gehry was lauded for his work throughout his extensive career, receiving every major prize architecture has to offer, including the field’s top honor, the Pritzker Prize. He was also awarded the Royal Institute for British Architects gold medal, the Americans for the Arts lifetime achievement award, and his native country’s highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Canada.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.